All 7 Predator movies, ranked from worst to best
By Daniel Roman
4. Predators (2010)
There was a 20-year gap between Predator 2 and this third movie in the series, which sought to reboot the Predator franchise for modern audiences. Predators didn’t quite succeed at that; no direct sequels were ever made for the movie, despite the fact that it ended on a cliffhanger.
Yet for what it was, Predators actually holds up surprisingly well. The premise is that a bunch of dangerous human killers (or predators…geddit?) are dropped onto an alien game preserve planet, where Predators hunt various creatures for sport. Unlike the first two films, Predators pretty much does away with any pretense at there being a subplot beyond the titular alien creature stalking our human protagonists. They do their best to escape gruesome deaths and gradually learn more about the jungle world they’ve been dropped onto.
Predators introduced a few interesting concepts into the franchise that have stuck around, such as there being multiple types of visually distinct Predators and the idea of trained alien dogs the Predators can use to track their prey. And while the film might be a bit different, its rumination on the nature of different predatory beings — from Adrien Brody’s mercenary to Topher Grace’s serial killer to the alien creatures who hunt them — feels more thematically sound than many other movies in the franchise.
So what’s the downside to Predators? While the core story of a group of trained killers being hunted by Predators is pretty good (and an obvious nod to the original), there’s not much tension because we know that just about all of the humans are going to die by the end. It’s rarely a surprise when it happens, and often the movie skews more toward chaotic action set pieces than creeping dread. The emotional stakes are also somewhat low since so many of the characters aren’t particularly likable. Brody does a decent job, as does the film’s female lead Alicia Braga, but overall Predators doesn’t hook you with its characters the way the best movies in the series do.