Starring: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Walton Goggins,
Oleg Taktarov, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Louiz Ozawa Director: Nimrod Antal
U.S. Opening Date: July 9, 2010
THEY SAY
Predators, a bold new chapter in the Predator
universe, shot under the creative auspices of Robert Rodriguez, stars
Adrien Brody as Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite
warriors who come to realize they’ve been brought together on an alien
planet . . . as prey. With the notable exception of a disgraced physician,
they are all cold-blooded killers – mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death
squad members – human “predators” that are now being systemically hunted
and eliminated by a new breed of alien predators.
WE SAY
Several Predator
scripts have floated around throughout the years, only one of which was
attached to Rodriguez’s name. In this script a so-called predator hunted
down crewmen on a 17th century sailing ship who has to fight back with
inferior weaponry. Think Alien meets
Pirates of the Caribbean! This script was titled Predators but
was rejected because it was deemed too expensive. Other scripts involved
Arnie’s character – but it is extremely unlikely that the Governator will
return give up his political career for the big screen anytime soon.
The Predator
franchise has been kept alive in computer games and comics throughout the
years.
The original ‘Eighties action / sci-fi film starred
Arnold Schwarzenegger as a commando who rescues hostages from some baddies
in the South American jungle. On their way back however they are tracked
and hunted down by a vicious alien that hunts humans for sport. A
sequel was made in 1990 (without Arnie) and two crossover films followed
in 2004 (Alien vs. Predator) and in 2007 (Aliens
vs. Predator: Requiem).
The truth is however that the various movies have been getting cheaper and
lousier with each instalment until the low-point that was
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, which was
a by-the-numbers cheapo effort set on Earth directed by two newbie music-video
directors.
Robert Rodriguez of course has a more illustrious
portfolio having directed the likes of Sin City,
Planet Terror, From Dusk
Till Dawn, The Faculty and so on. One
can only imagine any Predator movie by this director - even when
sitting in the producer's chair (Predators is directed by Nimrod
Antal of Vacancy fame) - to be an ultraviolent,
over-the-top gory affair, probably exactly what fans of the franchise will
be expecting . . .
