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Predators
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (29th November 2010). |
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The Film
 When a film series or character has been taken to such a fathomless depth that it seems they couldn’t possibly sink any lower, as a fan you can only hope that the next picture redeems past mistakes and reclaims its footing in cinema. Such has been the case with the "Predator" films. After exploding out of the gate with one of the most testosterone-laden, adrenaline-fueled manly action films ever birthed from Hollywood (with a cast of he-men that has yet to be topped in terms of sheer muscle power), “Predator” (1987), the series came to a dead end after the poorly-received “Predator 2” (1990). That film was seen as a turkey when it was released, but it has since gained a strong cult following among fans. Cementing that newly-found admiration for “Predator 2” was the long-awaited “AVP: Alien vs. Predator” (2004), a film so completely inept and horribly scripted, acted and designed that nothing could have infuriated fans more. That is, until “AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem” (2007) was unleashed. The hope was that film would right the wrongs Paul W.S. Anderson’s film seemed to irreversibly create, and with a smokin’ red band trailer full of gore galore, it looked like that shit was in the bag! Then the film came and it managed to make “AVP” look like “Predator”. Ouch. That looked to be the final nail in the coffin of both respective franchises. But, Fox loves to whore out its properties. After all, they’re best known for making some of the worst decisions when it comes to filmmaking, so why not keep beating a dead horse? In 2009, it was announced that both the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises were going to be exhumed and put back on display. Though "Alien" is likely to be getting a (needless) prequel to that seminal 1979 classic, "Predator" was handed over to Robert Rodriguez and his Troublemaker Studios for an overhaul. Fox wanted someone with a passion for the creature who could knock this one out on the cheap (the budget was around $35 million). Rodriguez pitched them his ideas, secured director Nimród Antal to helm the pic and he “independently” made the picture in his own backyard of Texas, with some additional photography shot in Hawaii. I’ll admit that it looked like Rodriguez was doing everything right – the promotional materials for the film were sleek and exquisitely sharp, the trailers sold an otherworldly storyline heavy on action by both creature and man, he displayed the right sense of knowledge and ambition about the project – it looked as though the post-traumatic memories of “AVPR” were about to be wiped clean and replaced thanks to another ass-kicking entry in this series after a 20 year wait for something worthy. But, as I quickly learned, the enthusiasm Rodriguez and Antal share for “Predator” looks to have cast its shadow over a film which ultimately plays out less like a long-awaited sequel and more like a straight-up remake of the first picture. “Predators” (2010) was going to be to the original film what “Aliens” (1986) was to its progenitor, but it ends up looking like a slick version of what we already got back in 1987. The film essentially begins in media res as we follow Royce (Adrien Brody) awakening mid-air to find he’s free falling rapidly to a jungle below him. Panicked and confused, his chute opens up just in time for him to crash land into the canopy below. Down there, he comes across several others who are just as confounded as he is about where they are. They all learn that each is a trained warrior in their own right, whether it be as a covert ops soldier, a criminal, part of the Japanese Yakuza… they all possess the ability to be lethal when required. Not long after, they deduce that the planet they are on is not Earth, but rather a game preserve used for hunting, and they’re the game. They encounter a brood of nasty alien hounds which flush them out and cause one member, Cuchillo (a severely underused Danny Trejo), to be killed and used for bait. They all escape together before soon being confronted by Noland (Laurence Fishburne), a man who has managed to survive on this planet for a number of years thanks to his quick thinking, though he may be less sane than he leads on. Armed with the knowledge of what’s hunting them out there, the group do everything they can to kill the three alien hunters closing in on them all while remembering that, no matter what happens, they still need to find a way off this planet. I’ll be the first to admit that I got all kinds of excited when I learned of the film’s premise. Put the Predator back in a jungle on Earth and you might as well just remake the first film, put him in a city and you’re re-doing the second… but have the action (finally) take place in space? Jackpot. It’s no secret that the driving motivation for any Predator is to hunt big game, so putting a group of the world’s most dangerous men on a small planet used