Predators is the franchise's most competent revival before Prey and a considerably more entertaining film than the Alien vs. Predator entries that preceded it, a lean and well-crafted action horror film that returns the series to its survival horror roots and to the mechanics that made the original so compelling. Nimrod Antal's 2010 film delivers its action sequences with visual clarity and dramatic consequence, giving the franchise a revival of sufficient quality to justify the series' continuation after the creative nadir of the AvP era. It is not a great film. But it is a good one, and in the context of what came before it, that is no small achievement.
At a Glance
Director: Nimrod Antal
Runtime: 107 minutes
Starring: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Laurence Fishburne
Release: 2010
Critics Rating: ★★★ (3/5 stars, competent and entertaining)
Audience Rating: ★★★ (3/5 stars, a solid revival)
Review Breakdown
Plot
A group of dangerous individuals find themselves dropped into an alien jungle and hunted by a group of Predators using the planet as a game preserve. Antal builds the film's tension with structural intelligence the AvP entries entirely lacked, establishing the characters' backgrounds and their collective situation with a patience and precision that gives the survival horror mechanics dramatic weight. The gradual revelation that they are on an alien planet rather than Earth is handled with economy, and the film's pacing is assured throughout. The Predator dog sequence is the film's most purely exciting action passage, a set-piece of considerable physical energy that demonstrates Antal's command of kinetic filmmaking. Laurence Fishburne's Noland, a soldier who has survived multiple hunting seasons by hiding rather than fighting, is the film's most dramatically interesting addition and its most effective piece of world-building.
Characters
Royce is the franchise's most morally ambiguous human protagonist, a mercenary of capability and self-interest whose eventual decision to protect the group gives the film its most satisfying character arc. Brody plays the character with a physical authority that makes Royce feel threatening, a casting choice that generated scepticism before release but works considerably better on screen than the doubters anticipated. Alice Braga's Isabelle is the film's most dramatically grounded supporting character, a sniper whose knowledge of the original film's events gives her a narrative function that connects the revival to the franchise's history without feeling forced. Walton Goggins's Stans is the film's most purely enjoyable presence, a death row inmate whose cheerful sociopathy provides the film's most consistently entertaining comic relief.
Tone
Antal pitches the film at a register of sustained survival horror and atmospheric dread, returning the series to the mechanics that made the original so effective without quite achieving the original's atmospheric intelligence. The alien jungle setting is used with enough visual invention to feel distinctive, and the film's restraint in revealing the Predators recalls the original's most effective approach to the creature's dramatic function. The most effective sequences are those in which the characters' vulnerability and the environment's hostility are most directly expressed.
Meaning / Themes
The film's central concern is the relationship between predator and prey, with the suggestion that the most dangerous humans are themselves predators placed in the unfamiliar position of prey. Royce's eventual decision to protect Isabelle rather than simply survive gives the franchise's central concern with the nature of the hunt its most dramatically interesting human dimension since the original, and the film's treatment of the Predators as a species with their own internal conflicts adds a layer of mythological depth the more straightforwardly action-focused entries did not attempt.
Direction
Antal's direction is technically accomplished and dramatically assured, using the alien jungle setting with visual clarity and spatial intelligence the AvP entries entirely lacked. The Predator dog sequence is the film's directorial highlight, a demonstration of kinetic filmmaking of considerable skill. John Debney's score builds on the established franchise themes with a propulsive atmospheric precision that suits the film's survival horror register.
Cultural Reception
Predators received solid reviews on its release and was a modest commercial success, widely regarded as a significant improvement over the AvP entries and a credible revival of the franchise's core qualities. It is now seen as a competent and entertaining mid-tier entry that successfully restored the series' survival horror credentials without quite reaching the heights of the original or Prey. Brody's casting remains the most discussed creative decision, with most reviewers now acknowledging that it works better than initial scepticism suggested.
Who Should Watch
Franchise fans who want a competent and entertaining revival after the AvP era will find exactly that. Those who approach it as a lean survival horror film with a strong ensemble will find more to enjoy than the film's mid-tier reputation sometimes suggests.
Final Verdict: The franchise's most competent revival before Prey, and a film that successfully restored the series' survival horror credentials after the creative disaster of the AvP entries. Brody's Royce is the franchise's most morally complex human protagonist, Goggins's Stans is the film's most entertaining presence, and Antal's direction gives the material a competence and dramatic focus the franchise had entirely lacked since Predator 2. A solid entry that does exactly what it sets out to do.
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