Predators are personal for Shane Black. He was hacked apart by one of the fearsome alien hunters in the first “Predator” movie 31 years ago and now returns to sit in the director’s chair for the latest saga in the franchise.

Ready for some payback, Shane? More importantly, will you oversee the destruction of Predators or will you accidentally kill off the series, once and for all? The answer is a little of both.

Only a definite article in the title separates the new “The Predator “ from the 1987 debut “Predator” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and clearly Black is trying to capture the spirit of the testosterone-fueled original with this one led by a decorated sniper played by Boyd Holbrook.

The first film featured cartoonishly masculine soldiers in the jungle of Central America tracking and being tracked by a huge and technologically advanced beast with dreadlocks, a face full of mandibles and the ability to both go invisible and humiliate arrogant prey. It echoed the horror of Vietnam and was a clever combination of “Rambo” and “Alien” with humor that would make a locker room blush. (Black played the bespectacled Hawkins and was an early casualty.)

Black has returned — with co-writer Fred Dekker — for another loud soldier-versus-Predator slice in an American forest — well, actually, thanks, Canada! — but with some twists. Although the filmmakers boast about a much-improved alien, the only noticeable update is the addition of their tracking canines — that’s right, “space dogs,” as one character jokes. And this time the soldiers are all suffering from PTSD, along with other problems triggered by Tourette’s syndrome, suicidal tendencies and opioid addiction. Viewers get plenty of decapitations, lynchings, head shots and bowels cut open.

The film created headlines after Munn flagged 20th Century Fox that a minor actor was a registered sex offender, meaning a real predator was in the mix. His scenes were soon cut, but, weirdly, she faced a backlash . If there’s ever a hero here, it’s Munn: On film, as in real life, she’s challenged the all-boys’ network.

But Black, who wrote “The Last Action Hero” and several “Lethal Weapon” films, flounders, seeing his gifts as a director tested. Scenes are poorly knitted together. Time and tempo break down, as if the film were snapping apart at the seams.

Ideas are offered — might Predator DNA be mixed with those of a human? Why do Predators keep coming back to Earth? — but quickly abandoned. Some characters die in underwhelming ways, as if the film stock ran out. At the end, Black somewhat arrogantly offers a clear springboard to a sequel. Whether anyone cares for it remains to be seen.