Predators

I saw Predators over the weekend. It was ok. I enjoyed it. I might buy it on DVD.

It could have been a lot better though. Here’s how:

1. The movie’s too short at just 107 minutes. It could have really used another 20-30 minutes of character development, for both the humans and the predators. This is an ironic flaw considering the movie is based on a script Robert Rodriguez wrote 15 years ago that never got made because it was too long and expensive. What we see is just a portion of the original story arc. The upside is that there's plenty of material for sequels.

Every problem that follows could have been solved in that extra time.

2. Give us more predators! The movie is called "Predators" after all. We want to follow their story too. The AVP movies did perhaps too good of a job making the predators a sympathetic race. They're ruthless killers, but they're also honorable and play by a set of rules. This is the biggest flaw in the ending too. Once the predators are beaten, they're generally better losers.

3. I didn't know Topher Grace was in the movie, and for the most of the movie I didn't know why his character was there either. Neither did the other characters. The fact that he doesn't fit in is acknowledged, but no attempt is made to explain his presence, until it becomes painfully obvious why he's there. No attempt at misdirection is made. Whereas, all he had to do was save someone's life early on in the film (his character was a doctor after all) and it would have looked like he was there to be their medic. Instead, the attempt at "twist" is seen coming a mile away.

4. I'm not sure what the whole "big predator" vs "little predator" thing really added to the movie except needless confusion and an excuse for the producers to redesign the predator a little. Every director who's ever made an Alien film has tweaked the creatures' appearance. There's no reason you couldn't just do that. Are predators really that homogeneous a species that they all look alike? And if you're going to introduce some sort of predator blood feud, explain WTF is going on! I understand the humans in the film wouldn't have known what was happening, but that's no reason to keep us in the dark.

5. If you're a breed of predator in an age-old blood feud with another breed of predator, does it really make sense that you can fly your ship from your arm-band computer and your enemy predator can also control the ship from his? Wouldn't you change the frequency or the password or something? Seems pretty poor planning for a species that's supposed to be so smart.

6. Lawrence Fishburne's character... hmm... where to begin. A: He looks awfully well fed for someone who's been surviving on scavenging for "10 seasons". B: He has a predator helmet and suit that makes him invisible, and he only uses it once and no one else ever uses it either. I would have perhaps grabbed that when loading up on weapons and ammunition before fleeing the hideout. C: if that character existed to somehow explain the predator blood feud, he did a piss-poor job of it. D: If there are "seasons" and the predators go away and come back better equipped every time, then how exactly are "they always out there"? "Going away" implies a period of time when they are not there.

7. Adrian Brody's character makes some pretty big leaps in his conclusions about why they're there, and we're just supposed to buy it. Wouldn't it have made more sense for Isabelle, who had some pre-existing knowledge of the predators, to have reached those conclusions herself? Oh right, she only summarizes the first movie so that Adrian Brody will know later on to coat himself in mud to hide from the predators. There couldn't have been any other reason for her to know about them.

8. Is it asking too much to have just one sympathetic character to root for? I guess so. And they all had names? I had no idea. And Isabelle was in the Israeli Defense Force? Didn't realize they had so many Spaniards on the payroll with detailed knowledge of 20 year-old U.S. Special Forces missions.

So: the basic concept is a good one and the action sequences are good. The movie oversimplifies its plot for some reason to keep it short which ironically left it overcomplicated, muddled, and not as satisfying as it could have been.

(Many of these issues were first raised by Diana, but I agree with them.)