Predators (2010)

It has been twenty years since Predator 2, and a few years after the AVP series. Film makers concluded that they had to look into the most successful movie Predator and understand how it succeeded both critically and financially. So in this film we have a wide range of new faces, who have been dropped into a jungle on an alien planet; each one of different categories, all a subject on a game reserve. The plot is that they have to fight for their survival and find a way off this alien world. The hunters have become the hunted. 

 

This movie does what the very first movie did: we do not see the predators just yet until the right moment. In that while we learn the attribute of each character: most of them are dangerous to an untrained eye, but only one is subtly dangerous. This is why the film title has a double meaning: Predators here not only refers to the aliens in question, but also to the humans of violent tendencies. Isabelle makes mention of the fact that they have been chosen because they are violent in their own ways and according to their cultures. 

 

So this film opens up and suddenly we see a man falling. I would admit this to be sudden. His name is Royce, but he does not bother to mention it to anyone before the end of this film. So why does he not tell everyone his name earlier? It is possible that on earth he is a veteran soldier whom no one bothered to acknowledge. He was an assassin and is expendable. It is hard to explain but he is hardened and shows little or no regard for human life. Now that is what makes him a monster.

Several others drop in, and do so while unaware before deploying their parachutes. They were in different circumstances prior to being abducted. As was revealed in Predator 2, the aliens are drawn to heats of conflict; so the predators handpicked these mercenaries from these areas. 

 

So the Predators have a spirit for hunting. They must have concluded that the earth is such a dangerous cesspit that rather than hunt there, they turn the tide and have the humans on a safari trip. Here we see them use their own breed of hunting "dogs" to test the capabilities of the humans. Of course whoever has a powerful firearm survives, if their ammunition are sufficient. They observe their targets, just as if this was a scientific experiment. The Predators may as well be scientists as well as hunters. 

  

This movie is full of expositions; those under the topics of hunting, trapping and cultures. A few are relatively longer than the rest, but these are mostly due to the reason they were chosen in the first place. We learn the modes and methods adopted in killing and such like; how these Predators adopted them and how they can be averted. 

 

One famous scene from the first movie is where an array of traps was set off as a last stand against the Predators. This occurred near the beginning rather than the end, and so felt somewhat out of place. It is still baffling that it had not been set off by the aliens themselves but considering the last events, these aliens learned to never underestimate humans. Isabelle recalled the ordeals faced by a soldier who first encountered the alien and detailed his stance against him. So it is possible that the American learned this log from the veteran. 

 

If there is one character to look out for, it is Ronald Noland (Lawrence Fishburne). He has been on the planet for who-knows-how-long. He himself has learned a thing or two about the hunters and their feuds, while salvaging whatever he can to survive. He must have the spirit to adapt wherever he can, having been away from earth for a long time. But at the end he showed no qualm of being decapitated by his adversary, after a short appearance on screen. It was disappointing that he did not bother to help everyone off the planet. He was also pretty weird as he talks to his imaginary friend frequently. I got lost for words while observing his somewhat bizarre character, but I can be sure it is because he has been alone for a very long time. 

Speaking of which, Isabelle admitted that she and her "allies" were monsters in their own world and were unworthy of returning to earth. So if they all made it back to earth, what were their plans? Unsurprisingly one of them, FBI's most wanted felon, was going to "rape a lot of women" (not his exact world!). This is the mind of a monster who shows that he is what he is and people of this sort do not deserve to be on earth. The others who were in the middle of their respective conflicts would have no need of returning if they were going to die there anyway, just like that American soldier who was due for tour in Afghanistan. This guy is a prime example of a mercenary who would be better off dead on this alien world than in the war on earth. 

 

In fact this felon is the most annoying of them all: he has no gun and is vulnerable to any attack. At the beginning he is fighting with an African mercenary for no apparent reason whatsoever. He is more than worthy of taking the fall. 

So shot on a real forest, this movie attempts to illustrate a lush habitat on an alien planet where the climate widely differs from the earth's. There are plants there that look similar to the species on earth, as one doctor pointed out. In fact, it is possible that while on earth a predator sampled every plant species and brought it to this planet to cultivate and create a feeling close to home. As I recall, these Predators must have taken a new turn to understanding human behavior. 

Despite the cardboard characters, expositions and lesser violence, this movie replicates the writing and score of its 1987 predecessor by taking the hunting game back to the jungle, except this time on an alien planet. This movie also pays tribute to the very first movie by putting up traps that were erected by an American soldier before his death, recounting the encounter with another Predator by other military personnel, and by setting up a showdown which was similar to that one in the past. We also witness a blood feud between different Predators, which compensates for a lack of bloody violence; not to mention the true colors of a doctor among the group.