Les prédateurs

Malgré un rythme inégal, la réalisation se révèle adroite et l'interprétation est intense, quoique les personnages demeurent schématiques.

For all the movie's highs, the movie's large cast causes problems. Taking a hard-R approach, the Predators needed characters to be the occasional victims, but this leaves many of the stranded human killers feeling ancillary and superfluous. From the very start it's obvious where the line of demarcation between survivors and victims lays, and while it's endlessly entertaining to watch the alien hunters do what they do best, it would have been useful to get to know these people before we watched them slaughtered.

Après quelques efficaces moments sanglants, le serpent finit par se mordre sa queue et l'histoire commence à piétiner. L'ennemi perd de son aura en apparaissant beaucoup trop souvent à l'écran et les solutions de survie frisent le ridicule. Surtout que la progression rompt avec sa propre logique interne.

Produit et (ça se devine) supervisé de près par Robert Rodriguez, et réalisé par Nimrod Antal, Predators est à prendre au second degré ; il s’agit d’une ode au cinéma d’action et aux films fantastiques des années 80.

From the first scene and for a while afterward, Predators lures in an unsuspecting audience and keeps it on edge. But what starts with so much promise and intrigue devolves into a more predictable cat-and-mouse game.

So is the cast. Adrien Brody's growling mercenary; Topher Grace's befuddled physician; Laurence Fishburne's wily survivalist; Alice Braga (zoo-wee-mama!) as the eagle-eyed sharpshooter - these are furrowed brows and sweaty countenances worth having in your killer-monster movie any day.

Robert Rodriguez-produced pic puts a bulked-up Adrien Brody in Arnold Schwarzenegger's erstwhile shoes, to clamorous if uninvolving results.

But as its momentum accelerates, and its special effects transform it into a pulpy cartoon, Predators loses its judgment and turns into a frantic, clichéd chase film. This chaotic stew of fire, blood, mud and explosives is so devoid of terror and suspense that any metaphorical analysis is rendered moot.