Triple Prey

Well, once more Ms. Spenser has me watching a chick flick: Predators (2010). She got out her action figures, set them up to watch and we settled in for the third of the series.

The first two start with some kind of human-scale mission - this one just dumps our humans into it, literally. Adrian Brody wakes up in freefall. His parachute opens and he lands badly. He soon finds some other humans: a Mexican drug soldier (Danny Trejo), a Chechen fighter (Oleg Taktarov), a murderer from San Q (Walter Goggins), an African warlord (Mahershala Ali), a silent yakuza in a sharp suit (Louis Ozawa Changchien), and a cute soldier (Alice Braga). Also, a doctor (Topher Grace), who is kind of out of place, not being a killer or anything.

It takes a while, but they soon figure out that they are not on Earth, and that they are being hunted. They meet up with Laurence Fishburne, who has survived enough hunts to have stolen a set of camo armor and infiltrated a crashed ship. He moves and talks very quietly. But how much help will he be?

As usual, the crew gets thinned out pretty fast. But in this one, the other team members may be more dangerous than the Predators. We get a few new Preds, but also learn a little about their ecosystem and meet some of the other species they hunt. We also learn that they are learning, changing, becoming more dangerous every hunt. Which is a great excuse to keep coming up with new stories and monster designs.

The cast here is great, one of the best, I think - or maybe it's just because Danny Trejo is onboard. I know you're thinking: Adrian "Broody" Brody? Really? But he's got a new take on the Predator hero - rougher, colder, maybe smarter. Also, he's bulked up a lot, although nothing like Arnold.

I won't spoil the twist, although it's telegraphed very obviously and early on. This installment was  produced by Robert Rodrigues and directed by Hungarian Nimrod Antal - an auspicious name for a movie about hunters. All in all, a great entry in the series.

Next, we watch the AvP series (considered to be an independent branch universe). But Ms. Spenser's really excited about the next Predator, to be directed by Shane Black.