Predators: Review By Angelo Liberati, CPA

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The third installment of the Predator franchise, simply called 'Predators', released nationally on Friday, July 09, 2010, was an average movie, at best, with many disappointments.

Some of the acting was very good. Adrien Brody showed another side of his acting arsenal, playing a tough mercenary named Royce. Alice Braga plays Isabel, a very sexy, tough, military woman from the IDF, or Israeli Defense Force. There is a romantic chemistry that builds throughout the movie between Royce and Isabel, with some tender, romantic moments towards the end of the movie. All of the other actors were average, at best, including Topher Grace, who plays a Doctor with a secret.

There were major disappointments in this third installment. There was no clarification on how the human 'prey' were sent to this strange planet, and where did they get the parachutes, and the crates, from? The sequences with two wonderful action - movie type actors fell way short. There was not much suspense in killing off the group members, one at a time. Most of the group members were killed off very quickly. The suspense - to both the actors and to the audience - of not seeing the Predator creatures, with their cloaking device on, was short - lived. There was not enough character development equally for every character within the human 'prey' group. The revelation of Topher Grace's Doctor character secret is sub par. There are humans in this movie who do not have any trouble breathing the air of an alien planet. There was a member of the RUF, from Sierra Leone, that was part of the human 'prey' group. And, if all of this is not enough, both the Director and the Producer of this movie missed a great chance to show something about this Predator world that was not disclosed during the first two 'Predator' movies.

There is no clarification, in this movie, as to who, or what, or what technology, 'transported' human beings, and other life forms, from across the Universe, free falling into the air, heading down towards the surface of this alien planet. Next, these free fallers have parachutes. Where did they get the parachutes from? Some of these free fallers were in crates and others were not? Where did the crates come from? And, why did some free fallers have crates, and others did not?

There are two wonderful, action - movie type actors that were in this movie, but were given very short sequences. The actors are Laurence Fishburne and Danny Trejo. The movie is more intense, and more interesting, when these two actors grace the screen.

The original 'Predator' had well - paced suspense in which the sole Predator killed each member of the elite military team, one at a time, and with the Predator invisible for most of the movie. Most of the members of the human 'prey' group were killed off very quickly, with no well - paced suspense, and the visibility of the Predator creatures was revealed early in the movie, instead of towards the end of the movie. Also, the creatures in 'Predators' decloaked, or became visible, when they were engaged, or about to be engaged, in a fight with one of the members of the human 'prey' group. Now, why would an alien creature decloak itself while engaged in hand to hand combat, and cloak itself when far away from the human 'prey' group?

There was very little character development in this movie, which would have offered nice pauses, and a buildup of suspense, throughout. In fact, one character, a Japanese Yakuza man, did not have many lines at all in this movie.

The revelation of the Doctor's secret was poorly done, in the timing of it within the movie, the complete lack of a suspenseful buildup of this secret throughout the movie, and the revelation of the secret itself.

It is not plausible that these human beings are on an alien planet, yet, it is as if they were in the jungles on Earth. Many questions are not answered in this movie. Why does this planet have trees, jungles, and so forth, similar to Earth, and how can these human beings breathe on this alien planet? There is no explanation whatsoever. Is the audience to assume that this planet is similar to Earth, because the trees and the jungles are similar, and, therefore,

contains oxygen in the atmosphere? If this is the case, then the question is why is this alien planet similar to Earth?

One of the members of the human 'prey' group is an RUF fighter, from Sierra Leone. RUF fighters committed tremendous atrocities, to both military and civilian people, in a Civil War that erupted in this tiny country on the banks of Northwest Africa, in the late 1990's into the early 21st century. However, by the early 21st century, peace was achieved in Sierra Leone, and their Civil War ended. There were no more RUF fighters. Therefore, it is not plausible that there would be an RUF fighter in 2010, in Sierra Leone, in combat, to be transported to this alien planet. There also was no explanation as to whether this RUF fighter was from the past.

Lastly, the Producer and the Director of this movie both missed a fantastic opportunity to explore some new things about this alien race that was not disclosed during the first two Predator franchise movies. The use of this could have added to the lack of the suspense within this movie, as previously aforementioned. Such new aspects of this Predator alien race could have included any of the following: their culture; origin of the species and of their planet(s); was the planet the human 'prey' group was on their only planet, or do they live on several planets; why these Predators must hunt for sport; family; do they have any compassion; whether the Predators have colonized other planets; what do these Predators eat; how the young, if any, of this race are treated; in what galaxy, in the Universe, is(are) the alien planet(s) in; the history of this race and/or their planet(s); where does their technology come from; why, and how, is the technology embedded into their arms, and into the rest of their bodies; procreation; is there more than one sex, and, if so, how are the sexes differentiated, etcetera.

I went to see 'Predators' on Tuesday night, July 13, 2010, with my friend, Michael, for an 08:10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time showing at the AMC Loews Multiplex Movie Theaters, within the Palisades Mall, on the fourth floor, in West Nyack, New York State.