Oh, damn, forgot the grocery list! Oh, damn, the reflux!
Predators (2010) is, as an older reader might expect, one of the sequels to the Arnold Schwarzenegger paean to the grandparents’ sage advice of Never give up!, Predator (1987), in which overly-weaponized aliens use our planet as an individual hunting preserve, alien on humans. Speaking of aliens, Predator has spawned a couple of sequels involving the nightmarish creatures of the Alien franchise, such as this. These were rather cheesy. Finally, reading a one sentence summary of Predators will lead the jaded reader to, sadly, expect more of the same, an attempt to cash in on an old and burned out franchise that will inevitably disappoint the hopeful.
Reset your expectations, dear reader.
We started Predators in precisely the aforementioned frame of mind, expecting to shut it off five minutes in, groaning in disbelief that a studio would release such a failure of a movie. At five minutes in, though, we were still puzzling – a good thing – over the beginning, as a group of people, all military or former, professional warriors as it were, parachute into a tropical forest.
An hour later we were still watching, nearly on the edges of our seats, disentangling the complex lines of the plot. Questions abound: Why does one guy have only a knife, while others come with fully automatic weapons? Just which planet is this? What is whispering in English in the jungle? WTF is going on?
Why is my heart racing?
I kid you not. Shortly after the movie ended, we were off to the ER, where I was diagnosed with tachycardia and treated with adenosine. Problem solved. But I cannot promise that the movie had nothing to do with the tachycardia, even if the docs didn’t take my suggestion to that effect seriously. I was into it.
And what’s not to like? The Predators come in multiple versions, there’s individualism vs cooperation, betrayal and loyalty, innovative solutions to impossible situations, drugs, claustrophobia and agoraphobia, hot guns and little knives, little guy vs nasty aliens.
And so much violence.
If you’re a fan of the original, this is not a bad followup at all. The acting is good, special effects quite good, and the extensions to the original make some sort of sense. The tension is palpable.
And it’s a good popcorn movie. Well done.
