“Predators” Review

From the prolific and DIY genius of filmmaking, Robert Rodriguez, comes this sequel to the 1987 sci-fi action classic Predator which starred the Governator and made audiences cringe in fear of infrared vision. Rodriguez only produces this time around and leaves the directing in the very capable hands of Nimrod Antal, who made a name for himself with the Hungarian fantasy film Kontroll and most recently directed Vacancy and Armored.

The cast is as eclectic as you can get and seems to cover the spectrum from Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, to Brazillian-born Alice Braga, to geeky TV star Topher Grace, to fanboy fave Danny Trejo. Now when Rodriguez set out to make this sequel, which began in script form way back in 1994, he made it explicitly clear that this was a sequel to Predator and not Predator 2, which starred Danny Glover, as well as completely ignoring the events of the Alien vs. Predator series of films. And this respect to the first film is what makes this sequel work so well.

It doesn’t fall into the sequel-itis trap of more, more, more. More blood, more monsters. The film has enough confidence in itself to concentrate on the characters and story at hand, not to outdo it’s predecessor. There’s nice touches all over the place: including using the same music queues from the first film and hinting at the backstory of the characters with one or two sentences so that you get a glimpse of who these characters are without falling into boring exposition.

Were certain plot reveals predictable? Yes, but those plot reveals were done with such measured attention to detail that I got giddy everytime we got to them. I could’ve watched another two hours of these characters strategizing their survival. Tightly scripted and expertly directed with each character getting their hero moment, I found this to be the best summer film I’ve seen so far this year.

And in my mind is a film that could stand alone on its own without the need to bother with the first one. It’s THAT good.