Predators

Adrien Brody está bien, pero Liam Neeson sería mejor :) La francotiradora Alice Braga es la mejor del equipo. La identificación con el clásico de la banda sonora de Silvestri se produce en los primeros segundos y los motivos musicales que caracterizan el mundo del original se conservan y utilizan con sensatez. Los guionistas también se mantienen fieles a los elementos y principios clave de la trama en los que se basó el original. No es un robo, son citas guiadas por la propia razón, con respeto por el original y, sobre todo, con un entusiasmo no disimulado por él. Con un presupuesto bajo, la pandilla de Rodríguez realizó un pequeño milagro. Por lo menos en la primera mitad de la película, que calificaría con cinco estrellas, porque realmente me llevó de vuelta a los días en los que me entregaba a las imágenes de películas. La segunda mitad, empezando por la llegada del personaje de Fishburn, ya está apostando por giros inesperados (e innecesarios) en un esfuerzo por ser «cool & in» y está jugando más con los elementos originales, que quizá es un problema más bien para mí que para la nueva generación (de Morpheus) no ligada con el original y criada en este género con guiones más sofisticados. Desaparece así la pureza del original, pero qué podemos hacer, era necesario hacer una actualización y el daño no es grande, porque todavía nos quedamos muy lejos de la deformación o imprudencia cometidas por los crossovers parásitos Alien vs. Predator, cuya mala reputación ciertamente afectará negativamente las ganancias de esta obra. Lo cual los Depredadores no se merecen, porque aunque no terminen de forma tan impresionante como empiezan y aunque barajen las cartas en otros lugares de los que deberían (¿un resumen más existencialista rindiendo homenaje también a El planeta de los simios? :), por mucho tiempo seguirán siendo la única secuela honesta y exitosa del fenómeno de la década de 1980. (02.07.2010)

The weakest predators in the history of film were playing cat and mouse with the worst soldiers on the face of the Earth. Adrien Brody put on about 15 kilograms of muscle for this role, yet he still looks like a stick. Goggins, on the other hand, generally plays fags in most movies and here he is supposed to put in an absolute performance worthy of the SAS. Neither of them managed to clear that hurdle. It looks embarrassing, and what’s even worse is the Chinese guy, who swordfights one of the predators. I don’t know if the predators were just sick of what a bunch of amateurs those morons were, of they were the weakest predators ever. However, both those things made sure that even otherwise good ideas were buried with everything else in this film. (03.10.2016)

If I wanted to use a strong word, I’d probably use "disappointment" first, but "wasted potential" seems more appropriate with hindsight. Antal is talented, there’s no denying it because for two hours I felt like I was watching unadulterated 1980s carnage. It’s aided by good cinematography, and Debney’s brilliant soundtrack (those native drums just work even twenty-three years later). The present bunch is worse. True, I can't expect psychological miniatures, but... damn, couldn't it have been stretched for a few more minutes so we could learn a little more about them? There are all sorts of excuses for this, such as the fact that action movies were made this way when the first film was made. But what do you do with one random survivor and a nutcase with a scalpel? It’s also hard to love a film where I have to hit my head a lot to shake the memory of any significant action out of it. In that regard, I'll be eagerly awaiting the Director's Cut on DVD. Until then, it gets a hesitant 3 ½ stars. PS: The first half earns five stars. (09.07.2010)

After “Arnie’s” first one, this is hands down the best film in the Predator universe, though the original holds that first place mainly for the cult status it has gained over the years. By this I mean that both are basically the same, but whereas Predators is intentionally silly in a cute 1980s way, in Predator  that’s unintentional and therefore better (or worse, depending on how you see it), thanks to is earnestness. Nimrod Antal proves that the fears about his choice as director were unwarranted. I wasn’t expecting any interesting directorial tricks, but Predators is a film where the craftsmanship and the sense for execution and atmosphere are more than enough. I had a little problem with Adrien Brody, who’s maybe a bit too good a character actor for the role. In short, Predators is almost excellent, I got exactly what I wanted. PS: “Die, you space faggot” is almost as great as “You’re one ugly motherfucker”… (08.07.2010)

Antal has an incredible sensitivity for getting that eighties feeling right, in the end Brody surprisingly doesn’t seem like Arnie’s androgynous embryo (in the ending sequence his muscle-bound body was particularly impressive... or else CGI technology is much more advanced that I thought) and so only the more expensive half away from the jungle is the only thing that spoils it; not that it’s outright bad, but it lags far behind the first half in terms of quality. In the better half, it’s so good that it is better than the original. (09.07.2010)