MOVIE REVIEW: PREDATORS
Starring: Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo Ah, we recall the original Predator fondly. Big, cigar-chompin’ Arnie, dropped in the middle of a jungle with a bunch of other monosyllabic soldiers-of-fortune, mowing down the rainforest with a giant cannon.
Happily, action auteur Robert Rodriguez has stepped in to helm this new take on the mandibled monsters, picking up where the original movie left off and ignoring the progressively shitter flicks that followed.
A big-nosed merc (Brody) wakes up winded and confused after plummeting through a tree canopy. When he hooks up with a Latino black-ops babe, a serial killer surgeon, a Russian commando, a Mexican gangster, a Sierra Leonean torturer, a death row inmate and a Yakuza hitman, our hero soon realises he’s at the world’s worst Tupperware party.
Picked off and filleted one-by-one, the unsavoury band of psychos soon run into a grizzled ex-Navy Seal (Fishburne), who spells it out for the dummies — they’ve been abducted and dumped in a big safari reserve on an alien planet. Brody’s giant snozz steals every scene, but this is the most bad-arse Predator flick since the original and the sort of suped-up sci-fi you’ve been waiting for.
Rating: 5/5
PREDATOR AMMO
The idea for Predator came about when two screenwriters, Jim and John Thomas, heard a joke that since Sylvester Stallone was running out of villains to punch-on in his Rocky franchise, he’d have to take on an alien. They took the joke seriously and wrote a screenplay
Jean-Claude Van Damme was originally slated to play the creature, but was fired after intentionally injuring a stunt man in a hissy fit and complaining that the suit was “too clumsy and hot”
In the film, the dreadlocked alien hunter is played by seven-foot-two Kevin Peter Hall, better known
for his role as a friendly sasquatch in Harry and the Hendersons
Schwarzenegger turned down a sequel, and was outspoken about Predator 2’s concept, saying it was a “bad idea” to take the action back to a city environment — the follow-up retains a 24 per cent ranking on Rotten Tomatoes
Native American actor and total loon Sonny Landham was so unstable on the original film’s set
a bodyguard was hired to protect the other cast
For the new Predators film, producer Robert Rodriguez wrote a cameo into the script
for Arnie to make a return as an aged Major Dutch Schaeffer
In the comics, the real name of the Predator race is the Hish or Yautja
Due to heat, dehydration, poor food and exhaustion in Mexico's jungles where the film was shot, Arnie lost nearly 12kgs. Adrian Brody put on the same amount
in muscle to bulk up as the mercenary Royce for Predators
Rodriguez’s script for Predators was first written in 1994 while he was shooting Desperado but was rejected for budget blow-out reasons. Fifteen years later, it was dusted off and here it is — despite fans questioning Brody’s casting
The Predator’s luminescent blood was achieved by mixing glow-stick liquid with sex lube
So have you seen the new movie? What did you think of it? How did it stack up against the originial?
Related stories:
MOVIE REVIEW: THE LOSERS
MOVIE REVIEW: ANIMAL KINGDOM
PRODUCT REVIEW: LIGHTSABRE
MOVIE REVIEW: EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP
PRODUCT REVIEW: EDIFIER IPOD DOCK
MTV MOVIE AWARDS 2009
ZOO vs JONAH HILL & RUSSELL BRAND
WORLD'S FUNNIEST INSULTS
CLASH OF THE TITANS
ZOMBIELAND TRAILER