Predatory Cinema

When John McTiernan’s ‘Predator’ dropped in theaters back in 1987, Austrian bodybuilder-turned-movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger was just entering his prime as an A-list action hero to turn this otherwise unremarkable sci-fi/Vietnam War B-movie mash-up into a veritable blockbuster hit. Always ready with catchy one-liners, who can forget his defiant comeback “You’re one ugly motherfucker!” to Predator even as his team-mates died gruesomely one after another by the claws and exotic weaponry of the badass alien hunter? Forgotten in the midst of all the alpha-male chest beating is the tidbit of trivia that Rick Hawkins, the geeky bespectacled radio operator of the mercenary team played by Shane Black, was the first to die.
 

30 years, two sequels (‘Predator 2’ and ‘Predators’) and two ill-advised cross-overs with ‘Aliens’ (‘AvP’ and ‘AvP: Requiem’) later, the dreadlocked trophy (usually a head attached to a severed spine as shown below) collector preys on a new generation of moviegoers in Rick Hawkins', I mean director Shane Black’s ‘The Predator.’  Set in the present day, a ragtag band of rejected brothers led by a disgraced Ranger sniper (Boyd Holbrook) is pitted against predators and nefarious government agents, aided by scientist Olivia Munn and an autistic boy (Jacob Tremblay).  Not that there’s much of a story here, but keep your eyes open because a lot of things happen in this rather messy movie throughout its compact 107-minute running time.

‘The Predator’ aims high, delivering fast-paced near non-stop action, heroic deeds galore, all-hell-breaks-loose mayhem, generous doses of Shane (black) humor and a healthy (or maybe I should say unhealthy) amount of blood and gore to satisfy the most jaded gorehounds among us.  Alas, the $88-million dollar movie’s ambitions proved to be beyond its limited reach, as all the heroes in the movie (most of whom died vainly like in the original) combined could not hope to match the sheer presence and macho manliness of “The Governator.”

Grade: B