The Predator
Fox
Directed by: Shane Black
Written by: Fred Dekker, Shane Black
Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Thomas Jane
Everything old is new again. Hollywood keeps giving us remakes and reboots of various movies from the 80s and 90s so it should come as no surprise that ‘The Predator‘ is being revamped for today’s cinema. However, this is one of those rare instances where Hollywood may have found a proper way to go about it. Writers Fred Dekker and Shane Black keep the original film (‘Predator‘) and it’s sequel (‘Predator 2‘) in-play but, thankfully, ignore the latter two entries into the franchise. What we get is much more than a remake with a fresh cast and updated effects – this is a follow-up entry that gives us something new while also acknowledging and paying proper homage to its roots along the way.
A quick summation of the slightly complicated plot: A predator crash lands on Earth after fleeing another predator in outer space. A ragtag group of soldiers and a scientist fight to stay alive after they discover that these creatures have not only been to Earth before, but that they are also causing themselves to evolve. There are a lot of moving pieces going on with a multitude of different characters so you definitely have to be paying attention to this film in order to keep up (aka no bathroom breaks!). That being said, the entire cast does a phenomenal job with their assigned roles in what is truly an ensemble piece.
Special credit to Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevonte Rhodes, Sterling K. Brown, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane, and Jacob Tremblay not only on playing their parts well, but on appearing to be having a great deal of fun doing so! The action scenes are great if, from time-to-time, a bit too unbelievable. The story was good, but I can’t quite put my finger on whether the plot was just a bit overly complex or if it was a case of having too many characters muddying things up. As I said, you will definitely need to pay close attention to avoid missing a detail here or who a character was there, etc. Overall, this film definitely paved a smooth path going forward for a sequel and made for a very enjoyable 1 hour and 47 minutes of movie-going fun! I saw it in standard format but I suspect that an IMAX showing may help increase the “Wow!” factor. Get out and see it this weekend at a theater near you!!
