Crowds throng the theatre, perhaps hoping to repeat the edge-of-seat-thrill of watching the original Predator movie. They are in for a disappointing ride.
A nail biter this is not.
The first thing that let’s this movie down is its complete and utter incoherence. It’s hard to understand what’s really going on. The exposition is terrible and the dialogue is hard to follow. It will take a whole lot of imagination and some amount of speculation on your part to fill in the vast gaps this movie leaves. Perhaps this is the director’s intention. It seems unlikely though.
The performances are underwhelming too. Adrien Brody is suitably roguish and aloof, for seemingly no reason. Topher Grace feels the need to borrow from both his ’That 70’s Show’ and ’Spiderman 3’ characters. Lawrence Fishbourne has a blink and miss role. One wonders why he bothered in the first place. Alice Braga fills the one requisite female spot in the cast without much fanfare.
Nimrod Antal who has also directed Vacancy and 2009’s Armored, falls way short of expectations. The original Predator was iconic in it’s storyline and execution. This one is neither. There are vague moments when one thinks the film might just be taking an interesting turn. But it never does.
The cinematography is possibly one of the best parts of the movie. But nice camera work in the absence of plot and performance isn’t reason enough to watch this movie.
And lovers of the original Predator movie... beware. You are in for a big disappointment.