John McTiernan's original Predator from the 1980s was brilliant because of its stupid simplicity. It was everything you could possibly want from a sci-fi action movie, distilled to its elemental parts. There were no romantic subplots, no lulls in the action—just 100 minutes of dewy, glistening men with lumpy muscles who grunted heroically as they waged war on a crab-faced alien.
Unfortunately, the sequels never quite managed to replicate the magic of the original. Predator 2 bizarrely brought the titular alien into some LA gang disputes, 2010's Predators had this convoluted premise about an alien game preserve, and the Alien vs. Predator movies... well, those were honestly sick as hell.
On Thursday, 20th Century Fox dropped the first trailer for Shane Black's upcoming franchise revival, aptly titled The Predator, and it actually looks promising—though there seems to be more actual plot and character than the original, for better or worse.
This one isn't a full reboot of the series, though. According to the film's synopsis, The Predator takes place in present day, a few years after the events of Predator 2 but before the dumb shit that happens in Predators, meaning that humanity has fought and won a couple battles against the aliens already. Unfortunately, in the intervening years, the predators have been off visiting other planets and upgrading their DNA by splicing it with other species.
Now, the trailer reveals, they're bigger and badder, and have set their human-hunting sights on the suburbs, apparently all thanks to some kid who mistakes alien technology for a toy and inadvertently flags down a spaceship. From there, some buff military dudes get their asses handed to them in typical Predator fashion, a scientist played by Olivia Munn gets very worried, and a bunch of stuff explodes. Keegan-Michael Key and Sterling K. Brown are in there, too, because why not?
Shane Black has been a pioneering force in the action genre since he wrote Lethal Weapon back in 1987, and he even played a role in McTiernan's original Predator—so if anyone can revitalize this franchise and give us the kind of pure, stripped-down spectacle we want, it's him. The Predator is set to hit theaters September 14, but until then, give the trailer a watch above.
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