Planet of the Hunters

Predators is the Predator franchises answer to Aliens. As they figure making it plural will make it better. They sort of succeed. After the abysmally bad Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, both franchises decided to go their separate ways. The first standalone movie to be made was Predators. Since I was still underaged at the time, I couldn’t go to see the movie. Despite not directing it, this is very much a Robert Rodriguez movie. The constant swearing, questionable leads, and brutal violence are very much his style.

Predators takes the hunt away from Earth. Instead a crew/cast of Earth’s most deadly killers is placed on a planet that acts as a game preserve. Adrien Brody plays a mercenary named Royce. He may have gotten jacked, but he’s still not intimidating enough. Royce is joined by soldiers, inmates, gangsters, and a very out of place Topher Grace as a doctor. They eventually run into Laurence Fishburne as a soldier who’s been stuck on the planet for years.

As the title suggests, there are several predators to deal with. Predators even introduces a different faction called Super Predators. Tracker, Falconer, and Berserker are much more intimidating hunters that have a blood feud with the classic predators. They also use dog-like aliens on their hunt. While it can’t compare to the original, Predators at least tries to recapture its testosterone fueled action. By returning to the basic shoulder cannon, wrist blades, and by doing a few callbacks. Predators is probably the closest thing to a good Predator sequel we’ll ever get.

The Super Predator faces a classic Predator

Preceded by: Predator 2 & Followed by: The Predator