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Rumor has it that three follow up films, a sequel and two crossovers with the “Alien” franchise, to John McTiernan’s 1987 sci-fi thriller, “Predator,” exist somewhere out there in the ether. I’m convinced this is nothing more than a legend, an old wives’ tale. I don’t believe it. There is only one sequel to that testosterone-filled, suspense-riddled Arnold Schwarzenegger classic and it is Nimrod Antal’s “Predators.”
Royce (Adrien Brody), an ex-US special forces soldier-turned mercenary regains consciousness while hurtling toward a thick blanket of trees below. He has no idea where he is or why. Moments after his parachute springs open he crashes into a dense tropical forest. Gathering himself he discovers a half dozen others that have arrived just as he has. Among them: a Russian Spetsnaz commando (Oleg Taktarov), a Sierra Leonean death squad soldier (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), a convicted Federal prisoner (Walton Goggins), a Yakuza assassin (Louis Ozawa Changchien), a Mexican drug cartel enforcer (Danny Trejo) and an Israeli black ops sniper (Alice Braga).
And then there is the scrawny weaponless clean-cut medical doctor (Topher Grace) who feels curiously out of place among the human predators and various agents of death. But as you might guess, he’s not exactly as he seems.
This violent group of bewildered earthlings apprehensively chooses to stick together and sets off in search of a way off of what they soon learn is an alien planet designated as a game preserve for a technologically advanced race of giant warrior aliens. Apparently they pluck the most dangerous and skilled killers from various planets and use them as game to improve their own hunting skills.
“Predators” wisely ignores the events of “Predator 2″ (1990), “Alien vs. Predator” (2004) and “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem” (2007), all of which I’m still convinced don’t exist, and plays as a direct sequel to McTiernan’s original. Schwarzenegger and his showdown with the alien predator in that film is even mentioned by Braga’s character as the group tries to make sense of the precarious situation they’ve found themselves in. And the narrative follows roughly the same format to mostly great effect.
But there are some key differences that give the edge to the original. The decisive factor, other than the holy trinity of Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers and Jesse Ventura, that makes McTiernan’s film so good is an element that so many modern action films lack — silence. ”Predator” mastered the atmospheric, supreme intensity of stillness, the calm before the storm. ”Predators” is by no means mindless, non-stop action, but it does seem a little eager to rush through plot points and necessary lulls so it can get on to the next set piece.
The cast, contrary to popular anticipation, is quite good. Although his melodramatic, all-knowing, Hemingway-quoting persona gets tiresome, Brody puts his Oscar-winning chops to unexpectedly good use as the grim, humorless leader. Walton Goggins is magnetic and funny per usual and Topher Grace’s sarcastic comedy fits into the deadly alien jungle surprisingly well. A plump, deranged Laurence Fishburne is the only real weak link.
It’s not perfect, but in a world of remakes and mind-melding idiocy, “Predators” manages to come away a competent, worthy entry into the series.
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