During his life Stan Winston was responsible for some of cinemas most impressive practical effects, The Terminator, Edward Scissorhands, and even this week’s Iron Man. However one of the most enduring has to be the deadly Predator.
Back in the 80’s Winston was drafted in last minute when John McTiernan, director of the original Scwarzenegger vehicle, realised the Jean Claude Van Damme mincing around wearing the head of a one eyed dog wasn’t particularly menacing. Eight months later and Winston returned with the iconic, nightmarish visions we’ve all come to know and love tucked away in his sketch pad.Twenty four years, four movies, around twenty computer games and a series of wicked cool comic books later and the Predator title is back and this time it’s in safer hands than those AvP fuck tards.
Whilst the Alien vs Predator movies proved popular enough to scrape together the resemblance of box office success what they crucially lacked was human heart, discounting the ones in the Predator trophy cabinets. Say what you want about the first two movies but at the centre of them were human stories and as cool as the intergalactic hunters are deep down that’s what we are looking for. Whether it’s Arnie’s survivor or Danny Glover’s protector it was clear whom we were supposed to be cheering for, an allegiance notable by its absence in the more recent franchise cross-over’s.
The recently launched trailer for Predators which, you can see below, seems to suggest a return to that anti-hero driven narrative with a cast who may just have the talent to pull it off. An ensemble which features the likes of Oscar winner Adrian Brody alongside Larry Fishburne, Alice Braga, Topher Grace and Danny Trejo is, in my opinion, more likely to hit than miss. Throw into that mix a Predator brought to life by Brian Steele who’s pretty much masked up for every creature feature of the last decade and the excitement starts to build.
At the helm of this space ship is Nimród Antal hot off the heels of the enjoyable but mostly ignored Armored. If you have any doubts about Antal’s credentials then they should hopefully be quelled by the involvement of the thinking man’s Tarrantino, Robert Rodriquez. When the reboot was first announced it was Rodriquez’s name that was initially attached and whilst he opted to hand over the reins quite early on he has seemingly remained quite hands on throughout the production. Based on an unused script that Rodriquez wrote back in the 90’s the script saw Dutch transported to another planet where he was hunted by the Predators for sport. A few redrafts later and Predators appears to centre around a collection of Earth’s best killers, a heady mix of murderers and soldiers (anyone for a slice of social commentary?). Also don’t rule out a possible cameo from the Governator himself.
He’s already come out of retirement this year for The Expendables, he was reportedly visited Rodriquez on set and in her recent promotional tour for Repo Men Alice Braga refused to deny or confirm Arnie’s appearance saying “Who knows? You’re not gonna get it out of me!”
This will also be the first time we see the Predators on home turf having previously seen them fight in the jungle, the city, some kind of weird Rubik pyramid and Redneckville U.S.A. What this means is that Antal and Rodriquez had the scope to go to town on a full ‘Avatar-esque’ eco system. As a result it may not just be the Predators that Brody and crew are running from. Whilst info pertaining to the titular beasties remains relatively scarce Steele’s character is touted as being a ‘Black Super Predator’ so he may well be a bigger bad-ass than any of his predecessors.
All in all the reboot seems to be shaping up quite nicely. If like me you’re chomping at the bit like a Predator on E then be sure to check out the four issue tie in comic book being released by Dark Horse Comics set for release on the 9th of June. If not, then in the words of Lt. Mike Harrigan “Fuck you!”
The film itself is released over here on the 22nd of July so be sure to check out the trailer below.
