Predators (2010) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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If a group of geese is a gaggle and crows are a murder, can we define a chaos of Predators?

The Predators sequel returns the franchise to its roots, creating an interesting new take on the classic formula. It’s hunt or be hunted in this week’s Sci-Fi Saturdays.

First Impressions

Several humans appear in a jungle, armed with weapons. The intertitles say that they are the most dangerous people on the planet just before mentioning that this is not their planet. Soon, they are being hunted by aliens, as they realize that they are the prey. It’s the return of the Predators on their home turf!

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

A mercenary, Royce (Adrien Brody), awakens, falling through the air. He manages to pull the handle on his parachute, crashing into a jungle. He meets Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), an enforcer for a Mexican cartel, and Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), a Russian commando, who all recall last being in battle before being abducted. The three form an uneasy truce–not trusting one another–and explore the area. They find Isabelle (Alice Braga), an IDF sniper, and Hanzo (Louis Ozawa), a quiet Yakuza enforcer, before running into a stand-off between Stans (Walton Goggins), a death-row inmate, and Mombasa (Mahershala Ali), a death squad soldier from Sierra Leone. They respond to the cries of Edwin (Topher Grace), a surgeon whose parachute is stuck in a tree.

Royce frees Edwin but questions why they are all here. Most are soldiers, but there’s also a prisoner and a doctor. Nothing adds up. Are they dead? Kidnapped for a ransom? Is this some sort of test? Royce prefers to be on his own, but Isabelle counsels sticking together when she shows him that their compasses don’t work. The group discovers a series of empty crates and some dead fall traps apparently placed by a Special Forces officer, who is currently dead. Mombasa thinks he sees something in the tree line but says nothing.

The group crests a ridge and sees a strange sky with multiple moons or planets and realizes they’re not on Earth. Six tusked panther-like creatures attack them. The group uses most of their ammunition to kill just five of them before the final one is called away. Royce realizes that they are on a game preserve, and they are prey. Cuchillo is killed and used as bait in a trap. The group continues until they find a campsite where an alien Predator is tied to a strange post. Other, larger Predators show up, killing Mombasa and chasing the others over a waterfall. Crawling out of the water, Isabelle reveals she thinks she knows what the creatures are and relates a story of a 1987 mission in Guatemala.

The remaining group of six stumble on Noland (Laurence Fishburne), an Army AirCav officer who has been surviving on the planet for up to 10 hunting seasons. He brings them back to his hideout, offering them food and shelter. However, during the night, Noland attempts to asphyxiate the group with smoke and take their supplies. Royce sets off a grenade that draws one of the Predators to them. Noland is killed, and Nikolai sacrifices himself with two grenades, blowing himself and the Tracker Predator. As they flee, Stans is killed by Berserker Predator, who rips his spine out as a trophy.

Roys, Isabelle, Edwin, and Hanzo run across a field, believing they can free the captive Predator and use its ship to take them back to Earth. Hanzo stops, urging the others forward as he pulls out a sword (stolen from Noland’s stash) and fights the Falconer Predator. He kills it, but succumbs to his wounds. Edwin steps in a bear trap, which Royce realizes is only to maim him–slowing them all down. Edwin begs for help, saying he has kids (but shows a picture he stole from Nikolai). Isabelle decides to stay, while Royce feels no pity. Isabelle and Edwin fall into a tiger trap while Royce frees the captive Predator and heads to the ship.

The Berserker Predator returns to the camp, killing the captive Predator and detonating the ship–apparently killing Royce. In the pit, Edwin reveals his true nature to Isabelle. On Earth, he’s a killer too, but here he is one of “them.” He cuts her with a scalpel laced with neurotoxin. Royce appears and pulls them out of the trap. Secretly realizing what is up with Edwin, Royce kills him. Berserker Predator appears and battles Royce, who uses fire as a way to blind the creature to Royce’s position. Royce is beaten, but Isabelle manages to regain enough movement to shoot the creature, distracting it so Royce can behead it. The next morning, the two survivors see new parachutes falling, realizing they still need to find a way off the planet.

