Predators (2010)

Film of 2012 #5

Some Spoilers

The next film in the Predator Franchise after the Alien vs Predator films which I quite like were not met with as much enthusiasm as anticipated, they have gone a different ruote. You basically join Adrien Brody as he is in free fall and you learn as he does that he is not alone and that there are others and as they go on they are all human killers of some level or another. I think that this is done as some sort of reboot to the Arnold Schwarzenegger original and Isabelle played by Alice Braga seems to reference the original Predator story as she is from those jungles.

The first time I saw this film at teh cinema I have to say that I really enjoyed it but on this second viewing the gaping plot holes are so obvious that they annoy me slightly. Happy enough to go with the no explanation of how the Predators know these are the best killers at what they do, happy for no explanation as to how they were picked up. But how Laurence Fishbourne knows so much would be nice to know, why there are 2 castes of the Predators now and what they are actually doing on the planet. They do not seem to be in training it is like a hunt but there are always three and there are refrences to some being killed, so to give us some lore they need to expand on it or cut it back a bit. No real explanation would have been better, we know that the Predators like to hunt this is their whole purpose in the previous films they have been involved in.

Overall I still enjoye dthe film, switch your brain off and enjoy the action and the small call-backs to teh origianl film including the mud scene, I will watch this again and give it 3 stars but do not watch it if you expect a master piece.

Death Race 2 (2010)

The sequel to the Jason Statham film which in itself was a re-imaging of the Sylvester Stallone Death Race 2000, and it turns out it was a prequel as well so I was not holding out much optimism but I had enjoyed the original Jason Statham film so thought why not. Now to start with they get a Jason Statham look a like in Luke Goss but it is a totally different character so you do not need a look a like and the story they have for no apparent reason is very similar so it is Death Race lite, the beginning.

The story itself without the original film would have been interesting but as it keeps trying to fit back into the first film you can see where it is going. There are some nice little points that they do very well but I kept thinking that well they have to get to this point and how they get there is sort of tacked on.

This is only 2 stars, if it was a stand alone film then it would be 3 but as it has to try and tie in to the original not worth seeing unless you like low end violence and driving fast cars.