Predators – The next generation!

A reboot, they said.  Taking the movie in a direction it’s not been in before, they said.  I groaned.  I groaned the collective groan evoked by thousands of lovers of El Pred who were NOT enamored by AVP1.  Lovers who appreciated the retarded violence of AVP2 but still were NOT enamored with it being cheapened, who would still watch it but not expect anything other than a cheapass cash-in attempt by the big bad producers of the western cinema world who have seemingly lost the ability to produce anything remotely new and exciting in this modern era of technological dominance in an industry where the ability to tell a good story is overtaken by expensive effects and too many jump cuts during action sequences.

The original Predator was made back in the glory day of action movies, 1987.  a decade where badass wasn’t just the aftereffects of a night out topped off with a spicy curry, but actually a breed of man.  A man like “Dutch”, the single-named hero amongst a band of hero’s who was merely the man who feared nothing; “If it bleeds, we can kill it”.

So, where do you go from there? The second movie, whilst not being anywhere near as good as the first 1, was still definitely a Predator movie.  How can you tell? There’s actual predatoring (is that a word?) in it. actual stalking and scaring the shit out of those that are predators on others, proving the philosophy that there is always something bigger and badder out there.

The AVP movies were lame.  I was going to rant, but I can’t be arsed, it’s as simple as that.  They are just lame and at best the second movie is amusing for the comical deaths.  That and begging for the blonde girl to die through the whole movie.

So, Robert Rodriguez wants to do a reboot.  But wait a minute, it’s not actually a reboot at all. it is actually a third movie if you look at the grand scheme of things.  There is a significant reference to the first movie which makes it definitely not a reboot, as from what I know, reboots are not logical sequels? (correct me if I’m wrong of course).

I was uber skeptical of this movie and tried my best not to pay it any attention at all.  I didn’t want to entertain the idea of it and was having my silent protest and that was to be the end of it.  Well it was to be that way until I read a little something over at aintitcool.com (can’t find the link now I’m afraid) saying something about Rodriquez doing loads of research on the first movie to try and get the feel right, which got me real interested.  A Producer (I thought he was directing it ) who actually is trying to give enough respect to the original?  Hell I’m game to check that out.

So here’s the breakdown of the movie, a bunch of Predatory people (mercenary, RUF fighter, Jailbird, Yakuza, hispanic right-hand man type dude) are dropped into a jungle on a diff planet.  They are being hunted by some bigger, badder, predatorer than them!  OH NOES, WHAT WILL THEY DO?!?!

Kudos to the Production team, they did 1 thing right and that is….the feeling of the movie.  Doomy and gloomy with a side order of jungle stickiness!  The focus of the movie is on the people in the situation and how they respond to it, and not on the Predators technology and shiny new ways of killing people, they keep it traditional.

The big thing that made the first movie was the feeling of it, imo, when a bunch of baddasses are scared, then its something that is really damn scary.  Now this was really apparent in the first movie as ALL of the group of baddasses were genuinely BADASS.  Here however, the cast didn’t portray that feeling to me so much, well not all of em anyhows.  The RUF fighter looked significantly big and badass.  The Yakuza looked significantly small and EVEN MORE BADASS IN A SUIT WITH EXPENSIVE SHOES (Especially when he gets his toy (you will know what I mean when you see it)), at this point I was very gleeful at his discovery and cheered his “moment” (trying SO hard not to give anything away!).  Danny Trejo was big and baddass as usual, no questions asked.  However, my issue is with the main guy, Adrien Brody as mr big badass of the lot.  I just can’t get his poncey act out of my head, the 1 he put on in King Kong.  I mean fair enough he is BUFF and has worked out for sure, but he just doesn’t cut it for me.  He just doesn’t have that badass look about him.  To me he will always be a poncey poet-type.  Nothing wrong with that, he just didn’t fit for me(tho to be fair, he has an impressive voice).  The token female character is strong but has female qualities.  A badass with a heart, whilst it’s cool and stuff, I would have loved it if she was of the school of Private Vasquez” from Aliens, now that my friends, would be badass.

So yeh, the characters are semi strong but the lead is not strong enough imo, but its not a lost cause for sure.  The technology used in this movie is thankfully scarce.  It does its job, you can’t see it stand out and you can’t see it trying to take over the movie, it performs it’s job very well and that’s the way it should be, invisible.

Overall, the pathos is right, the characters are kinda right, the Predators are right and the overall feel is very reminiscent of  the original.  In fact, the homage to the original is what makes this film respectable, it openly shows it’s respect to what came before it and that my friends, is something that needs to be done more often in the shitty Hollywood of today.

Oh! 1 more thing!  Laurence Fishburne, funny guy!  Great little piece done by him, had me chuckling for a good while.  Almost worth it for him alone!

EL.

~ by EL on July 11, 2010.