Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Movie review - Predators

I'm not sure how many of my readers have figured this out, but these last few movie reviews came from when I was on a plane and looking for some big dumb entertainment for the long rides. Predators is a classic *I'm gonna turn off my brain* movie. But I'm not sure whether or not mean that in a bad way!

A bunch of unconscious people are mysteriously parachuted into a mysterious jungle. One by one, as the people encounter each other, they realise that with the exception of a doctor, they are all skilled military people - specialist killers, if you will. It soon becomes apparent to the group that they are being hunted and that they're not on Earth. No really, they're not. They're on a special planet somewhere with Predators who are hunting them, as well as each other. i.e. The Predators don't just hunt humans, they hunt OTHER PREDATORS. Cool. 

Best Actor Oscar Winner (and Ugly Hot) Adrien Brody 'stars' in Predators. Let me repeat that. Best Actor Oscar Winner (for The Pianist) Adrien Brody 'stars' in Predators. He did pretty well as a mercenary soldier (I'm convinced) and he's looking good and ripped in it and all but...WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!?! Alice Braga is pretty good as the Israeli soldier Isabelle who hasn't quite lost all of her conscience towards her fellow man. And then there's Laurence Fishburne as a person who's survived multiple hunting 'seasons'...and gone kinda batshit crazy doing so. There's Topher Grace as the mysteriously present doctor...creepy. Actually, I'll say all the actors in this movie are 'convincing', but then how hard is it to run and aim a gun?


When watching movies, I often ask myself a number of questions: "What do I expect to get out of this?", "Am I enjoying myself?", "Is this a good movie?", and of course, "Did I get my money's worth?" In one respect,I got exactly what I wanted watching Predators - a batshit dumb movie that killed 2 hours of my flying time. Did I enjoy myself? HELL YES. It's kind of enjoyable watching people get picked off one by one and trying to figure out who's going to die next *hint, big names often don't die quickly although sometimes movie makers like to surprise you!*.  Is this a good movie? Well...that depends on your perspective. Plotwise, not the best. But excellent production values and great use of technology! *cough* Would I have paid $16 to go watch it in a cinema? I'll admit I did kind of want to see this on the big screen which probably explains why after having paid $2,200, watched it on a small screen while eating a airplane-galley heated noodles.

So yes everyone. If you have 4 hours out of 20 of your flight to go and want to switch off a bit, Predators is a nice, unchallenging flick. If you want to know what recent Best Actor Oscar winners are doing, this is also good. If you're looking for something deep and meaningful...yeah, you might be in the wrong place. 
1/10 or 9/10...I'm still not sure which way to go. 

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