as a game preserve sounded like a fantastic idea. There were talks of having the “classic” design of the Predator from the 1987 film making an appearance, seeing new breeds of Predator hunters – even alien hounds that they used to flush out game would be employed. I tend to put a lot of faith in Rodriguez because the man knows his stuff and he does his damndest to please genre fans. But, I don’t think he always hits the mark. In fact, he often stops at the mark to hang out for a while, then sort of jumps past it a bit. I appreciate and applaud the man’s unbridled sense of ambition when he’s putting a film together, but I feel like he can occasionally get so wrapped up in nailing the tone of a film that he loses focus on just making it work on its own. A great example of this is “Planet Terror” (2007), his half of the feature-length exploitation opus “Grindhouse” (2007). His plan was to create a film that played as an homage to those sleazy classics seen on 42nd. St. during the days of old, but he placed so much focus on “scratching” the prints and making the film an outrageous drive-in feature that he overcooked the ingredients a little too much, leaving the final film a good, but not great, slab of horror. Here, with “Predators”, he seems to have been overly concerned with making a film that echoed the original, but it ends up becoming a not-so-thinly veiled remake. You’re probably wondering why I keep placing the onus on Rodriguez since he’s just the producer. For one, the film may no have been written by him, but the film was given the greenlight based on a spec script Rodriguez had written for Fox back in the 90's. Back then, his wild ideas would have generated an alarmingly massive budget, but today’s technology is far more accessible and capable than it was then. Secondly, I view “Predators” as being akin to “Poltergeist” (1982) in that, though Spielberg produced that film, we all know he directed it. Rodriguez might not have directed “Predators”, but make no mistake that this film was his love child. Now that I’ve got that distinction out of the way, let’s dissect where things fall apart. For one thing, Adrien Brody is no Austrian Oak. Pump him up all you want, he doesn’t even match The Governator’s physique now, forget when he was still ripped and in prime shape back in the 80's. Yet, the film features Brody shirtless, caked in mud, mugging (and flexing) so hard for the camera that I kept waiting for him to have an aneurysm. I think he’s a great actor, but he wouldn’t even register if I were asked to name some current Hollywood tough guys. I know they were trying to prove that wiry, muscular men can be just as lethal, but if you’re going to try for that at least don’t blatantly crib from Arnold’s repertoire. I heard Brody lobbied hard to get this part, even sending in an audition tape of himself, shirtless, to prove that he’d been packing on the pounds needed to portray a badass worthy of intergalactic conflict. I just think he was wrong for the part. The rest of the cast is actually quite solid, save for Topher Grace. His character’s surprise reveal is one of the weakest aspects of this film, and it’s also completely unnecessary in a movie already rife with danger. But, the remainder is filled with some smart characters that are more interesting than Brody’s lead. They didn’t just cram a bunch of juiceheads into the film; these people are all vastly different with only one unifying trait. Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchein), the Yakuza hitman, stood out most to me thanks to his stoic demeanor and complete and total lack of fear. His samurai sword vs. wrist blade fight with a Predator produced one of my favorite moments in the film, even if the set-up and music made it a more-than-obvious rip of the “man alone on a log” moment with Billy (Sonny Landham) in the original. Alice Braga plays Isabelle, a South American freedom fighter who can handle herself among the big boys. I was reminded of the Anna (Elpidia Carrillo) character from “Predator” because Isabelle is a woman who can think quickly on her feet and doesn’t need to be coddled by the men. Braga is a strong actress and I think her performance outshines Brody’s in many ways. The most useless character award goes to Laurence Fishburne as the marooned solider who knows what’s hunting the group. The trailers seemed to indicate that he was the ultimate badass, but viewers will quickly learn he’s just the ultimate horse’s ass. His scenes grind the film to a halt. You might have been able to forget this film is cannibalizing the original had it not been for John Debney’s score. Alan Silvestri, composer of the score for the original film, was asked to return to handle duties on this picture, but he was busy wasting his talents on “The A-Team” (2010), so Debney was contracted to provide the tunes. He expressed an interest in producing a score that was influenced by Silvestri’s, but the final product sounds like he just handed Rodriguez a copy of that score on CD and called it a day. Right from the opening of the film, we’re treated to cue after cue over Silvestri’s