New Reviews: Predators & La Mission

The Killing Fields

In the vast universe of movie monsters, the Predator has generally been one quite well received. However, I'm not such a fan as the next person. The original film is actually a showcase for standard action rather than intriguing alien exploration, and its sequels and spinoffs have been a series of diminishing returns. This film is an attempt to try to wipe the slate clean, as it were, starting out in the relatively same position. The results, however, are relatively the same.

You still have a group of tough guys in a savage jungle, but some of the circumstances have changed. For one, the group members, all trained killers, don't have any connection to one another. The second is that they were all parachuted onto a distant planet meant only to be a game preserve for different species brought in by those predator creatures. Adrien Brody has the "Schwarzenegger" role, if you like, as the ringleader of the group that eventually tries to fight back.

I'll admit the first half of the movie is pretty great. Director Nimród Antal, who has generally been relegated to B-grade American releases like Vacancy and Armored, has a good sense of world building, and the planet has a real, genuine and menacing feel to it. The story also has some smart tricks to play, and develops the relationships between the characters in a way that makes it comfortable to get to know them. There's a nice sense of humor the film plays out with its characters and there are some nice nods to the original film that don't necessarily feel self-indulgent.

Then, at the mid-point, everything goes wrong. You can pinpoint it right when Laurence Fishburne shows up as a lone survivor hiding out in an abandoned spaceship. It's here where the film's scope starts to narrow, borrowing a lot from Alien's closed quarters look, and the momentum stands still. The pace moves along at a crawl as the film abandons the creative multi-character study it was working on in favor of standard, action beats. Those beats wouldn't be so much of a problem if it was creative enough to feel justified. Instead they're no different than the rest, and the set-up of mono-a-mono matches leading up to a big fight is clichéd and uninteresting. There's also a bland subplot involving a feud between two races of Predators, but it's a throwaway piece that isn't motivating at all.

This cast is more able than what you would normally see. Everyone one of them gives some depth to their characters, and you can actually get a sense of who they are, meaning they come across more than just alien target practice. The standouts among the group are Alice Braga, taking the token Latin female role designated for the series, as the assassin with the most humanity, and Walton Goggins has the most humorous fun as a convict with the best one-liners. Some of the cast isn't quite so successful, as Fishburne isn't the best person to chew the scenery and Topher Grace, intentionally placed as the out-of-place character, is a little too much out-of-place, and by the time his character's true colors are revealed, it feels contrived and forced.

There's plenty to admire in this film, for sure. The first half is a well-crafted, smart film that creates a believable world amongst believable characters. Then, it throws all that away in the end to indulge in a predictable, unmoving action film that slows the pace down to nearly a dead stop. That's sort of what happened to the original, meaning I can't quite recommend the film. But who knows, maybe the film can follow the other's footsteps and we'll see some future governors. I'd vote for Danny Trejo.

B-

Border Issues

I don't know exactly when I heard about this film, it could have been on At the Movies or some other movie devoted website, but it's always been on my radar for some time. However, it must be said that it's been flying rather low, and as the summer tried to bombard me with several less-than-stellar releases, it almost got lost in the shuffle. Luckily, in the week before my mind goes blank with nothing but Inception on the mind, this one managed to peak in from the smog. It's far from perfect, but it's also got some admirable qualities that one might not find at every cineplex.

Benjamin Bratt stars (while his brother Peter writes and directs) as Che Rivera, a bus driver with a strong connection to his community, a local Hispanic group in San Francisco called "La Mission." He's one of those rough and tough guys who's also got that rarely seen softer side. That side is particularly seen as the affection he has for his son Jess (Jeremy Ray Valdez). That affection is tested when he discovers his son is gay, and so begins his slow test to check his machismo attitude in an attempt to accept his son for who he is.

If you had told me that I would be amazed by a Benjamin Bratt performance, I would have laughed at that idea. However, it is Bratt's dedicated intensity that ultimately saves this movie from drowning in overwrought melodrama. Bratt comfortably slips into the role and gives credible life into this character. He also is able to show layers in complexity in this character, particularly amazing since the character isn't much on the page. The rest of the cast pulls their weight, particularly Erika Alexander as Che's neighbor that gives into a complex relationship with him. Alexander has always been an actress that knows exactly what a scene needs, and she doesn't under-or-overplay the scene. She's another asset to the film.

This isn't Peter Bratt's first feature film, but it does have an amateurish filmmaking quality to it. The story is often a showcase of obvious metaphors and simplistic storytelling. The script also doesn't deal with its characters very well. The greatest example is Jess, who is given so many contrived and contradicting motivations that his character is never truly defined. Still, Peter Bratt can still offer a route within the story that can offer a surprise or two, and the greatest thing he offers is a nice insight into the culture, and its "characters", even though the story may take a backseat. It's a similar method to that of No One Knows About Persian Cats, only with a less engaging story that comes dangerously close to overstaying its welcome.

The story's not very strong, some characters are weakly defined and the film has a hard time wrapping up at the end and starts to drag. However, thanks to an able-bodied cast, headlined by a terrific performance from Benjamin Bratt, there are qualities of the film that end up becoming enough to save the film. I'm sure that for many, this film is flying even lower on others' radars; it probably isn't even showing up. But if you take the chance, you might very well find something that you probably didn't expect to see in the first place. And that's a good thing a film can offer.

B