The team making this movie is so dedicated to blowing stuff up, the audience gets a fiery explosion before the film even starts!Adrien Brody stars as Royce - one of several trained killers mysteriously snatched up out of nowhere and dumped into the middle of the jungle. Of course, this group is like a United Nations of Mercenaries as we have the nasty Russian dude, the muscle bound African tough guy, some sort of Japanese mafia hit man and a redneck from death row. Oh, and let's not forget the HOT South American babe (Really? Some guys can't go 2 hours without ogling some hot babe?) .
Where is this jungle?
Why were they taken?
Can they survive?
Those are important questions, but for director Nimrod Antal (and the die hard Predator fans) it's more important to show people running for their lives, watching them getting gorily ripped apart by the Predators, and witnessing stuff blowing up.
Who these characters are or where they are from doesn't matter, so no effort is made to give us much background about them, which is sad. It's a decision to eliminate the human element. Is that so we don't feel bad cheering for them getting eviscerated later in the movie? If they had better dialogue, would we be rooting for them to NOT get eviscerated? Seriously, I spent the whole movie (and the three days leading up to when I was going to see it) hoping Adrien Brody would get eaten by a Predator.
Writers Alex Litvak and Michael Finch provide a very basic plot (if you can call it that), and only toss in a few twists to enhance the action, rather than enhancing the story. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since action is the focus of this movie, which would make a cool video game, but doesn't make for a great movie.
Worst of all, Predators looks very dark, so it is hard to see the Predators, which is probably a good thing since all of the special effects in this movie look like they were taken straight from the 1987 original, as if no technological advances have been made over the past two decades (they should have called Pixar!).
Without a decent character and dialogue failing to replicate the classic lines from the original Predator (and they work so hard to create those moments), Brody is left trying to use the gravelliest, froggiest voice possible to sound tougher than he looks. Then, when he takes off his shirt for the big scene, we find out he's no Arnold (or Taylor Lautner).
If you stuck around this long, I have a feeling you never were interested in Predators to begin with.
1 Waffles (Out of 4)
Predators is rated R for pervasive language, gore and strong creature violence.
Why were they taken?
Can they survive?
Those are important questions, but for director Nimrod Antal (and the die hard Predator fans) it's more important to show people running for their lives, watching them getting gorily ripped apart by the Predators, and witnessing stuff blowing up.
Who these characters are or where they are from doesn't matter, so no effort is made to give us much background about them, which is sad. It's a decision to eliminate the human element. Is that so we don't feel bad cheering for them getting eviscerated later in the movie? If they had better dialogue, would we be rooting for them to NOT get eviscerated? Seriously, I spent the whole movie (and the three days leading up to when I was going to see it) hoping Adrien Brody would get eaten by a Predator.
Writers Alex Litvak and Michael Finch provide a very basic plot (if you can call it that), and only toss in a few twists to enhance the action, rather than enhancing the story. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since action is the focus of this movie, which would make a cool video game, but doesn't make for a great movie.
Worst of all, Predators looks very dark, so it is hard to see the Predators, which is probably a good thing since all of the special effects in this movie look like they were taken straight from the 1987 original, as if no technological advances have been made over the past two decades (they should have called Pixar!).
Without a decent character and dialogue failing to replicate the classic lines from the original Predator (and they work so hard to create those moments), Brody is left trying to use the gravelliest, froggiest voice possible to sound tougher than he looks. Then, when he takes off his shirt for the big scene, we find out he's no Arnold (or Taylor Lautner).
If you stuck around this long, I have a feeling you never were interested in Predators to begin with.
1 Waffles (Out of 4)
Predators is rated R for pervasive language, gore and strong creature violence.
Okay, first let me start by saying....what the hell is wrong with you? Are you so obviously lost in your own mindless drivel that you feel the need to bash a movie that was never intended to be watched by someone, who doesn't understand what the main focus of this movie is. This movie is designed for people who love the predators series of sci-fi monsters.Its quite simple to understand yet you blatantly disregard that fact in your review, chalking up the movie to bad dialogue, and crappy effects... Call pixar? WTF are thinking? Predator 1 didn't need pixar and it still has a loyal following to this day. Do you think they made another one because everyone hates these epic monsters!? No !! There obviously is a fan base out there for this type of movie, you know the movies like transformers that every critic bashes but every normal guy loves! Why do you think they make hundreds of millions of dollars in there first 3 days released! Maybe you should direct your waffle reviews at more movies that you can relate too, ones that have soft fluffy characters, and thought provoking dialogue that tugs at your heart strings Nancy!! Go watch a pixar flick, and curl up the the couch with your soft blankey and lemon flavored green tea, leave the mans movie to the men.
If this is the guy Predators is made for, I'm glad I am not like him.
I cannot comment on the whole review because i have not seen the movie, but i feel like the reviewer does not get what Rodriguez was trying to do by casting Adrian Brody. Anyone who was a soldier or has ever seen a real soldier or even a typical athlete knows they are not built like Arnold (or Taylor Lautner). They are leaner than your typical Hollywood muscleman. It is impossible to keep all that "movie muscle" while doing long marches and going on patrol day after day. That much muscle would hinder you significantly. I think Rodriguez was trying to capture that realism.