classic, well-known score. Debney appears to have done nothing to make the music his own, choosing to rely on recycling the themes from “Predator” rather than giving “Predators” its own memorable music. And the icing on the cake would have to be the film’s closing track: Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally”. Oy vey. Someone should tell these guys what “homage” means. You’re probably wondering what I liked here, since it sounds like this is a vitriol-heavy review. Truth be told, blatant aping aside, the film has some good moments. I’m glad that we finally got a "Predator" film that features more than one of the eponymous hunters. More than one Predator means that we get to see our group take down one or two, something the first two canon films lacked. It also means we get to see how they hunt in a group, and it also allows us to see the different races of Predator that exist. A key plot pointing this film involves a “blood feud” between two distinct species of Predator. One is the “classic” design we know from the first film, while the other species features different coloration and facial features. Fans of the comic books may recall there was a series called “Blood Feud” back in the 90's. The film doesn’t have nearly enough screen time to allow this angle to fully play out, but it does add a unique angle to these hunters that might be better realized in a possible sequel. There’s also an abundance of gore strewn throughout the picture, the best sequence of which involves one of my favorite methods of trophy collection they utilize: the spine removal. All of the practical FX work was handled by longtime Rodriguez collaborators KNB, so genre fans know to expect nothing but the best when they’re involved. It was a noble effort, and the putrid stench of the “AVP” films has been mostly aired out, but “Predators” hits too many marks from the first film to feel like something that can stand alone. In his quest to satisfy fans, Rodriguez ended up making almost the exact same film. Maybe it was out of fear, or maybe he’s secretly harbored a feeling that he could do a better job than John McTiernan did back in 1987. But, he didn’t. He assisted in honing a film worthy of its placement in the series’ canon, but if he’s given a chance to oversee a sequel then he’s got to make sure it can stand alone. When you make something so similar to a veritable classic, fans will simply stick to what they already know and love rather than look to replace it with an imitator. “Predators” is a film that makes me want to watch “Predator”; it should be a film that simply makes me want to watch it based on its own merit. The door is left wide open should Fox decide they want another entry in this extraterrestrial universe, and I’m game as long as they can breathe some new life into this reanimated carcass.
Video
I think Fox has been spoiling me because I’ve come to expect nothing but stellar Blu-ray transfers from them, especially when it’s a new release. True to my expectations, the 2.35:1 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded image looks spectacular. Spread out across a 50GB Blu-ray disc, the picture is simply awash in lush green hues of the alien jungle for the first half of the film. Though daylight is minimal, the image pops off the screen with an array of foliage that rivals nature documentaries featured on the Discovery Channel. There aren’t many other primary colors featured, so don’t expect to see a vivid palette leaping off your screen, but you feel like you’re trapped in this sweltering, humid jungle with our group of killers. This transfer really gets to show off once night hits, though. A large majority of the film takes place in near or total darkness, so the concern is, naturally, how shadow delineation holds up in such dark contrast. Thankfully, the answer is quite well. Aside from the occasional shots that exhibited some background noise, the detail in these dark conditions is striking. This isn’t a well-lit planet, so the most the film has to go by is the moonlight or fires that spring up. One of the best looking scenes was also one of my favorites: the samurai sword duel. The wind blowing the tall grass in the moonlight looks simply exquisite. Detailed close-ups of the Predator makeup looks astounding, proving that KNB really knows how to make their work appear seamless on screen. Of course, looking so sharp can also have its drawbacks, and some of the CGI work looks rather out of place against the organics of the real world settings. Specifically, the alien hounds used by the Predators. In action, they’re CGI monstrosities, but once subdued the practical FX work of KNB makes them look tangible. The other major eyesore is the explosion that rocks our group right after a meeting with Laurence Fishburne’s character. I know this was a low budget production, but the fire looks like something from the NBC Movie of the Week. Of course, I’ve already read nerds proclaiming that we don’t know how fire would react in the atmosphere of this planet, but I’m still not going to let that pass as an excuse; it needed some polish.