“This planet is a game preserve. And we’re the game. In case you didn’t notice, we just got flushed out.” – Royce

History in the Making

Audiences had been waiting a long time for a worthy sequel to the 1987 film Predator, and they finally got one, 23 years later, with Predators. Some may equate Predators to Aliens, the same way they might compare Predator to Alien. The original films were about singular creatures coming into contact with humans, while the sequels increased the number of creatures. But this is hardly a fair comparison. Aliens was the second xenomorph film, and right out of the gate, it expanded the lore and mythology of these creatures while creating a film that was easily greater than the classic original. Predators doesn’t go quite as big, only pushing the boundaries of the mythology slightly. It also was the fourth sequel to the 1987 film, following Predator 2 (1990) and a pair of Aliens vs Predator films in 2004 and 2007, respectively. And while there is still some enjoyment from Predator 2  for fans, Predators feels more like the natural sequel to the original film.

One of the most surprising aspects of the film is the involvement of Robert Rodriguez and his Troublemaker Studios. However, he does not serve as the director of the film as some may assume, but the producer instead. The story for Predators is based on a script written by Rodriguez in 1995. It was originally passed over by Fox Studios based on budgetary concerns. In the late aughts, an executive found the treatment and asked Rodriguez if he was still interested. He recruited first-time screenwriters Alex Litvak & Michael Finch to write the script and hired director Nimród Antal, whose tense thriller Vacancy had advanced his career. Together, they created a film that feels much more like a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring everything about the films in between.

Genre-fication

From the film’s opening, it gets into the action quickly. Set in a jungle, it gives audiences the feel of that original 1987 film (and the fake-out that Predator 2 had where it opened over a “jungle” but was quickly revealed to be Los Angeles). But soon, the characters and the audience realize that they are no longer on Earth, pushing the franchise into new and exciting areas. To date, all previous Predator films had been set on Earth, with the aliens coming to hunt us: starting with the South American jungles, Los Angeles during a heat wave, the Antarctic, and finally, rural Colorado. Setting this new film on an Earth-like world creates numerous new challenges for the characters. They no longer have the home-field advantage. Plus, being marooned on an unknown planet, however far from home, becomes an insurmountable issue about escaping.

The franchise also updates some other core elements of the series. A new style of Predator is introduced. The three hunters that come for the humans (listed as Tracker, Falconer, and Berserker) are all bigger and buffer than the types of Predators seen before. Not only do these new hunters come for the humans, but they also hunt other members of the Predator species. The captive Predator is designed much like the classic 1987 version, making this the first time that they have been shown hunting anything besides humans and xenomorphs. The aliens also have a pack of hunting “dogs” that they use to flush out Royce and his team, which may or may not be native to the Predator’s planet. The assumption is that the hunting preserve where the film is set is some sort of pack-in/pack-out sort of place, where they have to bring all the supplies they need. Apparently, these particular Predators prefer to hunt humans since those are the majority of characters depicted. Besides the eight main characters, there’s Noland and the other (dead) human soldier. The only aliens that are prey include the captive Predator and the other alien that the soldiers kill.

Societal Commentary

Predators does a good job of creating situations where both the audience and characters make inaccurate assumptions. The first assumption is that the humans are on Earth when actually they’re on an alien planet. The second is the assumption that the Predators somehow made a mistake in bringing Edwin along. In the group of eight humans, six are soldiers, Stans is a prisoner–who audiences can assume is a violent person, based on him saying he was due for execution in two days, but the final character, Edwin, is a doctor. Presumably, these alien creatures aren’t that dumb, at least not based on their previous encounters with people. Maybe they didn’t understand the medical profession, people might say. Yet in the end, the Predators were spot on, including Edwin in the group. He’s as dangerous a predator as the other soldiers, especially since no one sees him coming. The fact that he’s unassuming and played by the slightly nerdy-looking Topher Grace puts a spin on the finale where his true nature is revealed. One can assume that the Predators were choosing not to kill him, to allow him to thin the herd from within. Or perhaps it’s just that everyone seemed to want to protect him, since they believed he was wrongly picked for this hunt and felt sorry for him.

