Predators (2010 film)
Predators is a 2010 American science fiction action film directed by Nimród Antal and written by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch. It is the third installment in the Predator franchise. The film features an ensemble cast, including Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, and Laurence Fishburne. The plot follows a group of proficient killers who have been abducted and placed on a planet inhabited by extraterrestrial trophy hunters, leading them to try to survive and look for a way back to Earth.
Producer Robert Rodriguez had developed a script for a third installment as early as 1994 after seeing the original film, although it was not until 2009 that 20th Century Fox greenlit the project. According to Rodriguez, the title Predators is an allusion to the film Aliens. The title also has a double meaning, referring both to the extraterrestrial Predator hunters and to the group of human characters who are pitted against them. Filming took place in locations including Hawaii and Austin, Texas from September 2009 and lasted 53 days.
Predators was released in the United States on July 9, 2010, by 20th Century Fox. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $127 million against a $40 million budget. A fourth film, The Predator, was released in 2018, and a prequel, Prey, was released in 2022.
Plot
Royce is dropped from the sky into an unfamiliar jungle and meets several others who arrive in the same manner: Los Zetas enforcer Cuchillo, Spetsnaz Alpha Group soldier Nikolai, IDF sniper Isabelle, RUF officer Mombasa, San Quentin death row inmate Stans, Inagawa-kai Yakuza member Hanzo, and physician Edwin. Following Royce, they find a strange monument, empty cages, and deadfall traps set by a deceased U.S. Special Forces soldier. They soon realize they are not on Earth when they see the sky with different planets.After surviving a coordinated attack by a pack of alien beasts, Royce deduces that they are being hunted and that the moon planet is a game preserve. Cuchillo is killed, and his body is used to lure the group into a trap, which they avoid. The group follows the beasts' tracks to a camp and finds a captive Predator. Three larger Predators known as "Tracker", "Berserker" and "Falconer", attack the group and kill Mombasa, while the others escape. Isabelle recognizes the captive Predator as the one matching the description of a similar creature that killed a special operations team in Guatemala before it was defeated by a single survivor in 1987.
The group encounters Ronald Noland, a solitary U.S. Air Cavalry soldier who has survived for many years by hiding and scavenging. He takes the group to his hideout and explains that the Predators abduct worthy prey from other worlds. Noland also reveals that there is a blood feud between the larger and the smaller predators, which he likens to wolves and dogs. Royce devises a plan to free the captive Predator, hoping it will take them home.
Noland traps the others and attempts to use smoke to suffocate them in their sleep and steal their equipment. Royce uses an explosive to attract the Predators to the hideout. Noland is found and killed by Tracker, who releases the group. In the ensuing chase, Nikolai sacrifices himself to kill Tracker and save Edwin, detonating several Claymores in the Predator's face after being shot in the back. Berserker intercepts the survivors, but Stans distracts it, allowing the others to escape before Berserker kills him by ripping out his skull and spine, and sends Falconer to pursue the remaining humans. Hanzo stays behind to duel Falconer with a katana; he kills it but is also mortally wounded in doing so, and succumbs to his injuries.
Royce, Isabelle, and Edwin continue onwards until a trap injures Edwin. When Isabelle refuses to abandon him, Royce leaves them both behind. They are caught by Berserker, who traps them in a pit. Royce returns to the camp and cuts free the captive Predator in exchange for transport to Earth. The Predator remotely activates the ship and sets a course for Earth. Royce runs to the ship, but Berserker arrives, eventually overpowering and decapitating the other Predator. Berserker then remotely detonates the ship as it takes off, seemingly killing Royce. Edwin paralyzes Isabelle using neurotoxic poison from a plant smeared on his scalpel, revealing he is a serial killer and intends to stay on the planet. Royce reappears, Edwin attempts to attack him, but Royce uses the poison on Edwin before booby-trapping his body with grenades to use him as bait, which ends up injuring Berserker. With Isabelle's help, Royce defeats and decapitates Berserker, and the pair finally introduce themselves to each other.
