Predators is a by-the-numbers sci-fi/horror film, with only the recognizability of the cast setting it apart from trash like the Alien vs. Predator films. Quality names like Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, and Alice Braga are forced to go through the motions and act alternatingly scared and brave. Taking cues from James Cameron’s Aliens, director Nimrod Antal assembles a decent ensemble cast including Danny Trejo, Walton Goggins, and Topher Grace. The idea being, I suppose, that you can develop some nice chemistry between the characters and get the audience to care about these people before you start dispatching them. Unlike in Aliens however, the characters here are given no time to get to know each other before being thrown into the fire and forced to act really scared in every scene.
     The film opens with Adrien Brody falling out of the sky with no idea of how he got there. He quickly meets others who had a similar experience. The opening act is not unlike that of Cube, in which the characters speculate as to whether they may be abducted, dead, etc, and start to explore their mysterious surroundings. The exploring-the-surrundings phase goes on for far too long in Predators, as the gang does as much aimless jungle-wandering as the last couple of seasons of Lost combined. There should be a strong sense of foreboding throughout this sequence, but the audience already knows what to expect so there is little suspense. We are asked to wait for 45 minutes while the characters figure out what we knew as soon as we saw the title of the film. By the time someone is actually killed by a Predator, the movie has already lost any good will it may have built up due to the cast or Robert Rodriguez’s name being attached to the film.
     Despite the material, the cast doesn’t phone in their performances. Adrien Brody is believable as a tough guy, which is a feat of its own. Topher Grace is entertaining as the doctor who is out of place amidst the group of soldiers. And Laurence Fishburne chews the scenery as the crazed survivor who has been on the planet for far too long, providing some much-needed comic relief. Unfortunately, Fishburne’s role is small, and the rest of the film feels rather lifeless in comparison to the scenes in which he is present. The fact that most of the humans are predators in their own right (members of various armies/militias/mercenary groups, etc.) makes sense for the movie’s plot, but it does make it difficult to relate to the characters. Adrien Brody is semi-charismatic, but purposely closed off to others and to the audience. This makes the whole film a bit too alienating, no pun intended.
     There are a couple of things which can redeem a film such as this one. One is imaginative art direction. Ridley Scott’s Alien would have been far less effective without H.R. Giger’s gothic design work. The sets in that film gave a sense that what we were seeing was truly alien. One never gets that feeling while watching Predators. The predators’ camps are obvious riffs on human tribal designs, and the spacecraft could have been lifted from any number of sci-fi video games or movies. The only impressive image in the film is the reveal, seen in the trailers, which shows the characters aghast at the sight of an alien horizon filled with a number of improbably close planets/moons. The rest of the film’s locations seldom feel different from the jungles of Earth where the original Predator took place.
     The other possible redeeming value of an otherwise bad sci-fi/horror flick is quality action scenes. Finding creative ways to kill off your characters can be thrilling in itself, as the Final Destination franchise has proved. Unfortunately, Predators falls just short in this area as well. The killing scenes are presented clearly, with none of that jumbled, handheld, quick-cut style which has plagued recent actions films. Beheadings are the finishing move of choice in Predators, which when applied to the title characters themselves gives us some nice shots of spurting green blood. The abrupt removal of someone’s spine also provides a nice image, but these moments of inspiration are far and few between. The action choreography is primarily stuff we have seen before, which is likely to cause a feeling of boredom to set in despite the rampant violence occurring on-screen.
     One can only hope that the relative failure of this installment will put an end to this franchise once and for all, or at least confine it to the straight-to-DVD market. It seems that Ridley Scott is interested in reviving the Alien franchise which, despite the abominations that were the AVP films, has not had its name tarnished as badly as the Predator franchise. One can only hope that the new Alien film will exhibit more inspiration than this film does. Predators provides a few thrills and features some talented actors trying their best to prop up a flimsy plot, but those are not sufficient reasons to recommend the movie to anyone but the most die-hard sci-fi/horror fan.