Your hoping Adrien Brody gets eaten by a Predator?? Mate Predators dont eat humans, they hunt them for sport and ultimately to enhance their own combat abliities. Go watch the muppets, clearly thats more your kinda genre. Oh and please dont review Inception, i dont think you have the intellect to understand anything deeper than an episode of Sesame Street.
sad excuse of a review.
"when he takes off his shirt for the big scene, we find out he's no Arnold (or Taylor Lautner)."-yea, instead we get a realistic looking mercinary. how dare they...
"Really? Some guys can't go 2 hours without ogling some hot babe?)"-her clothes are on the whole time...sounds like you'd rather ogle Lautner though.
"Where is this jungle?"-according to the trailer alone, somewhere on another planet that the Predators use to hunt game...
"Why were they taken?"-just according to the trailer, because they are all killers. i think i read somewhere that the Predators like to hunt dangerous killers....yep.
"Can they survive?"-thats the point of watching the movie isnt it? also, they actually do discuss their chances of survival in the movie...soooo yea, another stupid question to ask...
"Those are important questions, but for director Nimrod Antal (and the die hard Predator fans) it's more important to show people running for their lives, watching them getting gorily ripped apart by the Predators, and witnessing stuff blowing up."-yea its called nonstop action and an awesome guy movie. a complex plot does not guarantee a good movie, and a simple plot doesnt guarantee a bad movie. it comes down to entertainment. Predators is nothing but a fun ride and a solid addition to the franchise.
"all of the special effects in this movie look like they were taken straight from the 1987 original, as if no technological advances have been made over the past two decades (they should have called Pixar!)"-uh...no the effects are actually far more superior than the original...anyone with half a brain could see that. seriously, this was a very stupid and invalid point to try to make. along with many of your other ones...
good for you if you didnt like the movie. But with arguments like that i doubt anyone will take you seriously...
Oh you got me there....... Listen the point is that this movie is made for someone who wants to let lose, go watch some action and doesnt want to get caught up in some hairy dialogue you feel is relevant to an "Alien kills everybody" movie. As stated your remarks about whether or not the effects are note worthy or not or whether their lines are memorable all come down to this simple line of text I am copying and pasting from your own review and I quote...."but for director Nimrod Antal (and the die hard Predator fans) it's more important to show people running for their lives, watching them getting gorily ripped apart by the Predators, and witnessing stuff blowing up."
Exactly, thats what us diehard "Predator" fans are looking for and thats exactly who this movie was tailored for. You critics are always looking for more than there is, this movie is not designed with the mindset..."OOOhhhh, maybe we can win an academy award with this one"... It's designed and structured for the fans. They make a kick-ass movie that rocks your summer socks..Thats the point, and its the writers, directors and producers way of paying homage to the original and stay true to the fans.
You'll never understand this though because you cant appreciate what this movie is, an escape from the norm of our everyday lives. It does just the trick, just like predator with Arnie did before it, and any other movie filled with AWESOMENESS, to and include explosions, gunshots, gun wounds, gun battles and guns, aliens, zombies, transfrickingformers, robots, cyborgs, anything that terminates other things, and people/heroes willing to stand up to them. Yeah its something you can never understand, you can only criticize. So you keep doing what you do, (watching movies alone) and I'll keep doing what me and all the other "DIE HARD FANS DO"... Put that in your waffle.
Hey Waffles, things dont look so hot for you right now. Comments section is looking a bit...disgruntled. Maybe next time you should stick with the PIXAR flicks. PREDATORS ROCKS!! It's a GREAT guy movie that does just what guy movies are supposed to, gets your blood flowing!!
As Arnold used to say : "IF it bleeds, we can kill it."
No one comments when they like a review. :-)
You know what Willie, your an alright guy. Just maybe, next time be more careful when walking into an "action film" and realize, thats exactly what it is.
No hard feelings.
PS: GET TO THE CHOPPA!!
Willie Waffle yea your review fails
I automatically lost hope for your review when you mentioned "Taylor Lautner".
Adrian did an amazing job, the nods to the previous movies and Aliens was awesome. This is the movie Predator fans have been waiting for and the wait was very worth it.
Hey Mr. Waffle,
I saw the film and overall I think your review was a pretty good summation of the film except for two things. First, the special effects where alright and I actually enjoyed the fact that CGI was not overused, however it was undoubtably present (that hawk camera scene was pretty cool). Maybe it's because we are so used to CGI that it did not seem to have much of a presence.
Secondly, as far as Adrian Brody's physique goes, yeah he is no Arnold but overall he still sold the mercenary or soldier's physique. I also thought he was a good choice for the role except for the cheesy, cliched' dialogue. Although while it is unimaginably cliche', I did love the Hemingway quote.
Overall though upon reflection, the movie was just "ok" but I agree with your criticism that it was just not original and failed to make us care for most of the characters (not for lack of trying though). While not too boring it was acutally almost too fast paced. Yeah I know that is weird to say for a action film but it was hard to keep up at points of the plot. Disappointed that Lawrance Fishburne's appearance was not longer and the very interesting plotline of the "Predator war" was not expanded (although maybe for a sequel).
After watching this movie, and noticing that apparently a lot of people liked it, I decided to respect other people's taste. If you had a good time, that alone makes it worth while. From now on, I will no longer bash other people's taste. There is no good or bad, there is only like or not like. And that is very personal. Hey, I like women who do bodybuilding, the really muscular ones. They turn me on, for one reason or another. It doesn't harm anybody, and neither does liking this movie.