Seeing more parachutes in the sky and surmising that more Predators will be arriving, the pair head into the jungle to find a way back to Earth.
Cast
- Adrien Brody as Royce, an ex-U.S. Special Operations Forces veteran turned mercenary who reluctantly assumes leadership of the group of humans. Brody said he had been "blown away" by Predator and viewed his role as a challenge, wanting to bring a complexity to the character that would contrast with Schwarzenegger's role in the original film. He put on of muscle for the role, stating that "I want it to be entertaining and part of the ride that people see when they see a movie like that. But that's not really why I'm in it and that's not really what I brought to it. I brought the same kind of discipline that I would to a film like The Pianist." Antal and Rodriguez specifically wanted to avoid casting an actor physically similar to Schwarzenegger, wanting to "go in a very different direction" and reasoning that real-life soldiers are wiry and tough rather than burly. "We thought casting a physically 'Schwarzenegger-esque' character would have done the original film a disservice", said Antal, "and would have done this film a disservice because we are not trying to remake or copy the original film. I told everybody early on that I can make anybody look tough. What I can't do is teach them how to act". Brody has expressed interest in reprising his role in future sequels.
- Topher Grace as Edwin, a doctor who does not seem to belong amongst the group of hardened killers until he reveals that he is also a psychopathic murderer. Grace was dubious about taking the role when he read the script, "because I really liked the first Predator, but all the sequels haven't been as good. Then when I read this, I thought, 'What Aliens was to Alien, this is to Predator. Because Predator never really got its due; it never really got that sequel". He compared Antal's approach to that of James Cameron, director of Aliens; remaining faithful to the original work but taking the concepts in slightly different directions. Grace performed some of his own stunts, including jumping off a waterfall.
- Alice Braga as Isabelle, a sniper from the Israel Defense Forces. She failed to save her spotter during a mission, and feels that she has been brought to the alien planet as punishment and to seek redemption. As the only female character, Isabelle plays the role of peacemaker: "My character, funny enough", said Braga, "is the one that is always trying to grab everyone together and like reuniting everyone and stopping the fights and saying that we have strength in numbers". Braga described the character as "a tough cookie … sweet inside but tough outside". She read a sniper manual to prepare for the role, and carried a fourteen-pound sniper rifle during shooting.
- Walton Goggins as Stans, a death row inmate from San Quentin State Prison who was scheduled to be executed in two days before suddenly finding himself on the alien planet. Responsible for 38 murders and an admitted rapist.
- Oleg Taktarov as Nikolai, a Russian commando from the Spetsnaz Alpha Group who was fighting in Chechnya before finding himself on the alien planet. Taktarov, a retired mixed martial artist and former Ultimate Fighting Champion, described his role as combining elements of Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, and Bill Duke's characters from the original Predator film, and praised it as "the first time you get a really, really, positive, good Russian character in an American ". Taktarov used his martial arts training during some of the film's action sequences. While filming a scene he hit his face on a steadicam and was bleeding, but continued filming because the blood added to the effect of the scene.
- Laurence Fishburne as Noland, a United States Army Air Cavalry soldier who has survived on the alien planet for multiple hunting cycles. "It's a really interesting role," said Fishburne, "quite different from Morpheus . He's a bit shady, crazy, surviving on his own, kind of a ratty character."
- Danny Trejo as "Cuchillo", a ruthless enforcer for the feared Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel who carries twin submachine guns.
- Louis Ozawa Changchien as Hanzo, a Yakuza Inagawa-kai enforcer who rarely speaks and reveals late in the film that he is missing his leftmost two fingers, having performed yubitsume. "I guess he used to be a guy who can murder someone without a qualm," said Changchien of the character, "but by the time he arrives , he'll no longer be that kind of person. Those things aren't explained in the script, but you'll get it when you see the movie." Changchien used his kendo training for a scene in which his character uses a katana in a duel against a Predator. Antal, a kendo fan, insisted that the sword fight look authentic.
- Mahershala Ali as Mombasa, a Revolutionary United Front death squad soldier from Sierra Leone.