It’s hard to take the wind out of the sails of a remake quite as comprehensively as casting Adrien Brody as the lead in a Predator remake (I can’t remember for sure whether it’s a Predator remake, prequel, sequel or reboot… but frankly who really cares. Are there really people worried about canon in the Aliens universe?). Now Adrien Brody can play evil, something few people know. He did it really well in Oxygen as a serial killer, a movie few saw. But the remake of Predator already has Topher Grace on board to play an accountant slash serial killer. I suspect Topher Grace, who’s a better actor than most people give him credit for, could do it, but that’s not the point.

Predator wasn’t about an alien from space hunting serial killers, that wasn’t even Predator 2. It was about some of the toughest men in a unit going up against a virtually invincible monster from outer space, who could be invisible, who could follow them and kill them one by one. And who could think as well as them. It was about the question of who is the real predator. Man or alien. Now does anyone really think that Adrien Brody as the lead is going to help answer that question? I don’t think so.

Predator was about about testosterone and killing, but Robert Rodriguez seems to have assembled a cast that would play better in a remake of Anaconda. Adrien Brody, Alice Braga and Topher Grace as key figures are not going to make this a movie in which the toughest guys Earth has to offer take on an alien hunter. Instead it seems to be more of the same nonsense that killed the Aliens vs Predator movies. Robert Rodriguez should have been able to get this right, but instead what he’s done is like remaking Commando with John Krasinski or remaking Rambo with Paul Giamatti. Some choices not only won’t work, but also completely miss the point.