The Predator ★★

In this age of sequels and reboots, it’s inevitable that 1987’s Predator, a jungle-set, testosterone-fueled sci-fi actioner from Die Hard director John McTiernan would spawn a little bit of both. Predator 2 moved the action from Central America to the concrete jungle of Los Angeles, as the 1990 sequel replaced Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers, leaving the more human-scaled Danny Glover to battle the extraterrestrial uglies. Skip past a couple of noncanonical Alien mashups (2004’s AVP: Alien vs. Predator and 2007’s Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem) to 2010’s Predators, and the series got back on track with a modest reset, returning to a sweltering jungle, but one not of this Earth. Adding to the alien sights was the newly bulked-up physique of Oscar-winning string-bean Adrien Brody, who headlined a terrific cast that also included Laurence Fishburne and Walton Goggins. Like the original, Nimród Antal’s film was a spare, fleet entertainment. It didn’t quite catch on with the masses, though, so it took another 8 years for another one, this time helmed by Shane Black (2016’s The Nice Guys), who played one of the commandos you probably don’t remember from the first film. Fittingly, he assembles a mostly forgettable, wisecracking cast for The Predator, headlined by Boyd Holbrook as a sniper who sets off an overly complicated plot that’s designed to set up sequels to presumably come sooner, rather than later. I’m not holding my breath. (At Assembly Row, Boston Common, Seaport, South Bay and in the suburbs.)