Directed by: Shane Black
Written by: Shane Black, Fred Dekker, Jim Thomas, John Thomas
Cast: Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane
After five films over twenty years, Predators again visit Earth, only this time the Hunt is a little bit different. This time it’s a super Predator hunting down one of its own. But alas, we poor meaningless humans just get in the way again and pay a big price for defending ourselves. That is to say we get decimated in the crossfire.
This is Director Shane Black’s (The Nice Guys) attempt to return to the Predator films of yore, but with a more modern twist, after all, we have learned a few things since Arnold Schwarzenegger took out the first one.
They’re still big, still tough, still unstoppable, and the thing of nightmares. The problem is you can’t conjure up the same feeling you had in the original after it becomes legend. And you surely can’t do it with a non-stop foul mouth action film just loaded with eviscerated bodies.
Here’s The Storyline…
When Army sniper Quinn McKenna’s (Holbrook) jungle mission is interrupted by a UFO and a Predator subsequently destroys his unit, he manages to escape with some alien tech that he mails home to cover his butt. However, it winds up in the hands of his young son Rory (Tremblay), who immediately opens it up and begins unlocking its dangerous contents thereby setting the story in motion.
At the same time Dr. Casey Brackett (Munn) gets called in to analyze the captured, living Predator who promptly awakens and escapes. From there on it’s up to a now institutionalized McKenna, a crew of ragtag ex-soldiers he picks up, and Brackett to prevent the world’s destruction.
Sadly, Director Black’s style of raucous black humor blended with fast-paced action just misses putting the franchise back on track. It feels like he threw in everything he could think of, including an attempt to explain why the Predators keep visiting Earth, and he even aggressively sets up an obvious sequel.
Problem is, he works so hard at making it work that there’s almost no breathing space to engage or get excited in the film itself.
My take…Having said all this, I still like watching these aliens. They were brilliantly conceived and are creatures of make-up legend. So I’d have gone to see the film anyway, but then, I’m a fan. You may not be.