Audio
What good would sumptuous visuals be without a booming audio track? I wouldn’t know, since the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound track mixed at 48 kHz/24-bit on “Predators” is a monster. This is film about being hunted in a jungle, so not only is it important that the ambient sounds of insects and animals fill out the track (they do), but you also need to feel like danger can strike from anywhere. The track nails that aspect by assaulting listeners from every angle with weapons aplenty. We never miss a beat as our group trek through the jungle, sometime at a breakneck pace, in an effort to elude their hunters. Predator assault cannons explode from every corner when the attack begins, but the track can also prove subtle when the trademark “sching” of the wrist blades are sprung into the action. The low end is no slouch, with some thunderous booms bolstering the track on several occasions. Dialogue is crisp and clear, even in this hostile alien jungle. Through all the gunfire and Predator howls, there was never an issue making out any of the actors on screen. Alan Silve- er, I mean John Debney’s score sounds marvelous, with his cues and quick-paced selections maintaining the feverish pace of the group working through this territory while trying to evade capture. I might fault the guy for crafting a score that sounds too reminiscent of Silvestri’s, but I can’t deny that it all sounds fabulous in lossless audio. There are also Spanish, French and Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound mixes included. Subtitles are available in English for hearing impaired, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese and Traditional Mandarin. Sorry, non-traditionalists!
Extras
“Predators” hits home with a very solid slate of extra features that include an audio commentary, motion comics, featurettes, deleted/extended scenes and the film’s theatrical trailer in addition to a few more odds and ends. The requisite digital copy is also included on a second disc in the package. The film didn’t exactly light the box office on fire, but I’m glad to see Fox is still giving it the royal treatment on home video. DISC ONE: We start things off with an audio commentary from producer Robert Rodriguez and director Nimród Antal. Now, Antal may have directed the film but you can tell this is Robert’s baby by the sheer fact that he dominates this track. Commentaries from Rodriguez are always engaging and informative, this being no exception. He delves deep into how the project came together years after his spec script, which originally focused on Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), was written. He and Antal talk about their efforts to craft a film that used many elements from the original, but without remaking it. They both express a dislike for everything that came after that film, something I can’t entirely disagree with them for. These two have a great, friendly connection that gives the track a laid back feel. It opened me up to being a little more forgiving on some choices they made, since they do offer up some very in-depth explanations for certain decisions made in the script. The highlighted extra to this Blu-ray is a series of exclusive prequel motion comics (1080p) which give viewers some background on a few of the characters in the film; we also get a glimpse of what they were doing right before being abducted. While I think this is an interesting idea, the vignettes are too short to provide a wealth of information. Most people can probably guess the background of each character just as well as these comics showcase it. - “Moments of Extraction” contains motion comics for the following characters: - “Isabelle” runs for 2 minutes and 21 seconds. - “Cuchillo” runs for 1 minute and 59 seconds. - “Hanzo” runs for 1 minute and 38 seconds. - “Mombasa” runs for 2 minutes and 13 seconds. - “Crucified” runs for 2 minutes and 11 seconds, this motion comics tells the story of the crucified Predator the team stumbles across at the camp site early on in the film. “Evolution of the Species: Predator Reborn” (1080p) contains featurettes on several topics, and they can be played altogether with the “play all” function or watched individually. They include: - “Bloodline” runs for 3 minutes and 34 seconds, Antal and Rodriguez talk about the lineage of the Predator series, and how the first film was used as a blueprint. Antal mentions that they threw in “a few lines and moments” that were influenced by the first film. Really, guys, just a few? Because I think you meant a few dozen. At least. - “De-cloaking the Invisible: Alien Terrain” runs for 10 minutes and 41 seconds, the terrain in Austin is surprisingly similar to Hawaii in some areas, so the production was able to essentially use Rodriguez’s backyard to keep costs down. They also show behind-the-scenes footage of an impressive stunt drop off an 80 ft. waterfall down into the ocean below in Hawaii. - “Intelligent Design: The Hunting Camp” runs for 5 minutes and 45 seconds, the film’s production design team worked 7 days a week for 4 weeks straight to put together the Predator camp site