The Predator franchise is coming back, and judging from the first trailer it kind of looks like it’s coming back with an old school mentality. Shane Black’s adaptation looks less like a re-imagining and more like a throwback, with the most basic of excuses to put a bunch of military people into the path of a new, upgraded Predator. That excuse is a small child pressing a button, it seems, which… yea, I’m OK with that. Kids ruin everything.
To be clear this isn’t a reboot, but it’s also not a direct sequel. OK, so that’s not so clear. The movie takes place in the same universe at the very least. I’m guessing there will be hints of the original tossed in here and there, but mostly the film will function independently. Considering that 2010’s Predators took place on a different planet, and the first movie never left the jungle we’ve only got the second film (not so good) to contend with in terms of the wider world knowledge about Predators.
Will this be any good? I’m a fan of Shane Black’s work on both Iron Man 3 and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but who knows how well he’ll be able to jump into sci-fi action horror. I’m already a little tepid on his screenplay because it’s going the genetic modification route, which jumped the shark about 5 years ago. They also had to reshoot the last third of the film reportedly so that’s never a great sign. On the other hand, suburbia is always a fun place to have a killer alien show up. Plus, they aren’t even trying to hide what the Predator looks like, which is a good move since holding off the appearance of him for some stupid reveal near the end of the movie would be pretty stupid.
The Predator hits theaters September 14, 2018. You can read the plot description below.
From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets of suburbia, the hunt comes home in Shane Black’s explosive reinvention of the Predator series. Now, the universe’s most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before, having genetically upgraded themselves with DNA from other species. When a young boy accidentally triggers their return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.
