The Predators Bum

I hate when some critics go on and on when they try to explain their dislike for a movie. So I’m just going simply say Predators sucked. I was actually very excited for this movie to come out. I know that a lot of people do not like sequels, but I’m a big fan of them. Sure majority of them never measure up to the original, but it’s always nice to see the continuing stories of some of your favorite characters. This was not one of them.

I understand that the casting of Adrian Brody as the main protagonist in the movie was an attempt at getting away from the normal thoughts of what a character like that should be, but it just didn’t work. Brody is an Oscar winner for best actor, but this is definitely not his genre, no matter how good an actor he is. I tried to believe it, I really did, but no matter how many smoldering gun toting moments he had on screen, or his still too skinny weirdly ripped physique, he just didn’t sell me. Some of the other actors up for this role were Josh Brolin, Freddy Rodriguez, and Milo Ventamiglia.

This was a Robert Rodriguez production and that is what made this an exciting ticket for me. He actually wrote the script 15 years ago when he was working on Desperado, but the studio thought that it was going to be too expensive to make. The movie will be considered a success considering its modest 40 million dollar budget. It made 25 million its first weekend. He actually considers it a continuing story of the first two Predator films, and has no relation to the Predator vs. Aliens movies.
There weren’t high expectations going into the theater, but there were some of a decent action movie. In the original, and even the sequel you felt bad for some of the characters when they got slaughtered, but I found myself actually rooting for the predators in this one. The only cool thing about the movie was the few references to the original, and the best part of the whole thing was trailer for Machete that was previewed before the movie even started.

Topher Grace was just alright, but still hasn’t lived up to the hype that he built up after leaving That 70’s Show, and Laurance Fishburne is so much better then the role that he was given. Fishburne’s time on screen didn’t even live up to the credit that he received in the commercials for this.
So, to sum up the obvious, Predators could, and should have been so much better. Don’t waste your money at the theater, but maybe if you’re a fan it’s worth a rental in a few months. Otherwise just wait a year until it’s on cable, or even a couple of years before it’s on network. Either way you’re not missing much.