Predators returns to the roots of the original franchise. Said to ignore the events of the AvP series, this movie sees a return to the classic Predator fun: man vs. alien. In this case, however, it’s more like men vs. aliens. Robert Rodriguez produces this new entry into the series, based on his story originally written in the 90s.

A mercenary, Royce (played by a beefy Adrien Brody, who put on a lot of muscle weight for this role), is abducted and dropped onto an unknown planet where he teams up with seven other sorry souls for survival. Realising they’re on a game planet, the unlikely group must band together to survive against a new breed of Predator that is out to hunt them down.

With the creative mind of Rodriguez behind the film, Predators brings back the spark that made the original movies worth seeing. If you didn’t like the AvP series (and chances are, you didn’t – who did?!), rest assured that this movie isn’t an attempt to make a quick buck – it’s Fox coming around and seeing the light and pumping some quality back into the franchise. The only thing that’d make this film better would be a cameo from Schwarzenegger or Glover, but sadly, neither chose to reprise their iconic roles. That aside, you can’t go wrong with this threequel!

“If it bleeds – we can kill it”

No more immortal words have been spoken in action film canon. Certainly none more to the point than those uttered by the ever pragmatic Dutch (Schwarzenegger) in reference to his seemingly almighty hunter.

The set-up is pretty straightforward. A group of veteran mercenaries are sent into Val Verde (the fictional South American country of choice for just about every 80s action movie) to rescue a kidnapped politician. Not long after they infiltrate the dense jungle the lads find themselves being picked off by an invisible enemy with an arsenal of futuristic weaponry.

Despite receiving luke-warm critical response when it was first released, Predator is nowadays widely, and deservedly, regarded as one of the greatest action scifi films of all time. The plot may be relatively simple, but it serves as a perfect example of how little plot you need when you structure your story perfectly. The dialogue is sharp and surprisingly clever. The action is tight. The monster is totally bad-ass. The muscles, the blood, the explosions, the cool alien gadgets and the out-and-out coolness are aplenty. Giddy up.