Predators

I was so hooked up with the FIFA World Cup finals that I totally forgot that I watched Predators before watching the football championship match. I've seen the trailer weeks ago and I was pretty convinced that this is a promising suspense thriller film. So I decided to catch this with a friend and I should say, I had mixed emotions with the film.

Okay, it was horrifying, full of gore - good enough for the type of movie that it purports to be, but it lacks in story and reason. Yes, it is a science-fiction film, but there needs to be a background on how things came up to be as they are. For me, the movie seemed to be mere entertainment rather than a form of art.

The story tells of "chosen men" who were sent to another planet by dropping them from the sky. The common attribute present in these people is that they are "hunters" (army soldier, drug cartel enforcer, sniper, Yakuza assassin, deathrow inmate, a psycho killer pretending to be a doctor, among others). Soon enough, these people realized that they are in another planet and other creatures (predators) are in the same planet to hunt them down, kill them and learn their fighting skills to use it for their own kind's improvement.

The basic questions (that would provide the foundation for the movie's storyline) that were left unanswered are:

• Who abducted these humans and sent them to this planet?
• Who sent the predators? Where did they come from?
• Where is this planet that was used as their experiment ground? (although this is not so relevant)
• What is the higher purpose of all these? Domination of the earth?

What I liked about the movie is it's ability to send a scary feel as the plot develops and actions rise. There was no anti-climax and it ended pretty fairly - no overkills, no deus-ex-machina. Though (sorry but I always notice this) I find it very racist that an American (Royce) and an Israeli (American ally/fan as we all know) sniper (Isabelle) survived the film in the end, while all the other characters (Russian, Mexican, Japanese and American villains) died brutally.

Overall, I give this film a so-so rating for lacking substance but still being able to provide a thrilling entertainment. The R-13 rating for me was kind of lenient, as there were too much violence, killing, gore and "blood" for minors to see. For me, this film is good for DVD/home viewing only.

My rating: 60%