Sunday, August 26, 2018

The highest caste




SPOILER WARNING

"Predators" is a surprisingly good sequel to "Predator" and "Predator 2". Good, that is, if you like blood, gore, more gore and odd aliens with a penchant for bounty hunting. In the two classical movies, the Predators arrived on our planet to kill Arnie and LAPD's finest.

In this super-sequel, the masked aliens turn out to have a weird sense of morality. They capture evil humans of the kind we would rather get rid of anyway, transport them to a distant planet in another solar system, and hunt them for sport. Thus, most of the "heroes" in "Predators" turn out to be predators themselves: Mafiosi, mercenaries, sociopaths, war criminals... The only sympathetic type is an Israeli. Are the Predators anti-Zionist, since they hunt Israelis for sport?

There are several plot twists. It turns out that there are actually two species (or castes?) of alien Predators. The "classical" Predators, who stalked humanity in the first two films, turn out to be the *lower* caste. Ooops!

"Predators" end inconclusively, with the survivors watching as a new group of unwilling recruits for the hunt are parachuted down from an alien sky... This story cries out for a sequel, and for once, I'm almost willing to wait for it!
Four stars. Did I mention the gore?

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