Predators Movie Preview

After the lacklustre pair of Aliens vs Predator movies poured scorn on the most famous deadly breeds of outer-space races, the Predators go solo for their third outing to regain respect. Predators is a sequel of sorts to the initial Predator films featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and then Danny Glover, and even had a cameo for Schwarzenegger written into it at one stage. Originally attached to Robert Rodriguez for writing and direction duties, he has turned producer and handed the chair to Nimrod Antal to capture a team of crack soldiers heading into an alien jungle for a film closely related to the original Predator.

Hollywood's appetite for retreading past successes has met with only moderate success in recent years: AVP was the perfect example of films demanded by fans that then failed to heed their visions when Paul W.S. Anderson knocked out a couple of unimaginative offerings. By relocating to a jungle scenario, Rodriguez seems keen to capture the tension of Predator and has assembled a squad of talent to fight the most dangerous hunter in the galaxy.

Adrien Brody plays Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors including Yakuza, convicts and death squad members who come to realise they have been brought together as game for Predators. Brody is perhaps the most esteemed of the cast, alongside veteran Laurence Fishburne once again playing the wisened mercenary. Rodriguez favourite Danny Trejo`, Spider-man 3's Topher Grace and Alice Braga from I Am Legend also feature to add further conviction to the project.

But the human characters are not going to be the star attractions: the Predators with their thermo-imaging masks, red triangular laser sights and numerous weapons dispatching the cannon fodder thrown into the jungle are what will draw the crowds, and Antal looks to have delivered going by a trailer full of menacing moments. Antal has spoken about two separate tribes and several different species, providing a range of personalities and hunting techniques. This will be the Predator movies which fleshes out the old foes in new directions and should be all the better for it. So long as Antal has found the form he displayed with the impressive Control and taut thriller Vacancy rather than his most recent and easily-forgotten actioner Armoured, Predators will be a 2010 summer blockbuster to savour.