Las Vegas Weekly

Summer slaughter: “Predators” is B-movie fun

The Details

Predators

Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga

Directed by Nimrod Antal

Rated R. Opens Friday

Beyond the Weekly

Predators

IMDb: Predators

Rotten Tomatoes: Predators

In a terrible movie summer such as this one, sometimes a well-engineered B-movie like Predators can make your day. Borrowing most of its ideas (including a samurai sword fight) from existing genres, it begins when eight international soldiers, mercenaries and assorted killers wake up to find themselves in a mysterious jungle. The white male (Brody) takes the lead, with Alice Braga, Danny Trejo and others following. They bicker, learn to work together and die off one by one, as they discover the real reason they’re there: to fight the evil dreadlocked, invisible predators as seen in Predator (1987) and three other sequels and spin-offs.

Directed in lean B-movie style by Nimrod Antal (Armored)—and closely produced by Robert Rodriguez—the movie sometimes gets a little dark and a little shaky, and the screenplay never really exploits the “teaming up against a greater evil” idea. Nor does it really make interesting use of the group’s wild card, a doctor (Grace), but as the Little Richard song that explodes over the closing credits says, there’s some fun to be had here.