The New Predator Red Band Trailer Makes Up For the Sins of That First Dreadful Trailer

So the second Predator (Red Band) trailer dropped this morning.

And let me just put this as bluntly as possible: It is….one…..beautiful motherfucker.

When the first trailer was released, it premiered a few promising points but left a lot to be desired.

Upon watching this new trailer I noticed a lot of differences, most of which I can happily report are positive. The most interesting aspect of the trailer is the clearer sense of the plotting and display of characters in this next chapter. I really enjoyed the fact that Sterling K. Brown, Olivia Munn, Boyd Holbrook, Keegan Michael Key and company all got a hot second to shine in this. Key really getting a moment to display some of that classic Shane Black humor which is a huge signature of Black’s films. At first, when the casting was announced I was a little thrown, but now in this trailer, you can clearly see that they deserve a spot on this roster.

The trailer does a fantastic job of building the hype. Some could argue that the trailer gives away maybe a plot point or two too much away but I really dug what was given to us. Humans experimenting with genetic hybridization which of course led to the biggest reveal of the trailer, the SUPER predator, again, a huge reveal, but I believe that was by design. It’s a huge draw to see the story of the classic predator get a chance to evolve.

This is a Shane Black brainchild and that gives me so much hope. He is one of a kind in terms of generating projects with some unbelievable camaraderie with actors that nobody else can do, in case you need reminding, he is responsible for Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and the The Nice Guys (the latter of which turned out better than it ever should have should have been). Another confident stroke that the trailer has going for it is the impressive set pieces that seem to be going on. Outside of the one-liners, there’s a lot of action going on in this, including but not limited to, explosions, multiple Predator battle roars, numerous gun-cocking, throat-slices, blood spurts and enough body slams to put the WWE out of business. All of which came off extremely impressive and entertaining.

And of course, Predator codpieces. Gotta love them.

Despite all of my positivity for this trailer, there were just a couple of nitpicks, one of which comes from the trailer itself. The Super Predator could have impressed me more. I hate to say it, but it looks like it belongs more in a DC film as one of the antagonist’s minions. Basically, nothing impressed me about the Super Predator. I’m more intrigued by the idea of a SP than what I saw. So I really hope that there’s more to that besides a difference in height. The other fear comes straight from the news surrounding the project, namely, the whole third act of the film. It has been said that early audience feedback caused an entire rewrite and reshoot of the third act of the film. That is less than satisfying to hear. So, of course, that worries me.

But beyond that, I have complete and utter faith in Shane Black. The man has a knack for telling an engrossing story and is more than capable of leading fans into the next coherent chapter in the Predator franchise (outside of the Alien V. Predator films, because watching a trash fire is more exciting than them). This trailer gave enough hype and promise the way the first trailer should have done but failed to do.

In all honesty, I can say that Predator is heading in a much more promising direction than I can say for the Alien films (No, seriously they just need to go. And take Ridley Scott with you too.)

The Predator lands in theaters on September 14th and I couldn’t be happier about that.