Predators (2010)

From the off this film is very much in tone with the original Arnie vehicle, the entire musical score is the same as the first film just a little more upbeat and its great, brings the whole thing home and makes you feel comfortable. As the film goes along there are hints at the first film, quite a long speech about it actually, this obviously tells us this is set after 'Predator' but I'm unsure if its before 'Predator 2' (I think after), there is also alittle idea taken from 'AvP' with the Predator wrist gauntlet tech using holographic images as seen in 'AvP'. There are plenty of other references to the first film throughout with scenes being taken straight from 'Predator', cam angles and 'pred vision' shots, dialog being used again....'over here!' 'turn around!' and the plot of course being virtually the same, but it works, this isn't a forced cash-in like 'AvP'. The plot as said is reworked and very predictable, you know whats gonna happen and you know who's gonna die and survive but that's not a problem, like the first film its been made well and has that gun totting, 80's testosterone filled madness which somehow works haha this film fits perfectly with 'Predator' and 'Predator 2' as it zips along...maybe alittle too fast.The characters are decent and well acted, Fishburne being the best for me with his crazy ramblings and Goggins being creepy as hell haha unfortunately Brody is miscast and really can't do the hard man routine, both he and Braga try way too hard to be tough or 'Vasquez-like' and its abit cringing at times, personally for me that was a misfire. You do feel some characters needed more time to grow but I guess that could be put down to good writing as you wanna see more of them, Trejo's death was too soon and surprisingly spooky too haha wanted just abit more of him but the idea of a big name going down early is cool. Some things didn't quite work though, the Yakuza sword fight was too dark ('AvP2' sprung too mind) and it seemed abit 'tacked on', Hanzo just stops out of the blue and decides to stand and fight? also the ending reveal with Edwin (Grace) was abit shitty for me, I didn't like how that character turned out. I was also disappointed with Fishburne's character, why did he smoke the rest out? simply because he was mad?? abit odd that.As for design and looks its 50/50, the Predators look awesome and devilish, they come across as eerie and powerful and their new look designs are really nice, cross pred tech with tribal mercs, almost like Predator bounty hunters, very cool. The super black pred (without mask) jury's still out on that for me, his head seemed too big and he did still look kinda B-movie-ish.Classic pred was fudging spot on, absolutely perfect and shows what 'AvP's' preds should have looked like damn it, kudos to RR and co for getting that 100%, highlight of the film :)The down side was the game planet not being very 'alien like', it really didn't come across as an alien world accept for a few minor plants n bugs, could of done more there I think and maybe alittle more of previous hunts too, we had hints at that but I was aching to see other dead alien life and possible hints at Aliens or space jockeys haha maybe some more ancient human remains too (along with the samurai sword).End of the day I really liked this new Predator chapter, despite some niggles it was damn good and I was pleasantly surprised after much worry hehe The main issues I had were good ideas that weren't really taken advantage of and explored, Fishburne using predator tech being a glaring example of a seriously cool idea getting wasted. But it wrapped well with the possibility of a sequel to this chapter or of course an entirely new story set in the Predator universe, maybe acknowledging 'Predator 2' this time as it deserves.