The Predator (2018)

Movie Info

This Predator is less intimidating than previous Predators…

Sniper Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) and his team find themselves under attack during a mission to take out a drug cartel. A Predator has come to Earth, and simply by seeing it, McKenna has become a liability to the government. Secretly sending the technology he found to his son Rory (Jacob Tremblay), McKenna is arrested by the government and finds himself teamed with other military prisoners Nebraska (Trevante Rhodes), Coyle (Keegan-Michael Key), Baxley (Thomas Jane), Lynch (Alfie Allen), and Nettles (Augusto Aguilera). While the military team led by Will Traeger (Sterling K. Brown) and biologist Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn) try to study the Predator, the Predator might not be alone on Earth.

Written and directed by Shane Black (with additional scripting by Fred Dekker), The Predator is science-fiction action film. Following Predators in 2010, the film was released to negative reviews but a strong box office. The film also faced controversy when Steven Wilder was cast in the film, but his past as a sex offender became an issue. Olivia Munn pushed for Wilder’s scenes to be removed, and Wilder was cut against Black’s wishes.

I hate it when a kind of mean alien is pursuing you then another alien shows up and kills the first alien

I loved Predator and have seen it multiple times. It is unapologetic in its “’80s-ness” and big explosive action. Predator 2 was rather meh, but added to the Predator mythos, and Predators was essentially Predator again…on an alien planet. The Predator kept the big ’80s explosions and violence, but completely botched the plot and storyline.

The Predator doesn’t start as bad as I expected it to. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t that bad…then about thirty minutes left in the film, it got “that bad”. Black made the plot overly complex and just kept adding to it. The movie wasn’t about the military team at the beginning. It wasn’t about the science team introduced afterwards. It also wasn’t really about the kid with Asperger’s Syndrome or the war between the Predators…it felt like everything was half developed. Is the first Predator good? Is the second Predator bad? By the end, you really don’t care and any interesting characters are wiped out.

It is a big waste of the actors in this film. Everyone has more talent than the script gives them and just because it is an action film doesn’t mean it can’t be solid and smart. The film just devolves into a really boring space ship chase, mutant dogs that don’t do much, and a suit of armor to fight future Predators.

Please…just kill me and finish the movie

The special effects for the series are a mixed bag. I do like the uber Predator with genetic enhancements simply because he’s big, imposing, and different, but I feel that they didn’t utilize any of the differences. The Predator goes out like a chump. I like that the film is R-Rated so it doesn’t have to pull any punches, but it needed more reason behind the deaths (the shock value of killing major characters isn’t much of a shock value anymore).

The Predator was a disappointment. The movie doesn’t deliver a good Predator story nor does it deliver a satisfying action film. I realize there were multiple endings planned (with one even involving Ripley and Newt from the Alien franchise), but the movie already had enough problems leading into the last thirty minutes that I don’t know what ending could have salvaged it. Predator used to be a fun franchise, but much like the Alien and Terminator franchise, it is past its prime.

Related Links:

Predator (1987)

Predator 2 (1990)

Predators (2010)

Alien vs. Predator (2004)

Alien vs. Predator:  Requiem (2007)