Predators is a 2010 American science fiction action film directed by Nimród Antal, written by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch, and was distributed by 20th Century Fox, and the third film in the Predator franchise. The film follows an ensemble cast starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, and Laurence Fishburne, and follows a group of proficient killers who have been abducted and placed on a planet that acts as a game reserve for two warring tribes of extraterrestrial killers, leading them to try and survive and look for a way back to Earth.
Producer Robert Rodriguez had developed a script for a third installment as early as 1994, although it was not until 2009 that 20th Century Fox greenlit the project. According to Rodriguez, the title Predators is an allusion to the second film in the Alien franchise, Aliens (1986). The title also has a double meaning, referring both to the extraterrestrial Predator creatures and to the group of human characters who are pitted against them. Principal photography for Predators began on September 28, 2009, and concluded after 53 days; filming took place in Hawaii and then in Austin, Texas.
Predators was released in the United States on July 9, 2010. It grossed $127 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the action but criticism aimed at the thinly written characters. A fourth film, titled The Predator, was released in 2018, and a prequel, Prey, in 2022.
Plot
Royce awakens to find himself free falling into an unfamiliar jungle and meets several others who arrive in the same manner: Los Zetas cartel enforcer Cuchillo, Spetsnaz soldier Nikolai, IDF sniper Isabelle, RUF officer Mombasa, San Quentin death row inmate Stans, Yakuza member Hanzo, and physician Edwin. The group follows Royce, whom Isabelle suspects is a former black operations soldier turned mercenary. In the jungle, they find a strange monument, empty cages, and deadfall traps set by a deceased Green Beret. Reaching higher ground, they find themselves staring at an alien sky and realize they are not on Earth.
After surviving an attack from a pack of quadrupedal alien beasts, Royce deduces they are on a moon used as a game preserve, where humans and other species are hunted. Cuchillo is killed, and his body is used to lure the survivors into a trap, which they avoid. The group follows the beasts' tracks to a camp and finds a captive Predator. Their hunters, three larger Predators known as "Tracker", "Berserker" and "Falconer", attack the group, killing Mombasa while the others escape. Isabelle recognizes the Predator as matching the description of a similar creature that killed a special operations team in 1987 in Guatemala, but was defeated by a single survivor.
The group encounters Ronald Noland, a solitary U.S. Air Cavalry soldier who has survived on the moon for "ten seasons" by hiding and scavenging from the Predators and their victims. He takes the group to his hideout and explains that the Predators hunt in threes, sharpening their killing skills by abducting worthy prey from other worlds and bringing them to the planet. Noland also reveals that there is a blood feud between the Predators. Royce devises a plan to free the captive Predator, hoping it will take them home.
Having gone mad, Noland traps the others and attempts to use smoke to suffocate them, hoping to kill them for their equipment. Royce uses an explosive to attract the Predators to the hideout. Noland is killed by the "Tracker", who releases the group. In the ensuing chase, Nikolai sacrifices himself to kill the "Tracker" and save Edwin. The survivors are intercepted by the "Berserker", but Stans distracts it, allowing the others to escape before he is killed. Hanzo stays behind to duel the "Falconer" with a katana he took from Noland's stash, killing it before dying from his wounds.