More Predators

PREDATORS-2010-This kind of a sequel to the first PREDATOR and “restarting” of the franchise. A diverse but typical group (a black, a whiney white guy, a tough woman, a Russian and surprisingly a Japanese Yakuza) of humans are thrown together on a planet where 2 different types of the famous alien fight each other and hunt the humans. Adrien Brody tries his hand at being an action star by leading the group including Danny Trejo, former MMA fighter Oleg Taktarov, Alice Braga (from I AM LEGEND) and Topher Grace (SPIDER-MAN 3). Lawrence Fishburne shows up unexpectedly. It’s not bad as junk like this goes and doesn’t go overboard with the gory SFX but it’s too dark at times and the characters whisper too much. The climax (where Brody emulates Arnold) is very good. Director Nimrod Antal had previously made VACANCY and ARMORED (also with Fishburne). Robert Rodriguez was the producer.

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Make Mine Marvel?-Part 2

FANTASTIC FOUR 2: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER-2007-The mostly miscast four (Ioan Grufford as Reed Richards, Jennifer Alba as Sue Richards, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm and Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm) returns to save the Earth from the high-flying Silver Surfer (voice of Lawrence Fishburne), herald to the planet devouring Galactus (unseen here). Director Tim Story injects a little more humor this time (and still delivers on the action scenes) but the over all story is not very good.

Andre Baugher is a cardboard army officer who decides it’s better to trust Doctor Doom than the FF. This means the film really takes a downward spiral as Julian McMahon returns to chew the scenery. Kerry Washington is back as Alicia Masters and Stan Lee has a cameo.

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