I remember talking to some people who caught the prequel/sequel/reboot/who-the-fuck-cares-at-the-end-of-the-day Predators (2010, Nimrod Antal) in its theatrical release who complained that a more-buffed-up-than-usual Adrien Brody copped a distractingly gravelly, guttural vocal tone for his anti-hero character. The thing is, those people are right in their descriptions of Brody's performance, but dead wrong in their judgment of it. Brody makes for an entirely credible and winning badass here, and unlike King Kong, which he seemed to get lost in (I'm still extremely fond of Peter Jackson's 2005 remake, in spite of Brody's bland contribution and the hilariously retrograde oogah-boogah Skull Island natives), this is a popcorn movie in which he makes some very interesting actorly choices, as if to forcefully remind viewers of his Oscar-winning status even in this shrug-inducing context. (I imagine the success of Midnight in Paris has rekindled some Brody love out there. "DALI!!")
Laurence Fishburne makes even stranger actorly choices in his extended cameo as a cuckoo-bananas survivor on the planet of the Predators. Other strong performance contributions are made by a steely, commandingly butch Alice Braga, and by Walton Goggins, who gets his biggest film showcase here after terrific TV work on The Shield and Justified.
There are other, very minor pleasures. The verdant jungle settings make this much less of an eyesore than the last Antal flick I saw, the typical-for-Screen-Gems, digitally-fuzzed-over Vacancy. A couple well-placed jolts and ferocious battle scenes keep the viewer alert enough.
But make no mistake: this is exactly what one would expect from a desperate, creatively bankrupt attempt to revitalize a franchise that should've been left to die years ago. Nothing more, nothing less. There is very little inspired dialogue aside from a few badass quips, and there are way too many scenes of characters skulking around aimlessly while wielding guns the size of suitcases. James Cameron made similar scenes crackle with tension in his sci-fi/action standard bearer Aliens, and I'd like to imagine Cameron watches a movie like Predators and weeps in frustration at what he has inadvertantly wrought. Grade: C+
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