Predators

Thrown from an aircraft into an alien world, Earth’s most vicious hunters find themselves pitted against the universe’s deadliest predators. Mercenaries, military forces, convicts and Yakuza must join forces if there is to be any hope of surviving the invisible threat which silently hunts them from the trees above. However, as they battle against both the dense jungle environment and the advanced technology of their alien adversaries, it becomes clear that these are just the start of their troubles.

Flanking Adrian Brody is fellow recognisable talent Danny Trejo and Lawrence Fishburne. At the beginning of casting, concerns were voiced over the choice of Brody to act as a spiritual successor to Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, within the opening minutes it is clear that this is a role he can handle well. Rather than playing the part identically to that of Arnie’s one-man-army, Brody comes across as a military man for the 21st century; cold, calculated and far more understandable and empathetic than most of the recent portrayals of the military in the action genre. The trio of big name actors are surrounded by a host of less well known but equally compelling actors, who each bring a strong identity to their respective “predator”.

It is clear from the outset that the intention was never to create another feature film in shallow service to the fan-boys in the same way the Aliens Vs. Predator films did. Discarding recent stabs at the story as far back as Predator 2, Predator s has no reservations about asserting its rightful position as a sequel to 1987’s Predator. Predators has advanced the base premise of the original much like Aliens did for Alien; this is no longer one human against the beast. This is predator against predator.

David Burroughs