MOVIE
Predator: Hunting Season
Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay
Director: Shane Black
Review Ray Chan
Shane Black was a cast member in the original Predator movie, where he played a US mercenary who, like many others, met a grisly demise at the hands of the alien.
Since then, he's made a name for himself as a writer (Lethal Weapon) and lately a director (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), so it's particularly poignant that he oversees the latest instalment in the franchise.
It opens with a sequence all too common these days, as a space vessel crashes in a secluded forest on Earth … and, conveniently enough as is always the case, somewhere in the USA. On board is the hulking humanoid with the cavernous piranha mouth, dreadlocks that belong to a Caribbean warlord, and a tinge of anguished puzzlement in its jaundiced eyes.
In the original film, this extra-terrestrial monster was a lurking threat, unveiled only at the climax. This time, multiple predators are visible in all their glory from the outset, as the story reveals that one of them is in fact the prey among his kind.
Indeed, there's an almost philosophical discussion about why the name “Predator” isn't appropriate, as the invaders only attack people who are armed and don’t rely on humans as a source of food.
Evolutionary biologist Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn) proclaims they're more like sports trophy hunters, but of course calling them "predators" is "cooler." All the men in the Predator war room agree. The only ones who don't are the woman and suicidal Afro-American soldier Williams (Trevante Rhodes): symbolically, the characters most likely to be preyed upon (woman, black, mentally-ill, veterans) by their own culture.
Overall, the characters are an eclectic bunch. Boyd Holbrook as Quinn McKenna heads a group of military misfits who find themselves in the firing line of not just the Predators but also a clandestine government agency intent on safeguarding their alien research work.
Jacob Tremblay plays Quinn's son Rory, a young boy with autism who comes into contact with the alien technology. Quinn's wife is played by Australian Yvonne Strahovski, who gets a few good one-liners as a mother who finds her house overrun by the military folk as they hide from the approaching creatures.
Interestingly, all the gore and carnage one can expect of Predator offerings is tempered by many laughs and witty exchanges along the way. Like all Black’s work, The Predator refuses to take itself seriously even for a moment.
Yet in the midst of all the chaos, it does keep circling back to one specific theme: each main character feels connected to the Predator in some way, leading us to ponder the possibility of a fusion between human and monster.
Some gaping plotlines aside, this movie is harmless entertainment which doesn't offer much in terms of thrills and originality.
But as a showcase for its titular character, as well as a Deadpool-esque fun slice of action horror, Black certainly hits those proverbial nails on their heads, and his various homages to the first two Predator movies will make diehard fans go home happy.
#ThePredator
