Believe it or not it’s been 30 years since PREDATOR hit
movie screens featuring a new action hero named Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since
that time we’ve had a direct sequel, the Predators facing off against the
aliens from that franchise and then another direct sequel. Now we get a new
update. THE PREDATOR isn’t a reboot so much as following the timeline
established by the first film.
Army Ranger sniper Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) is on a
mission to retrieve a hostage when an alien spacecraft crash lands in the area.
Belonging to one of the Predators it isn’t long before McKenna’s entire team is
wiped out. With the help of tech the Predator dropped McKenna takes him out as
an extraction team arrives to take him home.
Rather than a hero’s welcome he is interrogated by special
agent Will Traeger (Sterling K. Brown). When it’s clear that McKenna has seen
an actual alien he is shipped off to a military psych unit. On the bus he meets
several others on their way to the same location, each with their own problems
but still full on military men.
As this unfolds evolutionary biologist Casey Bracket (Olivia
Munn) is whisked away to the secret base run by Traeger. They have captured the
Predator that McKenna thought he killed and have brought her here to study it.
References are made to the first film here as we discover the government has
been aware of the Predators coming to our planet to hunt. But something else is
afoot as well.
McKenna made a tactical decision before he was captured on
his mission. Taking some of the tech he found at the crash site he mailed it
home. Rather than go to the P.O. Box it was supposed to it’s delivered to his
ex-wife’s house where their son Rory (Jacob Tremblay) has opened it thinking it
was a gift. A young man with Asperger’s syndrome his gifted mind deciphers the
workings of the equipment his father sent home.
All three story lines combine when the Predator awakes,
escapes and both Traeger’s team and the unit McKenna has found himself mixed in
attempt to hunt down the Predator. With her usefulness at an end Traeger was
about to have his team kill Bracket but she ends up with McKenna’s men instead.
Now the hunt is on for the Predator and the secrets he holds. But at the same
time another Predator has arrived with different plans.
So what does the movie hold for the average viewer? Lots of
explosions, lots of bloodshed, lots of action and a few dabs of humor along the
way. Much of this is due to the combined efforts of director/co-writer Shane
Black and co-writer Fred Dekker. Dekker is the man behind such movies as THE
MONSTER SQUAD and NIGHT OF THE CREEPS while Black has written movies like
LETHAL WEAPON and LAST ACTION HERO and directed movies like IRON MAN 3, KISS
KISS BANG BANG and THE NICE GUYS. Working together they’ve made a fun movie
that references the past as well as a few in jokes for movie geeks. It works on
a number of levels.
The film received plenty of backlash when it was released
and I can’t understand why. With some of the lesser movies in the past this one
surpasses many of those. And almost all of it works here. The two team’s
tracking the alien, the secret government operation and the Predator itself are
all well played and mixed together like a fine batch of spices in a cake.
The performances here are exceptional from the steady cool
professional killer in Holbrook that has a softer side when it comes to family
to the believable scientists who can handle action as well displayed by Munn.
The rest of the cast also turn in performances that make the movie successful
as a team effort.
Ignore the naysayers who cried foul when this film was
released and give it a shot. With some language and some excessive bloodshed it
might not be something for the youngest family members but everyone else will
have a fun filled night with this one.
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