Directed by Nimród Antal (Kontroll, Vacancy), the film drops – literally – an eclectic band of “predatory” humans on the home planet of everyone’s favorite eviscerating aliens of years gone by. Faster than you can train your infra-red crosshairs on your next target, our not-so-merry band of transplanted hunters become the hunted in a lush, jungle-like setting complete with freaky fanged creatures and plenty of deliciously cheesy dialogue.
Among the well-armed and highly skilled but no less peeved and panicked prey are a mercenary (Adrien Brody), an Israeli soldier (Alice Braga), a death-row killer (Walton Goggins), a Yakuza kingpin (Louis Ozawa Changchien)… and a geeky doctor (Topher Grace), who seems curiously out of place until it becomes obvious why he’s been grouped with everyone else.
What unfolds is an almost-entirely predictable but thoroughly entertaining and often hugely gross cat-and-mouse game as the bloodthirsty Predators stalk their “game” and gradually begin to pick them off, one by one. By the time Laurence Fishburne pops up in a pitch-perfect (which is to say: completely insane) cameo, you’re already so far into the ride that his presence just adds one more upside-down twist to this already loopy roller coaster of well-executed camp.
There isn’t really a whole lot to say about the nuances and intricacies of Predators because, really, there aren’t any. But you know what? In a film like this, that’s not only expected, it’s entirely okay. The movie is filled with everything its genre requires – lots of action, lots of shooting, lots of stuff blowing up, lots of people being killed in ridiculously elaborate and graphic ways, and lots of staccato-esque one-liners thrown in to keep the proceedings appropriately catch-phrase filled.
If you’re looking for sophisticated cinema, look elsewhere. But if you just want to have a good, goofy and gross time at a movie, look no further than this one.
