Predators is a high-powered action film through and through. The movie opens with Royce (Adrian Brody) hurtling towards the earth, having awoken in this predicament and trying desperately to get his chute open in time. Once he lands, he finds that he is not alone in this humid and lush jungle, but there are others who have suffered the same, odd fate; some whose chutes opened and some whose didn't. Soon, the members of this impromptu "team" begin to piece together what has happened. Each one is a hunter in their own right, whether they be a mercenary like Royce, a trained assassin like Cuchillo (Danny Trejo, Machete) or even a member of the Yakuza like Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien). They aren't all seedy, however. Isabelle (Alice Braga, I Am Legend) is a member of the IDF and although she's a highly skilled killer, she has a good heart. There's also a fighter from Serbia named Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov) and Mombasa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) from Sierra Leone, and finally, the odd man out, a fairly helpless doctor named Edwin (Topher Grace, That 70's Show). The group soon discovers empty cages that have also dropped from the sky and the Predators' skull-filled camp and realize that they, the hunters, have become the prey of something far more dangerous than any of them.
As the players fight for their lives, they come upon a survivor, "the one that got away." This somewhat crazy loner named Noland (Lawrence Fishburne, CSI) fills them in on all sorts of info and they come to realize that not only are they on some alien planet, but that the only way off this rock is on the aliens' ship. So they decide to run, but also to try to kill the three Predators hunting them, or at the very least, die trying.
Predators is an action-packed thrill ride and doesn't disappoint. It looks amazing on Blu-ray, whether it's the crisp and realistic explosions, the splattering blood or the lush, verdant jungle planet. Surround sound is just as stellar and the whispers of the Predators' mimicking voices will cause your head to whip around. If you are looking for special features, you've come to the right place. There are deleted/extended scenes, but I didn't really notice much difference between them and the final cut aside from some deleted cursing. I think they were cut mostly for ratings and time. However, the cool stuff can be found in the prequel Motion Comics, where you get to see each character's backstory. There are also featurettes talking about Rodriguez and Antal's re-envisioning of the Predator universe and everything that went into making the film, plus one on The Chosen, those selected as prey, which offers a little more information as to what makes each of them tick. Finally, you've got commentary with Rodriguez and Antal, plus a short featurette on making a scene and a handful of BD-Live extras that I had trouble accessing, since they didn't really seem to work for long whether I streamed them or downloaded them. But honestly, they are rehashes of what's on the disc anyway.
If you lost faith in the Predator franchise after that last drivel, Aliens Versus Predator, don't give up hope. Not only has the series received the shot of life it needed with Predators, but I can't wait to see where the series goes next. Highly recommended.
