DVD Reviews

Predators - Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Oct 27, 2010, 16:13 GMT

Robert Rodriguez presents Predators, a bold new chapter in the Predator universe. Adrien Brody stars as Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors mysteriously brought together on a jungle planet. But when these cold-blooded human “predators” find themselves in all-out war against a new breed of alien Predators, it’s the ultimate showdown between hunter and prey. ...more

A once proud franchise had basically fallen apart. Now it returns again with something more akin to the original. It may not exactly be better than it, but it at least scores points for not being as terrible as the other sequels.

Royce (Adrien Brody) wakes up to find himself falling through the air and not knowing how he got in the situation. He’s about to splat when his chute opens and he finds himself in a lush jungle.

He finds he’s not alone as drug enforcer Cuchillo (Danny Trejo) is in the jungle and just as confused as he is. They’re nearly killed by Russian solider Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov) but also find soldier Mombasa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), death row inmate Stans (Walton Goggins), sniper Isabelle (Alice Braga), Yakuza hitman Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien), and meek doctor Edwin (Topher Grace).

Nobody seems to know how they got to this jungle and quickly realize they’re not even on Earth. They also discover that they’re being hunted by alien predators. Eventually they will find a madman named Noland (Laurence Fishburne) who will tell them that the hunt has been going on for a long time and they’re just the latest batch of prey.

Now what’s left of the ragtag group must find a way to defeat their pursuers. Welcome back to the jungle.

In a nutshell, 1987’s Predator told the tale of a Special Forces group, led by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who encounters an alien in the jungle. The film was so popular that 1990 saw Predators 2 on screens.

It moved the predatory alien from the jungle to the urban jungle and also hinted that the creature hunted other Aliens. This sequel didn’t measure up, especially since Schwarzenegger didn’t do it.

It would take 14 years for the eagerly anticipated battle of Aliens versus Predators, but the 2004 film also didn’t meet fans expectations and the 2007 sequel to that film still didn’t fire them up. I’m not saying that Predators is the sequel that we’ve all been thirsting for, but it does more things right than it does wrong.

It adds “s” to all things (just like Aliens, thank god they didn’t go urban again and do Predatorz); we’re treated to more Predators and insights into their society a bit more. We’re also exposed to a bunch of prey and they’re respective backstories and are even offered some mysteries (most not so mysterious).

At its heart (of darkness), Predator and Predators is a redo of The Most Dangerous Game that substitutes an alien menace hunting man instead of an insane count. That theme is pretty universal since it’s been hit upon several times in books and movies.

At first, I’d have to say that I was looking at Adrien Brody and thinking that he’s way too skinny to replace Arnold, but they the time the film was over I was rooting for him.

Most of our secondary prey have “victim” written all over them, but they’re still interesting – a drug enforcer (Trejo – badass and Rodriguez stock company), a lady sniper and love interest, a Russian sporting Jesse “I ain’t got time to bleed” Ventura’s gun, a ninja played with cool quiet, a renegade soldier who doesn’t get along with the insane death row inmate, and there’s that out of place doctor.

It’s not much of a mystery why he’s in with this diverse group of badasses. Then there’s Larry Fishburne in the Ben Gunn role (that marooned crazy dude from Treasure Island) that’s either going to fulfill a comedy relief respite or seem out of place. Color me somewhere in the middle on that one.

We do hit on some more of the Predator society, but we’re only really given hints. All in all, it’s still not the fantastic sequel that we may have wished for, but it comes a lot closer than the others have.

Predators is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1). It looks fantastic, especially the greens of the jungles. Special features are in high definition unless noted. We start off with a commentary from director Nimrod Antal and producer Robert Rodriguez.

You also get two motion comic prequels (Moments of Extraction is 8 minutes and details what the characters were doing before being abducted and Crucifixion is 2 minutes and tells how that Predator got tied up).

Next is the 40 minute “Evolution of the Species” is a making of, the 5 minute “Chosen” profiles the prey, the 7 minute, standard definition “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Making of a Scene” is a promotional, 11 minutes of deleted scenes, the 2 minute trailer, and previews of other Fox discs. Disc two is a digital copy.

Predators may not have the gravitas of the first film, but it sure beats the other attempts at continuing that franchise. The cast is strong and appealing (Brody must’ve pumped a bunch of iron) and it seems like Predators 2 should be coming to a theater to you one day. Let’s just hope that the upward trend continues.