July 9, 2010
Predators is a 2010 American science fiction action film directed by Nimród Antal, serving as the third film in the main series of the Predator franchise and its fifth film overall. The film follows an ensemble cast starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, and Laurence Fishburne, and follows a group of proficient killers who have been abducted and placed on a planet that acts as a game preserve for two warring tribes of extraterrestrial predators, leading them to try and survive and look for a way back to Earth.
Producer Robert Rodriguez had developed a script for a third installment as early as 1994, although it was not until 2009 that 20th Century Fox greenlit the project. According to Rodriguez, the title Predators is an allusion to the second film in the Alien franchise, Aliens (1986). The title also has a double meaning, referring both to the extraterrestrial Predator creatures and to the group of human characters who are pitted against them.Principal photography for Predators began on September 28, 2009, and finished after 53 days; filming took place in Hawaii and then in Austin, Texas.
Predators was released by 20th Century Fox in the United States on July 9, 2010. It grossed $127 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the action but criticism aimed at the thinly written characters. A fourth film, titled The Predator, was released in 2018, and a prequel, Prey, was released in 2022.
Storyline
Royce awakens to find himself free falling into an unfamiliar jungle and meets several others who arrive in the same manner: Los Zetas cartel enforcer Cuchillo, Spetsnaz Alpha Group soldier Nikolai, IDF sniper Isabelle, RUF officer Mombasa, San Quentin death row inmate Stans, Yakuza member Hanzo, and physician Edwin. The group follows Royce, whom Isabelle suspects is a former black operations soldier turned mercenary. In the jungle, they find a strange monument, empty cages, and deadfall traps set by a deceased Special Forces soldier. Reaching the high ground, they find themselves looking at an alien sky and realize they are not on Earth.
After surviving an attack from a pack of quadrupedal alien beasts, Royce deduces they are on a moon used as a game preserve, where humans and other dangerous species are hunted. Cuchillo is killed, and his body is used to lure the survivors into a trap, which they avoid. The group follows the beasts' tracks to a camp and finds a captive Predator. Their hunters, three larger Predators known as "Tracker", "Berserker" and "Falconer", attack the group, killing Mombasa, while the others escape. Isabelle recognizes the Predator as the one matching the description of a similar creature that killed a special operations team in Guatemala in 1987, but was defeated by a single survivor.
The group encounters Ronald Noland, a solitary U.S. Air Cavalry soldier who has survived on the moon for ten seasons by hiding and scavenging from the Predators and their victims. He takes the group to his hideout and explains that the Predators hunt in threes, sharpening their skills by abducting worthy prey from other worlds, and bringing them to the planet. Noland also reveals that there is a blood feud between the Predators with a different class called the Super Predators. 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, hoping to kill them for their equipment. Royce uses an explosive to attract the Predators to the hideout. Noland is killed by Tracker, who releases the group. In the ensuing chase, Nikolai sacrifices himself to kill Tracker and save Edwin. Berserker intercepts the survivors, but Stans distracts it, allowing the others to escape before he is killed. Hanzo stays behind to duel Falconer with a katana he took from Noland's stash, killing it, before dying from his wounds.
Royce, Isabelle, and Edwin continue to head for the Predators' camp, hoping to enact Royce's plan, 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 and continues to the camp. Royce saves the captive Predator in exchange for transport to Earth. The Predator dons its armor and activates the ship with its wrist computer, setting a course for Earth. Royce runs to the ship but Berserker arrives, eventually overpowering and decapitating the other Predator before using its wrist computer to destroy the ship, seemingly killing Royce. Edwin paralyzes Isabelle using neurotoxic poison from a plant he found earlier and reveals he is also a serial killer and he intends to stay on the planet. Royce appears and uses the poison on Edwin before booby-trapping him with grenades to use him as bait to injure Berserker. With Isabelle's help, Royce defeats and decapitates Berserker.
Seeing more parachutes in the distance and surmising that more Predators will be arriving, the pair head into the jungle to find a way back to Earth.
Also See
- Predators (2010) (Trailers)
- Predator (1987)
- Predator 2 (1990)
- The Predator (2018)
- Prey (2022)
Sound Effects Used
- Hollywoodedge, Elephant Trumpet Gro AT044201 (Slightly edited variant of 3rd roar used for the crucified predator when the super predators first attack.)
- Hollywoodedge, Walrus Grunts Multip AT038501 edited variants used for the predator hounds
- Hollywoodedge, Walrus Grunts Multip AT038601 edited variants used for the predator hounds
- SKYWALKER, AIRPLANE - INERTIA STARTER-LIKE WHINE UP (Heard briefly before Royce's parachute activates.)
- SKYWALKER, HISS - MECHANICAL EJECT HISS
- Sound Ideas, BEAR - LARGE BLACK BEAR: SINGLE ROAR, ANIMAL 01 (Slightly edited variant used for the crucified predator.)
- Sound Ideas, BEAR - BLACK BEAR: MULTIPLE ROARS AND BREATHS, ANIMAL (slightly edited variant of third roar used for the berserker super predator when he notices the crucified predator is free)
- Sound Ideas, HORROR - 'INSIDES' SPLAT, HUMAN 01
- Sound Ideas, AMBIENCE, FOREST - FOREST, SPOOKY NIGHT heard in some scenes in the film