Movies with Chris and Greg
By CHRIS HERREN & GREG ABREU
107 minutes
READER’S NOTE – Chris is vacationing with his family at the Greatest Place on Earth, recovering from the exhaustive humiliation of defending TWILIGHT ECLIPSE.
WHY I CHOSE IT – This is the fifth installment of the coolest sci-fi horror series in my lifetime, now going on 23 years, which began in 1987, and originally featured our current California Governor Schwarzenegger.
ONE SENTENCE PLOT – A hand-picked group of some of the deadliest killers in different regions on Earth are hijacked and transported to another planet, where they are tracked, killed, field-dressed and mounted by the Predator species of trophy-hunting aliens.
SUBTEXT – No matter how bad-ass you think you are, there will always be someone else out there who will make you feel like Mary Poppins on her period.
TARANTINO MOMENTS – All the Predator films have movie in-jokes and references to the Predator film(s) before it, as well as some cameo trivia from the Alien(s) films. This one adds elements of APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), as well as a scene which may amount to one of Hollywood’s most dutifully imaginative homages to samurai films ever made.
CAST – Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Oleg Taktarov, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali; Director: Nimrod Antal; Co-Producer: Robert Rodriguez, John Davis.
WARNINGS – Rated: R – Violence, Language.
GREG’s TAKE – I realize that some of you readers weren’t born when the first installment of this series premiered in 1987, named PREDATOR, starring two actors who would later become governors — Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jessie “the Body” Ventura, supported by the outstanding Bill Duke, (who was considered to direct this 2010 version). No matter – this one is like a nightmarish re-play of that modern 1987 sci-fi classic. The original was in a dense, menacing sweaty jungle (Mexico); this one is in a dense, menacing sweaty jungle (Hawaii and Texas). The original featured a squad of mercenary military killers who become the prey, this one features a squad of mercenary and military killers who become the prey. The original featured a hot Latina soldier (Elpidia Carrillo) who helped save the day, this one features a hotter Latina soldier (Alice Braga, niece of the 70s-80s-90s Brazilian bombshell Sonia Braga) who helped save the day. The original featured a staccato, old-school orchestral power sound-track punctuated by a rousing 50’s rock’n’roll hit, this one features an almost identical soundtrack with the same song wedged in there. All your favorite Predator weapons first introduced 23 years ago are here – cloaking camouflage, infra-red vision, shoulder-mounted ray guns, expandable metallic lances, projectile nets, ability to mimic like parrots, climb like monkeys, stalk like leopards, track like wolves, with the strength of Samson and the temperament of the Hulk in a roid rage.
The differences? This one lacks the taut, haunting suspense of the first one, but like a 23-year old marriage, it’s kind of hard to keep up the mystery. But the biggest difference between the original and this one is Laurence Fishburne’s character of the psychotic lone survivor from the previous Predator human hunting safaris. Fishburne, who broke into the movie biz at age 17 with APOCALYPSE NOW, combines two characters from that 1979 epic, most notably the crazed court jester played by Dennis Hopper, combined with the character of the French plantation owner.
One other difference is in the star casting – Best Actor Oscar Winner Adrien Brody (THE PIANIST 2002), no one’s obvious choice for a macho killer, bravely takes a stab at a tough-guy genre character as a battle-hardened mercenary, and most of the time, he achieves his mission.
If this is your first Predator film and you want to see the others, watch them in this order – PREDATOR (the first), AVP: ALIEN VS PREDATOR (the third), PREDATOR 2 (the second). Do not see AVPR: ALIENS VS PREDATOR-REQUIEM (the fourth), unless you have a hankerin’ for watching “Predator in Mayberry.” It’s a stinker.
CUT TO THE CHASE – See this movie now if you’re a fan of the series or sci-fi horror in general. See this now if you’ve never seen a Predator movie, and want to see what it’s all about. Wait for Netflix if you want a tense, driven action film. Skip entirely if you find sci-fi or fantasy to be an unrealistic yawn, or if seeing humans gutted and mutilated by scary giant humanoids is not your cup of tea.
LUMPIA RATING – 4 Lumpia
(out of 5)
WHY I DIDN’T SEE – INCEPTION – It struck me as convoluted and a little “so-whatty.” I may have been wrong.
(Chris and Greg area couple of regular Filipino-American guys who love and study movies. Chris is the Gen Xer who has dabbled in acting and screenwriting, and has a Ph.D in Psychology. Greg is the baby boomer 20 years senior to Chris, has dabbled in screenwriting and freelance journalism, and has three degrees. Chris and Greg are friends and co-workers dedicated to their day jobs working for Uncle Sam.)
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