where the crucified Predator is found. - “Predators as Prey” runs for 9 minutes and 32 seconds, the filmmakers discuss what approach they were looking to take in assembling our large ensemble, including how they wanted to avoid a castoff muscle men since the first film already covered that. We then get some face time with the cast to talk about their roles in the film. - “Yautja Transformed” runs for 6 minutes and 20 seconds, not what I was expecting, this looks at the incredible job KNB did on the film’s practical FX. The work they did on crafting an updated version of the “classic” Predator design, in addition to creating three all-new Predators, is amazing. I know anytime they’re handling FX on a movie that, even if the film sucks, their work will always be exemplary. - “Rite of Passage” runs for 4 minutes and 41 seconds, Rodriguez talks about what initially drew him to choose Nimród Antal to direct this film. Antal speaks about his desire to make this film, what an honor it was, and we get some behind-the-scenes footage of him directing on set. “The Chosen” (1080p) is a featurette which runs for 4 minutes and 52 seconds, we get some short glimpses at the human predators who have been abducted and sent to this planet to be hunted. It’s a typical EPK piece, so don’t expect much depth. “”Fox Movie Channel Presents Making a Scene” (480p) is a featurette which runs for 7 minutes and 6 seconds, it’s your typical mash-up of quick-cut interviews spliced with behind-the-scenes footage half the time. The other half is devoted to discussing the Predator dog sequence and showing a bit of how it was shot. There are 9 deleted/extended scenes (1080p) available for the following: - “Dead Man’s Parachute” runs for 59 seconds, the guy whose chute didn’t deploy shocks Royce and Cuchillo when it unexpectedly bursts open. - “Cuchillo and Isabelle” runs for 1 minute and 3 seconds, the two exchange a couple sarcastic jokes. - “Team “Orientated” Group” runs for 1 minute and 26 seconds, the men briefly argue about remaining together in the jungle. - “Third Most Wanted” runs for 1 minute and 46 seconds, Stans (Walton Goggins) brags about his ranking on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. - “Cuchillo Unleashes” runs for 44 seconds, learn how a real man takes a piss. - “Why Are You Here?” runs for 2 minutes and 58 seconds, Royce confronts Edwin (Topher Grace) because he assumes he knows why they’re all there since Edwin is obviously not a stone killer. - “They’re Smarter Than That” runs for 51 seconds, Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov) tries to set a trap, but Noland tells him not to bother. - “Stans and Isabelle Naked” runs for 1 minute and 36 seconds, Stans propositions Isabelle for a session of wild sex since this “might be the last time” they’ll ever get to screw. - “They’re Still Coming” runs for 36 seconds, Royce has a hard time evading the hunters. The film’s fantastic theatrical trailer (1080p) runs for 1 minute and 56 seconds. A “Digital Copy “How To”” promo runs for 3 minutes and 35 seconds. I can’t believe it takes that long to tell someone to stick the disc in their computer and follow the instructions. A collection of bonus trailers available for the following: - “Knight and Day” runs for 2 minutes and 21 seconds. - “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps: runs for 2 minutes and 34 seconds. - “What’s Hot on TV on DVD” promo runs for 52 seconds. - “The A-Team” runs for 2 minutes and 27 seconds. - “Mirrors 2” runs for 1 minute and 43 seconds. - “Machete” runs for 1 minute and 57 seconds. Finally, the disc is BD-Live enabled with links to use Fox’s “Live Lookup” feature, which just uses IMDB to give you information on the actors seen in the film. It also touts “Live Extras: Go Behind the Scenes with brand-new exclusive footage”, though neither of those two options were available for me at the time of this writing. Will they surface in the future? Who knows and, honestly, who cares? I want my bonus features on the disc, not online, thanks. DISC TWO: This is a digital copy of the film available for use with both Windows Media and iTunes-based devices. The file size is 1.42 GB, and the image looks remarkably good when sampled on an iPhone 4.
Packaging
Though the two-disc set may come housed in an eco amaray keepcase, at least it features a striking, sleek black slipcover which has the promo artwork for the film featured, that of a silhouetted Predator against a black backdrop. It looks sharp as hell.
Overall
“Predators” hits too many beats from the original film to really stand on its own. Rodriguez and Antal brought some great concepts into the fold, and I know they tried to make this something unique and special, but too much of it feels like a retread to truly satisfy fans. I can only hope that if they get the go-ahead to make a sequel that it goes places we’ve never seen before. At least this Blu-ray sports an excellent transfer to go along with the robust audio. And when you toss in a generous helping of some worthwhile bonus features, this disc looks pretty attractive.
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