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The law of averages gives us a cheap, mathematical kind of hope. But it’s hope nonetheless. After two films of such stunningly bad quality as "AVP" and "AVPR", I was starting to wonder if 20th Century Fox had forever squandered one of the most beloved creature-feature franchises this planet has ever known. But just as I was about to rig up another Paul W.S. Anderson dummy in effigy, I happened to stumble upon Nimrod Antal’s “Predators”, a surprisingly faithful reboot of John McTiernan’s singular action classic (let’s face it, the 80’s was only man enough to only handle one Predator).
Oddly enough there wasn’t a whole lot of buzz this way or that regarding the movie’s value. So naturally I was quite curious to see how this would turn out. For one, there’s a fresh new scenario: the world’s greatest killers piled into one big gladiator match. Two: There are Predators. Plural; largely and mysteriously withheld from the screen as per the original. Three: it sports a decent cast, including A-lister Brody, and a healthy complement of characters actors like Walter Goggins (formerly Shane Vendrell of “The Shield”) and Danny Trejo. In and of itself it was enough to convince me to give the spin-off a shot. What’s to lose right?
Well for one, preconceived notions.
I’m forced to report that the movie occupies a delicate purgatory between sequel and remake. Either way, hardcore franchise fiends will openly embrace the handful of references made in honor of the 1986 original, choppers or no.
And while the experience is not necessarily flawless, the movie essentially skinned my expectations alive and hung it ass-skywards in a banyan tree to dry. It plays up the scenario like the best kind of “Twilight Zone” episode and harkens the brawny speculative fiction the likes of which have been absent from American culture ever since Harlan Ellison was largely removed from the shelves at your local Barnes and Noble. Alan Silvestri’s smashingly simple score, reprised here with surprisingly little perversion, is a welcome reprieve from all the moody bass bull-crap that’s made many of today’s action films nearly unwatchable. The morbid soldiers’ humor is back. So too is the ubiquitous mini-gun, with a colorful array of rogues (except now embodied in an RUF death squad leader or a yakuza enforcer) to back it up. It all helps paint a surprisingly tense but visceral portrait of intergalactic combat. And though I refrain from revealing any of the major plot points, I will say that where the film does deviate, it always does so in a way that enriches those elements which we loved the first time around.
So I suppose the best way to describe the atmosphere is as thus: Blackwater Worldwide meets its worst nightmare.
The fact that director Nimrod Antal has managed this, a feat which fans have been waiting for for the last decade or so, is made all the more astonishing when you consider his track record: “Armored” & “Vacancy”. Altogether, not painfully rousing.
So, I suppose this is the point where I should be thanking the fearless Mr. Robert Rodriguez. Apparently 20th Century Fox, in atonement for its sins against the series, made good on a story crafted by Rodriguez way back when he was shooting “Desperado” in 1995. Now, almost 15 years later, perhaps the wounds will begin to heal. A similar ‘thank you’ goes on to the writer team Mike Finch and Alex Litvak, two soon-to-be-knowns. Not only did they somehow manage to update deified material but they tap into the same vein that the best (?) fan fictioneers get a lot of their craziness. Using Rodriguez’s treatment and a tackling the alien-hunter premise with a salad-bowl mentality, what remains after all the hacking and slashing is not so much a new movie but an upgrade that maintains the core values of the original.
It’s a little botox. A smidge of lipo. A tad of hair dye. So when all is said and done, when the dread-sporting, light-bending, voice-mimicking creature of the movie’s title finally lets those twin blades loose, it’s really, really hard to see those wrinkles. Not gonna lie.
For more on the experience, see my Field Notes!
****
Director:
Nimrod Antal
Writers:
Alex Litvak
Mike Finch
Producers:
Elizabeth Avellan
John Davis
Robert Rodriguez
Bill Scott (co-producer)
Alex Young (executive produce)
Cast:
Adrien Brody……………………………………Royce
Topher Grace…………………………………. ..Edwin
Alice Braga……………………………………. .Isabelle
Walton Goggins……………………………….....Stans
Oleg Taktarov………………………………… ..Nikolai
Laurence Fishburne……………………….. ........Noland
Danny Trejo……………………………………. Cuchillo
Louis Ozawa Changchien………………… .........Hanzo
Mahershalalhashbaz Ali………………….............Mombasa
Carey Jones……………………………………. Tracker Predator/Falconer Predator
Brian Steele……………………………………. Berzerker Predator
Derek Mears……………………………………Classic Predator
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