After dividing fans with the two crossover non-events that were the Aliens Vs. Predator movies, Twentieth Century Fox decided to let the game hunting, dread-locked predators go solo again and had the added benefit of involving Robert Rodriguez in the process. Only acting as producer here, Predators could have used some of his gumption and style because it's such a shoddy effort. I can't say I outright hated this but I was filled with indifference throughout and when Laurence Fishburne shows-up at around the halfway point, as a pointless scavenger character, the scene runs on so long and is so non-important to the plot that the film gets derailed and isn't able to recover despite the action scenes ramping up towards a dull finale.

Which is really too bad because the film starts off on a fairly exciting note as we see Adrien Brody's character, Royce, opening his eyes to discover he's falling through the sky from an incredible height. Understandably freaked out, a parachute opens on his back and he crashes down into the middle of a lush jungle. But he's not the only one there as others soon come plummeting down to Earth and they soon group together to try and piece together what has happened and why they're there.

It's your stereotypical batch of characters, with the usual ethnic slants, as each of them hail from various, mostly military, backgrounds. Brody is a gruff ex-solider, Isabelle (Alice Braga) is quite proficient with a sniper rifle; Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Chanchien) is part of the Yakuza, and so on. The only one who seems out of place is Edwin (Topher Grace) who is a doctor by trade. This gives the script more chances for the actors involved to act all tough and macho but it never really uses their apparent skills to help the group survive - well, apart from Isabelle whose sharp-shooting does come in handy a few times.

If you haven't figured it out by now, these eight strangers have been plunked down on what they conclude is a "game preserve" where they are intended to be the prey. The rest of the film consists of them trying to survive while being killed off by a group of efficient killing machine predators. Then there's that aforementioned Fishburne moment to deal with, a swordfight between Hanzo and a predator that attempts to be stylish ("ooo, look at the artsy grass blowing in the wind shots!"), and some fisticuffs between two of the hulking aliens that should have been cooler than it is. Then there's that dopey ending...

As scripted by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch, Predators is a weakly written mess. They're both making their screenwriting debuts here, which might explain why a lot of things feel pointless - such as Edwin's abrupt character change in the final third. Nimrod Antal (Armored, Vacancy) does bring a little bit of style of the proceedings but even he can't raise this above its script. Also, there's not nearly enough blood here for what's supposed to be a return to the series roots.

Surprisingly, Brody turns in the best performance here. Upon his casting announcement, I scratched my head, as he'd never proven his bad-assery in the past. And, even though he does the whole gruff Batman-like mumble perfected by Christian Bale, he's actually pretty suited for his role. Braga isn't bad either, they kill off Danny Trejo way too early, and Grace ("That 70s Show") gives Fishburne a run for his money as the most annoying character here.

The main thought running through my head during this flicks 107 minute running time was: "who cares?" It has been almost twenty-five-years since the John McTiernan helmed original and this brings absolutely nothing new to the table. In fact, it cribs a lot of things from that 1987 effort right on down to Royce covering himself in mud to screw with the predator's heat sensors. At least Predator 2 had the common sense to shift its focus to the drug-addled streets of Los Angeles and, even though that was a flawed film in its own right, it was more entertaining than this and you could have a good time watching Danny Glover's hero fight the predator while waiting for him to spout, "I'm getting too old for this shit." (Chris Hartley, 8/1/10)

Directed By: Nimrod Antal.
Written By: Alex Litvak, Michael Finch.

Starring: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins.