Summer Movie Smackdown: Predators

Director: Nimrod Atal

Starring: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishurne (who's looking chunky), and Danny Trejo, aka Machete

Plot? - The most badass hardened killers on planet earth and transported to an alien planet to face off against the most badass hardened killers, excuse me, predators in the galaxy.

Reminds You Of?  -  This reminds you of "Predator" and that's a great thing. There are no aliens to fight, no civilians who don't know what they're doing, and no place to hide (sorry, I had to). Everyone here knows what they're up against and acts like it.

Ass Kicking Factor (AKF) - What do you get when you put a mercenary, a black ops soldier, a russian brute with a minigun, a maniac African, a convicted death row inmate, and a ruthless samurai on a planet with big tall aliens with guns and dreadlocks? An wild action movie with an butt kicking factor that's through the atmosphere. By the time the hatchets, swords, and giant blades come out, this thing is just taking care of it.

Oh Shit Moments (OSM) - The movie is full of them, but I wanna take a moment and step away from the spine rips and exploding faces to talk about the acting here. With the exception of Brody, no one here has any acting hardware. Yet all of them are very convincing playing characters that are being hunted for their lives on an alien planet. Not once in the film did I think, wow, that guy clearly is "acting" ( I thought this during "A-Team") and that is the real OSM of the film (the spine rips are pretty dope too).

Memorable Dialogue  - This film doesn't have as much memorable dialogue, it's mainly fighting, yelling, and wild wild action. Adrien Brody gets some good lines, but more on that below.

MOM Factor - Negative one million. The only strategy to convince a Mom to see this would be take some angle that Adrien Brody is an academy award winning actor who really taking his acting abilities in new level, and that level is kicking alien bounty hunter ass

TPG Truth Drop - This isn't as much a truth drop, as it's a kick to your face from the newest action star Adrien Brody. I can't say I'm not surprised, I called way back in July 2009, check out the post. Brody, an Academy award winning actor takes the role of the mercenary Royce and dominates it on every level. His voice, the way he interacts with people, the mannerisms he handles multiples weapons, and his overwhelming physicality make the movie immensely enjoyable. He's not Arnold, and that's a good thing. Rather than try to replace the action icon, we as the viewers witness the potential birth of a new one.