Review:
"The Predator"
![]() Release Date: Sept. 14, 2014
Rating: R Running Time: 118 minutes Shane Black’s history with the Predator franchise goes all the way back to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1987 sci-fi action classic, which not just featured Black as the ill-fated Rick Hawkins but benefitted from his uncredited script polish. Given the Lethal Weapon screenwriter and The Nice Guys director is one of Hollywood’s most prominent purveyor of buddy action comedy-thrillers, Black remains the perfect choice to revive an aging and mistreated franchise that he helped launch. And, aside from an ending that clumsily sets up a sequel, Black delivers with The Predator. This fourth solo outing for our favorite extraterrestrial hunter is everything that you expect from the man who wrote The Last Boy Scout and The Last Kiss Goodnight and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: it moves fast, mixes copious amounts of blood and gore with hardboiled humor, and boasts a memorable group of tough and/or eccentric men, women, and kids to root for in their bid to stop the nefarious plans of a hybrid Predator. Yes, we have already seen a hybrid Predator running rampage in a small city—remember Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem? And we have already seen this alien species battle each other in Predators. But Black and co-screenwriter Fred Dekker employ their freakishly large creation to tell a larger story about humanity’s battle with a hostile alien force that now views its hunts on Earth as more than a ritual or entertainment. Our fate lies in the hands of a makeshift military unit led by Army Ranger sniper Quinn McKenna, who is played with forced Kurt Russell-like cool and grit by Boyd Holbrook. By his side are a bunch of military mental patients, including a loosely wired Trevante Rhodes, a wise-cracking Keegan-Michael Key, and an understandably but no less hilariously foul-mouthed Thomas Jane. Also joining McKenna are his autistic son Rory (Jacob Tremblay, adorable as ever) and scientist Casey Bracket (a steely Olivia Munn), a scientist whose own encounter with a captured Predator makes her a target for assassination. Sterling K. Brown proves to be as much as a villain as the Predator as he heartily chews the scenery as a government agent consumed with his own mysterious agenda. As with Predator, this sequel is as much concerned with the group dynamics that drives this ragtag team of heroes as it with their hunt for the ultimate hunter. That Black loves these characters, and injects them with so much personality, ensures The Predator stands apart from the previous sequels in this franchise. Black also successfully honors Predator while expanding upon its mythology to ensure The Predator is more than a soft reboot. There are enough callbacks and in-jokes to the Schwarzenegger slugfest—as well as the Danny Glover-led Predator 2—for a drinking game. At the same time, Black seizes upon the threat and the technology the Predator possesses to advance the story beyond a hunt. He irrevocably changes the relationship between human and Predator to the point that the hunt can never be viewed as entertainment but as an act of evolution. The final showdown, which Black reportedly reshot, does feel rushed and messily edited, but it does not hurt a sequel that has more than sport on its mind. Robert Sims Aired: Sept. 13, 2014 Web site: https://www.thepredator.fox/home |
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