Do not get me wrong. I was a fan of the original Predator and a fan of Shane ‘Lethal Weapon’ Black. His involvement in the 1987 version, and subsequent rise to fame as a screenwriter should have given me an exotic returnee to the franchise – having completely shunned the ones in between.
So with my 16-year-old son in tow I was not completely overwhelmed by the results yet not insulted by its potentially benign offering. That’s saying it was OK.
What I liked was down to Black. It felt as if the reboot had been just one step from the Arnie version and there were moments of homage to the original. Indeed, music by the excellent Alan Silvestri was a welcome sound as if everyone was now pulling for some kind of artistic result. It wiped clean the input of marketing men and overall Shane has come up with a decent movie big on blood and death, lean on tension.
He was however probably given too much freedom as the action went from scene to scene without much thought about its inclusion. Having an alien dog as a man’s best friend was as odd as the squad of army rejects. The comedy was interjected to bring warmth and it worked on occasion. I think Shane Black has real talent but he errs to the light side of filming which dilutes and real tensions and the action (and there was no real great ending) was without the ingenuity or plausibility of its big brother.
It’s one for the real fans but a lot better than versions 2, 3, 4 and 5. This may be getting itself ready for the TV spin-off.
Les Rowley's world 