Short plot synopsis: The Predators abduct a bunch of soldiers, mercenaries,
gang
members, killers, etc. and bring them to a hunting planet for good time huntin'
funzies. Yep, that’s about it. I kind of think the Predators are the rednecks
of the universe. And, yes, the Predators even have a little bit of racism
against differnt' lookin' Predators in the movie, too.
Anyway, they really got back to the original Predator(s) verses soldiers
concept, but this time, instead of the humans being from the same group, none
of
them know each other; so, there is that new dynamic thrown in. The movie
definitely succeeds in what it was trying to accomplish. They even did a good
job with having the appropriate amount of ‘WTF?!” that the characters would
have
without it being just a rehash of the original. I wasn’t sure I would go for
Adrian Brody as a tough guy, but he actually does a pretty good job. Danny
Trejo (super tattooed Mexican guy that is in all of the director’s, Robert
Rodriguez’s, movies is good as always), and the trailer for their movie
featuring him, Machete, is AWESOME.
There were even some twists (for people who hadn’t read casting and character
bio announcements a year ago, grrr) that were handled pretty well. The special
effects were top notch, as well. They have some other alien wildlife on the
planet that some had to be CGI just because Earth creatures don’t move that way
and animatronics wouldn’t work, but all totally more realistic than anything in
Avatar. I’m 99% sure other parts we animatronics because they looked so
‘real’,
but I couldn’t really ‘tell’ when things were CGI or physical. Hollywood, take
note – Stan Winston’s shop is the best!
The only complaint I have is that a scene from the trailers is actually totally
different in the movie. I don’t mean like in Iron Man 2, where Tony just jumps
out of the plane rather than, how in the trailer, Pepper kisses the helmet and
throws it out. No, this is actually something that kind of matters to the
plot. I don’t consider this a spoiler, but instead, a ‘ignore the trailer’
thing, but here is some space incase you feel differently:
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The part in the trailer that shows Adrian with more than a dozen triple laser
dots on him – never happens in the movie. Don’t be waiting for it. Rodriguez
was even asked specifically about this, and he basically said that movies often
film stuff just for the trailers early on, not necessarily to show what happens
in the movie, but to show what the audience should expect concept-wise. I’m
totally ok with that – if the scene doesn’t actually matter. But in this case,
it actually impacts the plot and story, or at least impacts what you are
waiting
to happen in the movie. I think it is a total bait and switch. Yeah,
sometimes
adjustments are made to the story later on, but, without going into any detail,
they had to have known that scene wouldn’t work that way real early on. Meh.
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In closing, the movie was the best treatment of Predators since the original,
and if you liked the original, you’ll like this one, as well. Does it really
need to be seen on the big screen? Doesn’t hurt – totally worth a matinee.
And
if you have watched the original in a while, it's definitely worth watching
again. Even though it was made 23 freakin' years ago (can you believe that?),
it still holds up great and could have been made this year.
~Ron
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