Predators

I believe it is the invaluable Roger Ebert who claims that the effectiveness of a film is not found in what it’s about, but rather how it’s about what it’s about.  This is the key to popular film criticism.  This is what allows a critic like myself to write a great notice for a dyed-in-the-wool genre exercise like Nimród Antal’s Predators a few days after seeing the positively brilliant little rough-hewn gem, Winter’s Bone.  The two films could not be more different, yet they both warrant positive reviews.  I will never forget 2007 (an utterly brilliant year for American cinema, and cinema in general), when my “Best Of” list included movies like No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, The Host, and… Grindhouse.  Yes, Grindhouse!  You see, a movie like Grindhouse is brilliant because it does precisely what it sets out to do, namely to embody and enliven a genre canvas, and does so with wit, intelligence, and cinematic life.  Similarly, Predators knows the score.  It’s a fine example of a genre sequel of its type:  hard, violent, fun, funny, and full of familiar notes.  It should surprise no one that Robert Rodriquez, who together with Tarantino will go to his grave attempting to elevate the genre film to the level of high-cinema, has an executive producer credit on this one.  All in all, Predators is a very fun film that is closer in spirit to the original Predator than anything else that has borne that name since 1987

The cast of characters says all you really need to know about Predators.  Led by an American mercenary, played with cold pragmatism by Adrien Brody, the group consists of bad-asses from across planet earth:  soldiers, special-ops, criminals, Yakuza, and the impossibly awesome genre-staple Danny Trejo (throughout the movie, I kept thinking about how much I can’t wait for Rodriguez’s Machete, which stars Trejo).  The predators, as you have no doubt deduced by the trailer, have brought these people to a “game preserve” planet in order to hunt them.  They evidently need to brush up on their killin’.  Apparently, human beings are not the only species brought to the planet as prey either – for countless years creatures from across the traversable universe have been dropped off on the planet as game.  This allows the predators to learn new fighting and hunting skills.  I must admit I found this concept incredibly awesome.  This ability to learn new fighting styles leads to one of the coolest scenes you will see all year:  A full-body tattooed Yakuza hit-man and a predator in a samurai sword battle that takes place in a breezy field of high grass.  The scene is shot beautifully and without music.  It was like a bizarro version of Tarantino’s unspeakably elegant swordfight-in-the-snow at the House of the Blue Leaves in Kill Bill Vol. 1.  As soon as the Yakuza fighter unsheathed his sword and the predator released a large blade from his armor and they stared each other down, I leaned over to my girlfriend and whispered, “Holy shit, this is so awesome.”  And it was.

If I sound a little bit like a 14-year-old geek, that’s because Predators delivers quality cinematic entertainment for genre fans in a hard, fast-paced, and joyful way.  I giggled with each self-aware, yet straight-faced, line of dialogue taken right from the playbook.  I marveled at some of the great kills (yes, there is a spine rip!) – although if I have one complaint it’s that there could have been a couple of more creative death setups.  I’ll take what I can get, though.  The sound design is crisp, always interesting, and creepy where it needs to be.  The score is right on the money for this type of film, playing with monster movie cues and making good use of the original Predator theme.  The creature effects are real good.  I praise the film gods that these predators appear to be practical effects.  I want my predators to be men in awesome costumes.  And so they are.  The bottom line is this:  Predators is not Winter’s Bone, which is a sure-fire Oscar contender, but it sure as hell is a damn good Predator film.  Go see it and let your inner genre-geek have a great time!

by Lee M. Krempel