The Predator movie: Review, Cast, Director

Film: The Predator

Cast: Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Yvonne Strahovski, Jacob Tremblay, Sterling K. Brown, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, Augusto Aguilera

Director: Shane Black

Rating: * * *

Writer/director/actor Shane Black’s Predator is a disjointed albeit spirited narrative of sustained violence. If Black had wanted to evoke John McTiernan’s 1987 original in which he had played a quirky radio operator, he could have done worse than to employ a bunch of nutcases, soldiers actually, incapacitated by war.

Black’s take on the sci fi action franchise assembles interesting characters: comely scientist Casey Bracket ( Olivia Munn,impressive) unscrupulous government officials, a single mother ( Yvonne Strahovski, strong) raising her autistic little boy Rory ( Jacob Tremblay, adorable) and lest we forget, the aforementioned “looney” bunch which, it acquits itself most honourably indeed when it the matters with exemplary bravery, courage, team work and the ultimate, self sacrifice.

The titular extra-terresterial now comes in two sizes, including a larger, more lethal version powered by DNA from myriad galaxies, which seeks planet earth’s most evolved life form, the autistic child is a curious choice but this is what makes Black’s reboot interesting alongwith such elements as the alien doggie and the camaraderie and black humour of macho men; but the action is adrenaline-charged and likely to please fans of the franchise.

Black has written the screenplays of successful movies like Lethal Weapon 1 & 2, Iron Man 3 and The Last Action Hero and has co-scripted the film under review with Fred Dekker. Our hero, army sniper Quinn ( Boyd Holbrook) McKenna earns his stripes ( for the umpteenth time) after he ferrets away some of the Predator’s possessions before it is captured by government agents led by Will Traeger (Sterling K. Brown) in Mexico.

Black and Dekker now move rhe setting to small town suburbia and secret laboratories in the US of A. Would you entrust the national interest in the safekeeping of manipulative, duplicitous officials charged with protecting ‘scientific research’ aka ‘classified’ secrets, come what may? The film serves up the answer in gory mayhem and frenetic set action pieces. The end result is oddly satisfying.