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60%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #673
...out of 14,053 movies
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A mercenary reluctantly leads a motley crew of warriors who soon come to realize they've been captured and deposited on an alien planet by an unknown nemesis. With the exception of a peculiar physician, they are all cold-blooded killers, convicts, death squad members... hunters who have now become the hunted.
--TMDb
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Review by Crispy
Added: December 19, 2010
When I found out a third Predator movie was in the works, I was more than a little excited. Even more so when I read that they were looking to the first movie for their main inspiration, because while I liked Predator 2 and the two AVP movies more than most people, neither one of them could touch that first effort. With that said, the end result was certainly not what I was expecting, and even as I'm writing this I'm still not sure how I feel about it.
We pick up with a rather unsavory group of individuals waking up in free fall above an unfamiliar jungle. As these total strangers regroup on the ground, they realize that none of them can remember how they ended up in this predicament, and that, save for one man, they are a collection of some of the most dangerous men on the planet: Mexican drug cartel enforcer, Spetznaz, Yakuza, RUF soldier, FBI's most wanted, IDF sniper, ex-Black Ops soldier turned mercenary, and the odd man out, a timid surgeon. After coming to the realization that they're all in the same boat, they form an uneasy alliance, hoping to find some safety in numbers. Turns out to be a good choice, as the group suddenly discovers this jungle is so unfamiliar because it's on a completely different planet, a planet that serves as a game preserve for a certain alien species that takes great pride in hunting the most dangerous prey the galaxy has to offer.
While he didn't direct the movie, Robert Rodriguez produced it, and his influence is absolutely dripping. From the action scenes to a whole new species of predators, everything is more, more, more; and he piles the camp high. For example, there is a scene where the Yakuza and the predator engage in a sword fight that's straight out of an old kung fu movie. It's a fun scene, but this is not the type of material I want to see from this particular franchise. Plus, with all those issues going on, add in Robert Rodriguez's complete inability to get his mouth off of the first movie's dick. Yes, we get it. You loved Predator. That doesn't mean you had to throw in all those countless "homages" in. Oh, and by the way, blatantly repeating lines and complete scenes is not an homage, it's just fucking annoying. The traps scene, the mud scene, it's just too much.
One thing he did do right was assemble a decent group of actors, even if the script he handed them could have used some work. You see, the character interaction we're dealing with here is extremely shallow; nowhere near the level of the camaraderie between Dukes and Blain, Dylan's double agenda, or even the team of Harrigan, Cantrell and Lambert. However, that is not the fault of the people in front of the camera. Adrien Brody is our main merc, and while I, along with every else, had a tough time seeing him in a bad-ass role, he definitely proved his worth. Granted, we could have done without the Bale rasp that's so prevalent these days, but what can you do? The IDF sniper, the only female in the group, was played by Alice Braga, who was doing her very best to channel Michelle Rodriguez. Nothing amazing here, but she got the job done. Bonus kudos to Topher Grace for not completely annoying the shit out of me and Walton Goggins as the highly entertaining, highly deranged Stans. Laurence Fishburne was given top billing, but he's only there for ten minutes in a ridiculously stupid role for the sole purpose of explaining the new predators.
In the end, as "Predator 3" it kind of sucked, but as "Predators" it was good violent campy fun. Pick your poison. Personally, I'll judge the film on its own merits with around a high 6 or low 7, but that could easily have been about a 3/10. Apparently they're going to push forward with this new direction in future sequels, which is all well and good, but I'd still like to see a proper Predator 3 released.
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#1:
BuryMeAlive
- added 12/19/2010, 09:53 AM
Your review is spot on. Problems I had with the
movie:
- Adrien Brody as a 'bad ass'
(complete with Batman voice)
- None of the
other characters comes off as likeable and I don't
care for them
- Super Predators (just a dumb
idea)
- Overkill of references to the first
movie
- Mediocre storyline
Sadly
"Predator" will never get the sequel it
deserves (no I didn't like "Predator 2")
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#2:
AttnDefDis
- added 12/19/2010, 02:45 PM
I agree with most of this review as well.
Although, I will say that I had no problem buying
Adrien Brody as a badass. He was the main reason
I wanted to see this Predator effort because I
haven't liked any of them since the original. He
was my favorite part. I thought the storyline was
awful, Topher Grace annoyed me as much as he
always does playing the only character he seems to
be able to pull off, I didn't care for the lead a
girl at all because she was totally doing a
Michelle Rodriguez impression and I hate her and
I wanted to see more of Danny Trejo and Laurence
Fishburne. Yes, they did have top billing and yes
Laurence Fishburne's character was a total joke
and I didn't care for any of the other characters
either or the lame CGI. Yeah, I probably would
have liked it a bit more if it was a stand alone
movie, but the sequel aspect completely killed it
for me. I don't think I'll be seeing anymore
Predator movies.
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#3:
Lucid Dreams
- added 12/19/2010, 03:26 PM
I'm in the same boat as Chris. Sure it wasn't a
great Predators flick, but it was still
entertaining. Also the overkill on the first one
was spot on, I could see the back of my head when
Brody was screaming at the Predator in the end.
6/10
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#4:
Nirrad
- added 12/19/2010, 06:01 PM
Hmm. I seem to be the only person who actually
really enjoyed this and I'm a little shocked to
see these comments. I figured most people would be
going for 7.5 or an 8. I would give this an 8. I
really found nothing wrong with it and it looks
even better when compared to Predator 2 and the
AvP movies.
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#5:
bluemeanie
- added 12/20/2010, 03:55 PM
I enjoyed the hell out of this one and thought it
worked pretty damned well. The story was engaging
and the actors were better than any other
"Predator" film ever. Yeah it was tough
buying Adrien Brody as a bad-ass but he was no
worse than Christian Bale as Batman. I thought
they went for all-out entertainment with this one
and it really did make sense for me. The best
since the original and, production wise, better
than the original. 8/10.
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#6:
Lucid Dreams
- added 12/21/2010, 01:54 AM
I will also that I enjoyed Topher Grace in this
one.
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#7:
Ginose
- added 01/30/2012, 03:19 PM
Gotta back Billy-Ray here. I loved the hell out of
this. I agree it dick-rode the original something
terrible, but that didn't hardly effect my
enjoyment of it in the least. It was just a great
action-film and truly one of the best films with
the Yaujta in a long time.
8.3/10
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