The Predator Films – Film Series Review

A classic franchise that went off the rails a little bit in the modern era. It started really really strong. Went down hill a little. Had some terrible crossover films (see Alien vs. Predator 1&2 – Film Series Review). Came back with a decent film. Now it is getting a new film by the great Shane Black. It’s a franchise of ups and downs. So let’s get into it!

Predator (1987)

Here it is. One of the best 80’s action movies and one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s finest. A highly trained team of army dudes head into the jungle on a simple enough extraction mission but find themselves being hunted instead. Soon the big buff army blokes are fighting for survival against the most dangerous creature of all: man in a costume the Predator! It’s a simple enough story but it just works so well. The action is great, the cast is perfect and the Predator is the perfect villain. These soldiers are used to being the toughest badasses around, and now they are confronted with the toughest, most badass awesome creature in the universe. Pretty great!

Arnie is perfect here. He’s got some sweet one liners, some killer action scenes and arms the size of tree trunks. Like, really big trees too. Then there’s Carl Weathers as his equally ripped mate. There’s a little friction between the two pals and it’s not just about who has the biggest guns. But the real star of the show is the Predator him/itself. At first he’s invisible, stalking the squad through the trees. Then when he’s finally seen he’s pretty scary looking. and that’s before he takes his mask off! He’s huge, he’s highly trained and he’s so well designed. The fact that’s he’s like the perfect warrior makes the action great too. There’s traps, lots of gun fights and a huge amount of hiding. It’s all super super great.

JACK’S SCORE: 4/5

Predator 2 (1990)

It’s the late 90’s in LA and Lieutenant Danny Glover is facing his biggest problem yet: a heatwave! Oh, and also there’s massive gang wars happening daily in the streets. AND on top of all that, there’s a Predator in town! Glover is Harrigan, a bit of a less fun version of Murtaugh from ‘Lethal Weapon‘. He’s still a great actor, but he doesn’t get much to work with. He’s dealing with these gang fights and begins investigating what turns out the be the Predator, who is killing people left right and centre because, well, just because he really loves it! There’s a lot of routine cop stuff as these detectives try to work out what is killing everybody and there’s a whole lot of stupid people too.

It’s not a particularly bad film. It’s okay enough. It just isn’t really all that great at all. There’s extended gun fights which just get a bit tiresome after a while. They’re quite bland. There’s not very many engaging characters either. Glover has a couple of mates who help him investigate, including the always great Bill Paxton playing his usual type character. But even none of them get all that much to do. It’s basically Danny Glover and the Predator and it maybe take place in a city, something which seems quite cool for a Predator film to be set in, when it comes down to it it seems pretty similar to the first film. Just more guns and more death. It’s all a little bland really.

JACK’S SCORE: 3/5

Predators (2010)

Now this is a pretty interesting concept. A load of badasses who all have their own skills get dropped onto an alien planet and are forced to survive as they realise this planet is a hunting ground for Predators. It’s just a shame that at times it goes a little off the rails. Adrian Brody is a good enough lead. He’s a bit gruff and trying too hard to not care and be cool, but he does the job. Laurence Fishburne has an interesting role of a guy who has survived on this planet alone for a really long time, slowly losing his mind. He has a story which I would have liked to see be explored a bit more, but sadly it isn’t.

The Predators are back though and this time there’s more of them! There’s some classic grey ones and there’s some huge black ones that are even more badass! Learning that there’s different types of Predator is pretty cool. I like the idea that they’re not just these hunters but actually come from a real society. But not much is done with it really. There’s a cool but brief fight between them but other than that it’s just not much of a thing. This movie is decent and brings some new stuff to the table, but once again, falls into the same sort of formula as the original. But then again, when the original is as awesome as it is, why wouldn’t you?

JACK’S SCORE: 3/5