Predators: 8 strangers, a combination of criminals and soldiers including an IDF sniper, a Mexican cartel thug, a death row inmate, and a member of Spetznaz, find themselves stranded in a jungle with no recollection of how they got there. Before long, they realize are on the receiving end of that familiar little 3-dot laser cannon and other assorted beasties. The humans are soon on the run for their lives against a group of Predators that use the planet as a game preserve, kidnapping humans to hunt there. The humans follow alpha male Adrien Brody in a (failing) effort to stay alive and leave the planet. Produced by Robert Rodriguez, this is definitely more of a straight sequel to the original (which was a GREAT flick) and an improvement over “Predator 2” (which always seemed to me to be very much a loud trashy 90’s action flick; not that I didn’t enjoy it, but definitely a step down from the original). While it’s not a team of folks with the panache of Dutch and company (nor do they have as many good one-liners), they do a passable job building them up as worthy “game” before the inevitable bloodletting and some of the violence is cleverly staged in ways we haven‘t seen in any of the 4 “Predator“ movies to date. Lawrence Fishburne also has a nice small role against type, as a human survivor who has long since bought a ticket on the Crazy Train. It feels longer than its 106 minutes and could use some tightening up. Director Nimrod Antal definitely likes his monster action movies, as there are vague “Aliens” overtones throughout (some shared lines and visual similarities). Good stuff here. I’d give it 3½-4 stars out of 5. Woodchuck sez, “Check it out.”
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