The film also makes statements about the importance of teamwork. Well, at least Royce deciding that he needs to work with others. His backstory is unknown to all, with the only clear thing being that he prefers to work alone. He does work well with others but chooses most of the time not to. It’s mostly by default that he sticks with the group. Between the shock of discovering he’s on an alien planet and Isabelle pointing out that any compasses won’t work, the group is quickly pursued, so Royce doesn’t have much time to make a choice about staying or leaving. He discovers that his chances for survival are better with a team than without. Why does he choose to listen to Isabelle more often than the others? Perhaps it’s because she’s attractive, but he seems to have some other connection to her. Maybe she reminds him of an old teammate or sibling. He definitely seems to understand that Edwin is troubled moments after the reveal is made to the audience. He’s somehow alive (amazingly, not having been blown up by the crashing ship) and seemingly prepared for Edwin’s duplicity. Maybe his newfound partner will even be able to help him find a way off the planet.

The Science in The Fiction

Audiences have gotten used to suspending their disbelief about humans on alien worlds where they can breathe, drink the water, and exist at a comfortable temperature. Maybe the suspension of disbelief is that numerous aliens can come to Earth and breathe our atmosphere instead. Since Predators opens in what appears to be a South American jungle before revealing the characters are light years away, many probably give it a second thought. Additionally, the Predator species in the previous films has been able to exist on our planet, so for humans to exist on one of its planets is not unheard of. What bothers me is the introduction of the neurotoxin that Edwin sees oozing from the plant. He identifies the fauna as ‘Archaefructus liaoningensis,’ which–as many websites will mention–is an extinct plant from the Cretaceous period. It doesn’t appear to have been toxic, so this character just has a wide range of knowledge about extinct plants and doesn’t find it a bit weird that he’s seeing one. So, in the canon of the film, this plant appears to produce a neurotoxin that he is aware of. He might understand Earth-based neurotoxins, but this is an alien planet, so why would the neurotoxin work as it does on humans–paralysis for several minutes? Might they expect that there are unknown side effects from the plant that even he may not know? It’s understandable that this is all part of the clues designed to show that Edwin is not what he appears, but this has always sat wrong in my mind.

The Final Frontier

Action and sci-fi films with group dynamics have been popular since the 1960s and Star Trek. It’s interesting to gather a diverse group of characters into a stressful situation and see how they react. That’s why horror films with summer camps or school campuses work so well. The cast chosen by Rodriguez and Antal is great. They really play off each other, making for some memorable scenes. It’s just too bad that so many of them get killed off so quickly. Adrien Brody is very much off-type in his casting as Royce–which actually makes him much more interesting to watch. Lawrence Fishburne plays crazy very well. He takes a turn from the wise mentor character in The Matrix films and creates a survivor character that appears like he may also be one to help. But that is a short lived realization as he shows how he has become a survivor for so long. Alice Braga creates a tough female character that is different from other women in the Alien and Predator franchises. This role follows immediately after Repo Men, her previous film, and her minor yet important role in I Am Legend–which was her first English language film. Finally, Topher Grace plays to type as a nerdy doctor, apparently brought to this hunting planet by accident. His character reveal moves him away from the Eric Forman character he played on That 70s Show (1998-2006), and also redeems himself for his over the top role in Spider-Man 3.

Overall, Predators is a solid action sci-fi film with a little something for everyone. It opens strong, setting the audience off guard, and it continues to throw little unexpected twists and turns throughout the film. It continues to prove the adage that man is the most dangerous game. Fans may want to know more about how (or if) Royce and Isabelle survive, but no word on that at this time. Instead, the franchise returned to Earth with The Predator in 2018 and a prequel titled Prey in 2022, neither of which revisits events from this film. This year, 2025, looks to be an exciting one for fans of the Predator franchise. There are two scheduled films coming later in the year. The first is reportedly an untitled sequel to Prey, while the other, Badlands, is set in the future. Whenever these films are released, there are still plenty of exciting stories being told about these characters in comic books and other media.

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