Predator Trailer Review
At this year’s CinemaCon we were lucky enough to have VIP seats for the 20th Century Fox presentation. I will be writing an article in the upcoming days covering the events of CinemaCon, but since a lot of you, like myself, are eager to hear about the new Predator movie that will be releasing on September 14th, 2018, I thought I would write up a quick review of the trailer that was shown during the presentation.
The trailer opens up in a small rural town, that appears to be located somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, as many horror-themed 80’s movies have in the past, on Halloween night. A young boy (Jacob Tremblay) receives a dilapidated cardboard box from Mexico. He reaches into the box and pulls out a Predator helmet, as well as a gauntlet and some sort of small electronic device. The boy plays with the device, flying it around his room and crashing it into numerous obstacles. The scene then cuts away to a void in space where a Predator’s ship powers up and crashes to Earth. According to the plot synopsis provided by 20th Century Fox, “a young boy accidentally retriggers their return to Earth”, so we are left to assume that by playing with the device, the boy has brought the ship crashing to Earth, releasing the evil it holds within.
The preview then takes us through a series of flashbacks where an ex-military sniper (Boyd Holbrook) is recounting his previous encounter with which we can only assume is a Predator. A Predator that wiped out his entire special forces team somewhere in the jungles of Mexico. As is typically the case, he either isn’t sharing everything he knows or simply doesn’t want to divulge the details to the person who is questioning him because he claims to know nothing about what is going on.
The remainder of the trailer shows a series of events that take place in the rural town, a science laboratory and the jungle; showing pieces of a Predator attacking both the scientists as well as a group of ex-military soldiers who are hunting it down. The trailer ends with Olivia Munn being asked where she learned to handle a gun, with her response being “America”. Not much else is known however, 20th Century Fox did provide a few additional details in the plot summary stating, “only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.”
There have been a lot of mixed feelings amongst the folks I’ve spoken with regarding the trailer. While the trailer didn’t particularly blow anyone away, we’ve seen in the past that some trailers simply don’t do a good job at selling the movie they are promoting (contrary to popular belief). Part of the CinemaCon experience is that many of the trailers and additional footage seen are not representative of the final product. In fact, the preview shown at the presentation may change dramatically before it’s released to the public. One thing we did learn at CinemaCon is that this isn’t a reboot of the original which had been the rumor for some time. It takes place in present day (2018) and we were told that it will tie into the events that took place in the first Predator and surprisingly (at least to me) the events from Predator 2 as well. In that sense, it seems to be setting itself up to be more of a Predator 3, as far as the film series timeline is concerned.
Personally, I’m trying to stay cautiously optimistic on the film. It’s difficult to take a few minutes of early preview footage and really form a strong opinion one way or the other. For those who were hoping for a reboot of the series, you won’t be getting that, but I do like the mix of the jungle and rural settings, as it gives folks something both new and familiar. Over the next several months, we’re sure to see additional trailers, which will hopefully show us more of the story, as the CinemaCon preview has me intrigued on where this Predator is going to go. Hopefully all our concerns and questions will be answered when the hunt begins this September.
