It seems to me that anyone watching this will probably have already seen the original 1987 Predator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and probably most of the other movies featuring the predator race. If that's true, then you've nothing to gain by seeing this - those who suggest it's new material must have seen a different movie.
In the previews, a big deal is made about how this film is different - new super predators, multiple alien species, takes place on an alien planet, etc. Sadly, the differences are actually minimal, and this is simply a study in plagiarism.
Largely military personnel are cut down by a group of predators. Sorry, super predators. You can tell the difference because they're a few inches taller, have bigger teeth, and their shoulder mounted canons have a different special effect. Should have spotted that.
They're in a jungle. Oh, but not an earth jungle (despite one character recognising and naming the plant life from his knowledge of Earth based plants - incidentally, allegedly a doctor, not a botanist, which is a curiosity in itself).
When you add to this mix one female member of the group to match the mix in the original, the predator whispers from the first movie (not used in a similar way, the same words, which the predator copied from hearing Mac say them in the first movie, but are not spoken by humans in this one...), the same lines being delivered by the main characters as Arnie used, precise duplications of specific camera shots, similar traps as Arnie made towards the end of the first movie, and a final battle between a mud covered human and the last remaining predator, and so on, and so forth.
Yes, there are some differences. For instance, the action starts almost right away, with no chance to meet the main characters and know anything about them as happens in the first, they are just thrown into the action and left to fend for themselves, with nothing but some crap dialogue and, oh, magically, a similar assortment of weapons as Arnie's team.
I watched aghast as the characters are slaughtered one by one. Not because I cared about them, but because so much more could have been done with them before they're offed. The Russian spetsnaz guy, elite special forces, probably the toughest, best trained special forces personnel in the world, is shown to be a trigger happy moron. I know it's an American movie and they have to show US forces as the be all end all of the world's fighting men, but please, this is ridiculous. The yakuza finds an old samurai blade to wield (and uses one of his few lines as a copy of one in Predator 2 commenting that they've been doing this a while) - convenient that the only old fashioned weapon there was just what he was proficient in using, don't you think. And what does he get to do with it? Anybody else seen Seven Samurai? Yep, plagiarism again as he uses it to duel with the predator, having stayed behind to fight him - just like Billy from the first movie, amazingly enough.
I would give this movie one star for it's weak story, weak script, poor acting and unashamed duplication of other films if it wasn't for a great performance from Laurence Fishburne which was sadly far too short, and again, his character was utterly wasted. Still, his few minutes of screen time lift my vote to three stars... albeit grudgingly.
I expected more of a movie with Robert Rodriguez pulling the strings even if it was Hungarian director Nimrod Antal at the helm. I even fell into that old Hollywood hype trap and expected at least halfway decent entertainment for my money having seen the trailer - but the most promising scene in the trailer, where the protagonist is lit up by multiple red dot sights from shoulder canons doesn't actually appear in the film at all.
If you want more predator action in your life, go rent the original again - it may be dated and a bit cheesy in places, but it's a far better way to spend your money, even if you have already seen it many times over.
In the previews, a big deal is made about how this film is different - new super predators, multiple alien species, takes place on an alien planet, etc. Sadly, the differences are actually minimal, and this is simply a study in plagiarism.
Largely military personnel are cut down by a group of predators. Sorry, super predators. You can tell the difference because they're a few inches taller, have bigger teeth, and their shoulder mounted canons have a different special effect. Should have spotted that.
They're in a jungle. Oh, but not an earth jungle (despite one character recognising and naming the plant life from his knowledge of Earth based plants - incidentally, allegedly a doctor, not a botanist, which is a curiosity in itself).
When you add to this mix one female member of the group to match the mix in the original, the predator whispers from the first movie (not used in a similar way, the same words, which the predator copied from hearing Mac say them in the first movie, but are not spoken by humans in this one...), the same lines being delivered by the main characters as Arnie used, precise duplications of specific camera shots, similar traps as Arnie made towards the end of the first movie, and a final battle between a mud covered human and the last remaining predator, and so on, and so forth.
Yes, there are some differences. For instance, the action starts almost right away, with no chance to meet the main characters and know anything about them as happens in the first, they are just thrown into the action and left to fend for themselves, with nothing but some crap dialogue and, oh, magically, a similar assortment of weapons as Arnie's team.
I watched aghast as the characters are slaughtered one by one. Not because I cared about them, but because so much more could have been done with them before they're offed. The Russian spetsnaz guy, elite special forces, probably the toughest, best trained special forces personnel in the world, is shown to be a trigger happy moron. I know it's an American movie and they have to show US forces as the be all end all of the world's fighting men, but please, this is ridiculous. The yakuza finds an old samurai blade to wield (and uses one of his few lines as a copy of one in Predator 2 commenting that they've been doing this a while) - convenient that the only old fashioned weapon there was just what he was proficient in using, don't you think. And what does he get to do with it? Anybody else seen Seven Samurai? Yep, plagiarism again as he uses it to duel with the predator, having stayed behind to fight him - just like Billy from the first movie, amazingly enough.
I would give this movie one star for it's weak story, weak script, poor acting and unashamed duplication of other films if it wasn't for a great performance from Laurence Fishburne which was sadly far too short, and again, his character was utterly wasted. Still, his few minutes of screen time lift my vote to three stars... albeit grudgingly.
I expected more of a movie with Robert Rodriguez pulling the strings even if it was Hungarian director Nimrod Antal at the helm. I even fell into that old Hollywood hype trap and expected at least halfway decent entertainment for my money having seen the trailer - but the most promising scene in the trailer, where the protagonist is lit up by multiple red dot sights from shoulder canons doesn't actually appear in the film at all.
If you want more predator action in your life, go rent the original again - it may be dated and a bit cheesy in places, but it's a far better way to spend your money, even if you have already seen it many times over.