Royce Predators Guide: Adrien Brody's Mercenary

Royce is the lead of Predators 2010, a hardened mercenary played by Adrien Brody and billed first in the cast. Nimród Antal directed the film, which reached US theaters on July 9, 2010. Royce is credited under that one name, so he has no alternate names.

He is introduced mid-fall, waking as he drops toward a dense jungle canopy. Seven other strangers land the same way, and nobody can say where they are or how they got there. The group is a mixed bag of killers: a cartel enforcer (Danny Trejo as Cuchillo), a Russian soldier, an Israeli sniper, a Sierra Leonean fighter, a death row inmate, a Yakuza killer and a doctor. A strange monument, empty cages and traps come next, and then planets hanging in the sky make it clear they are not on Earth.

Royce appears in a single film. His only credited role is in Predators, which runs 107 minutes with a score by John Debney, and he never turns up in the earlier Predator (1987) or Predator 2. For the hunters and prey from the rest of the saga, the Predator characters page covers them.

Royce begins Predators as the loudest voice among strangers and ends it as the man who comes back after the film has apparently killed him. He is the first to work out that the jungle is a game preserve with the group as quarry. Alien beasts hit early, and Cuchillo dies, with his body then used as bait.

A camp holding a captive Predator follows. Soon after, three larger Predators named Tracker, Berserker and Falconer strike, and Mombasa (Mahershala Ali) is killed. The group then finds Noland, a soldier who has lived alone on the planet for years. He tells them the big Predators are feuding with a smaller clan, and Royce turns that into a plan: free the captive and make it fly them home.

The plan bleeds the group. Noland betrays them with a smoke trap and Tracker kills him while they run. Nikolai blows himself up with mines, Stans holds a position until he falls, and Hanzo beats Falconer in a sword duel before dying of his wounds. Edwin is injured in a trap, Isabelle will not leave him, and Royce presses on by himself.

Berserker takes Isabelle and Edwin prisoner. Royce bargains: he will release the captive in return for passage to Earth. Berserker kills the captive and blows up its ship as it rises, and Royce appears to go with it.

Royce's most important relationship is with Isabelle, played by Alice Braga, because the two end the film fighting side by side. When Edwin is hurt in a trap, Isabelle stays with him and Royce moves on alone. Later, Royce and Isabelle kill Berserker together, and only after the fight do the two finally introduce themselves to each other.

Edwin, played by Topher Grace, is the relationship that turns out to be a trap. After Berserker captures him and Isabelle, Edwin paralyzes Isabelle and reveals that he is a serial killer who means to stay on the planet. Royce returns, and Edwin is stabbed with his own scalpel.

Noland, played by Laurence Fishburne, is the other false friend. He is a soldier who has survived alone for years, and his knowledge of the feud between the Predator clans gives Royce the idea of freeing the captive. Noland then turns on the group and uses smoke against them, and Tracker kills him as they flee.

The three hunters on the other side are Tracker, Berserker and Falconer. Carey Jones is credited as Tracker Predator, and Brian Steele is credited as both Berserker Predator and Falconer Predator. In the final act Royce offers Berserker a deal: he will free the captive Predator in exchange for passage to Earth.

Royce survives Predators. After the captive's ship is destroyed he looks dead, but he returns in time to stop Edwin, and he and Isabelle then kill Berserker together.

The ending is open rather than final. Once Berserker is dead, Royce and Isabelle introduce themselves and spot more parachutes falling from the sky, which means new victims are arriving on the planet. The two head deeper into the jungle to look for a way home.

That answers whether they ever got off the planet: they do not, at least not on screen. The film leaves the hunting planet open for more stories. The next entry in release order, The Predator 2018, is set on Earth with a different cast. For the wider run of films, Predator movies in order places Predators in both release and chronological order.

In my opinion, Royce's best moments are the ones where the film tests his plan instead of his strength. The first is the freefall opening, which gives the audience the same blank slate as Royce: no memory, no map and no rules. It is a clean way to introduce a hunting ground, and it makes the jungle feel like a trap prepared in advance.

The second is the decision to free the captive Predator. Royce takes the feud between the clans that Noland describes and tries to turn it into a ticket home, which is a smarter move than fighting every hunter in sight. Compared with Dutch in Predator (1987), who wins by hiding in mud and building traps, Royce is a leader working with a group of deadly strangers, and his plan depends on bargaining with the creatures' own culture.

The third is the bargain with Berserker, which fails in the most brutal way possible when the captive is killed and the ship is destroyed. It could be argued that this is the film's best scare, because the plan Royce built everything around is gone in a few seconds.

The last is the return. Royce was apparently killed, and he comes back in time to stop Edwin and to kill Berserker with Isabelle. The closing introductions between the two are a quiet payoff after so much noise.