The events of “Predators” (2010) don’t take place on Earth. The film doesn’t follow the plot of “Predator” (1987) and “Predator 2” (1990) and has a new story with only one mention of the first “Predator” film that acts more like a tribute or an Easter egg than a connection.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The 2010 ‘Predators’ Film?
Royce (Adrien Brody) wakes up during freefall. He barely manages to get his parachute open and crashes in the middle of a jungle. After gaining consciousness, he looks around and has no idea where he is. The very next moment, another man, Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), crashes in front of him and pulls his gun at Royce the moment he gets up. Royce tells him to stop, and just then, another guy crashes. This one isn’t lucky enough and dies immediately. As Royce and Cuchillo try to figure out where they are, they are fired upon by a machine gun. Both somehow manage to take cover, and Royce gets around and puts his gun at the guy’s forehead who was firing at them. His name is Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov). Then another person reveals herself from among the bushes: Isabelle (Alice Braga). She tells them that she saw more parachutes, and they decide to head in that direction and find out what’s going on. They are unaware that they are being followed by another Asian guy (Hanzo, played by Louis Ozawa Changchien), who also seems to have crashed there.
As they head in the direction of the parachutes, they notice two more guys fighting each other (Mombasa, played by Mahershala Ali, and Stans, played by Walton Goggins). When the guys see Royce, Isabelle, and the others, they stop fighting. There is also a nerd, Edwin (Topher Grace), whom they find hanging upside down from a tree nearby. They cut him down and continued their journey. After some time, Mombasa notices Hanzo at a distance and tells the team. They find him staring at what seems to be a totem of some kind. It also has different kinds of skulls at its base that, according to Mombasa, are trophies of a warrior.
They decide to look for higher ground. Edwin comes across a plant with neurotoxin, a sample of which he collects on a scalpel he has on him. As they reach higher ground, they realize that the sun has not moved since they landed. Later on, they come across empty cages and almost end up getting killed by traps that they later find out had been set by a US soldier, whose mutilated body they find nearby. The traps weren’t meant for them but something much bigger than them. Meanwhile, Mombasa notices something moving among the trees but ignores it. They reach a cliff from where the Earth is visible and realize that they are on a different planet altogether.
As they make their way in another direction, they are attacked by a pack of four-legged extraterrestrial beasts. They somehow manage to kill some of the beasts, and all of them make it out alive. Royce deduces that they are being hunted on a planet that is a game preserve. Just then, Mombasa realizes that Cuchillo is missing. They find him dead, and his body is used to lure them into a trap, but they manage to avoid it. To figure out what they are dealing with, they follow the tracks of the beasts that attacked them and arrive at a makeshift camp where they find a predator that has been taken captive. It is here that they are attacked by a group of theee predators, and Mombasa is killed. The others manage to escape. Isabelle reveals that the creatures they saw are akin to the one that killed a group of elite soldiers in 1987 in the Guatemala rainforests (Predator (1987) reference). The lone survivor (Dutch) used mud to hide from the creature’s infrared vision. It also had a cloaking device that made it invisible. The creature hunted and killed the team, one member at a time.
Royce chalks out a plan to kill the predators, and the team puts it into effect. As they wait, they are able to hear the creatures, but they aren’t revealing themselves. Royce then tells Edwin to become the bait and lure them out. But to their good fortune, it isn’t a predator that reveals itself but Ronald Noland (Laurence Fishburne), also of the US Army, who has been on the planet for “ten seasons.” The fact that he talks to an imaginary friend proves that he has lost his mind. He takes them to his hideout and tells them about how the predators hunt in threes and are able to learn and adapt quickly. They bring in “fresh meat” (humans and beasts from other planets), hunt them and kill them. All of it is for sport. Also, two different kinds of predators exist: bigger ones and smaller ones, and they have a blood feud. Royce makes up his mind to free the captive predator they saw at the camp so that it can reveal the way to the ship that Ronald says there is, at some distance from the camp.
As they rest at the hideout, Royce smells smoke. It is from a fire that Noland has lit underneath the room with the intention of suffocating them to death. As Royce tries to blow a way out, the blast is noticed by a predator that heads towards the hideout. It kills Noland and frees the group, waiting for the people to escape so that it can hunt them. It manages to stab Nikolai, but he kills it using a couple of claymore mines he had on him, sacrificing himself in the process. The others, namely Royce, Isabelle, Edwin, Hanzo, and Stans, make it out of the hideout alive. But right then, another predator intercepts them and kills Stan. Royce, Isabelle, Edwin, and Hanzo escape but are tracked by the third predator. As the team makes its way across a grassland, Hanzo decides to stay back and fight, giving the others time to reach the camp. In a fight that follows, Hanzo manages to kill the third predator but also succumbs to his own wounds.
Ending Explained: Are Royce And The Others Able To Reach The Ship?
On the way, Edwin gets his leg injured in a trap. Royce tells Isabelle to leave him as he will only slow them down. But Isabelle is adamant. So Royce leaves while Isabelle stays back with Edwin. Royce arrives at the camp and frees the captive predator, who directs him toward the ship. Meanwhile, Isabelle and Edwin are captured by the remaining predator, who brings them to a pit at the camp and puts them in it. It then notices the captive predator who is now free, along with Royce. As the captive one approaches it for battle, Royce makes his way towards the ship. The captive predator is killed by the remaining one, which then uses its wrist device to blast the ship that was taking off, apparently killing Royce. Inside the pit, Edwin, intending to stay on the planet and not return to Earth, where he is a serial killer, paralyzes Isabelle using the neurotoxin he had acquired earlier from a plant on his scalpel. As he is about to kill Isabelle, Royce shows up and kills Edwin by plunging the scalpel into his neck, paralyzing him too. He then uses Edwin’s body as bait to lure the remaining predator, rigging Edwin’s body with grenades. The predator falls for it and is injured in the blast. As Royce struggles to fight the predator with an ax, Isabelle, who is slowly gaining control of her body, manages to reach out to her rifle and shoot the predator, wounding it. Royce then beheads it with the ax, killing it. As they rest and try to regain their breath, they see more parachutes up in the sky. Realizing that more prey means more predators, they head back into the jungle to find a way off the planet.
“Predators” isn’t as interesting as the previous two movies, as we do not get to see the barbarity of the predators. Their gruesome attitude, as well as their competitive nature that makes them so overwhelmingly terrifying, aren’t explored at all. Practically speaking, we get our first glimpse of the predators, not counting the cloaked one that kills Mombasa, after half of the film is over. And even then, the film doesn’t show much of them, almost to the point where it seems that the creators of the film were pulling their punches, not knowing what else to do. It is Adrien Brody who single-handedly takes the film forward, which is true for any other film of his as well. Altogether, “Predators” is not even close to the previous “Predator” films, and the only reason to watch it is to keep up with the franchise.
See More: ‘The Predator’ [2018] Ending, Explained: Why Did The Predators Come To Earth?
