The Predator review

THE PREDATOR:

PREDATOR KILLS ARE COOL, EVERYTHING ELSE FALLS FLAT!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY FOX

The hunt has evolved in The Predator

            The intergalactic bounty hunter with a body count is back in the fourth installment of the long-running Predator film series dating back to the 1987 sci-fi action movie classic starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even if you’ve never seen Predator chances are you’ve seen the character somewhere before as he is one of the most iconic horror movie characters of all time alongside the Xenomorph from Alien and Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street.

            Fox, the studio behind the franchise knew they had a win, the first film was a box-office success and earned a very positive response from both critics and audiences. Naturally it was given a franchise consisting of 1990’s Predator 2 which starred Danny Glover and 2010’s Predators produced by Robert Rodriguez, as well as two non-canon crossover films with the Alien franchise, Alien VS Predator in 2004 and Aliens VS Predator: Requiem in 2007.

            Now director, Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3, The Nice Guys) who previously portrayed supporting character, Rick Hawkins in the first film, brings the latest installment of the franchise, The Predator. Yes folks, they couldn’t even bother to call it Predator 4 and by the title alone I could tell this is a cash grab to capitalize on the success of the first movie.

            Usually that’s a sign that the movie is bad when you have a lazy title like that, is it a hot marketing scheme from Hollywood to call a franchise’s fourth installment by either adding or removing “The”? Examples include The Final Destination and Fast & Furious, both are the fourth installments of the Final Destination and The Fast and the Furious franchises with lazy titles to cash in on their predecessors, and it’s all downhill from there.

            But I was still open to seeing a new Predator movie and Shane Black already won me over with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys. I wasn’t expecting it to surpass the original Schwarzenegger film, but it could still be an entertaining movie, right? Eh, not so much.

            The movie is undeniably thrilling and embraces its R rating with plenty of hardcore violence, but it suffers from unengaging and just plain annoying human protagonists, poorly written comedy that never matches the mood, and some of the choices made by the writers are absolutely ridiculous, it’s like the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom of Predator movies.

            A Predator ship crash lands on Earth and former Army Ranger, Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook-A Walk Among the Tombstones, Gone Girl, Logan) discovers their existence but finds that no one believes him. A government agency that takes Quinn in for questioning, is attacked by the Predator but is quickly stopped, its equipment and helmet are removed, and its body is restrained for experimentation.

            However, when Quinn’s troubled son, Rory (Jacob Tremblay-Room, The Book of Henry, Wonder) finds the Predator’s helmet and gauntlet, he accidentally triggers the Predators’ return to Earth. Only Quinn and a group of ex-soldiers, Nebraska Williams (Trevante Rhodes-If Loving You is Wrong, Moonlight, 12 Strong), Baxley (Thomas Jane-Boogie Nights, Deep Blue Sea, The Punisher (2004)), Lynch (Alfie Allen-Elizabeth, Game of Thrones, John Wick), Nettles (Augusto Aguilera-8, Chasing Life, Too Old To Die Young), and Coyle (Keegan Michael-Key-Key & Peele, Parks and Recreation, Keanu) and an evolutionary biology professor, Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn-Attack of the Show!, Magic Mike, X-Men: Apocalypse) can prevent the end of the human race by facing off against the Predators who are out for something a little bigger than blood.

            The film also stars Sterling K. Brown (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, This is Us, Black Panther) as Will Traeger, Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck, Dexter, 24: Live Another Day) as Quinn’s ex-wife and Rory’s mother, Emily, Jake Busey (The Frighteners, Starship Troopers, From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) as Sean Keyes, the son of Predator 2 character, Peter Keyes portrayed by real life father, Gary Busey, and Niall Matter (The Best Years, Watchmen, Primeval: New World).

            Overall, The Predator is an ambitious return to the franchise that succeeds in gory fun, but not much else. The plot is constructed from generic alien comes to Earth clichés, hardly any of the characters are that interesting, and certain scenes and plot points are just straight up awkward and silly.

            Holbrook and the team of ex-soldiers are a bunch of wise-asses who deliver lame jokes and remarks, make fun of each other in childish ways, and try to show off. If they were a bunch of side characters aiding a superior protagonist, it might have worked better, but nope, these are our heroes and they just make you wish Schwarzenegger was there, Hell, I’ll even take Danny Glover over these guys.

            Really the only character I have any sort of sympathy for is Jacob Tremblay as Rory, which at first, I was ready to hate. Granted his character has an autistic disability which I have no problem with, but the way he acts in the beginning of the film felt like an awkward flashback to his “Performance” in The Smurfs 2.

            Fortunately, as the movie progresses, he gets better and even gains the ability to understand Predator language and to use their weapons. Never thought I’d see the day where a child in a Predator movie overshadows the rest of the cast.

            Narrative wise, it’s a basic sci-fi story with some of the most bizarre choices you could make in a Predator movie, and I’ve seen Aliens VS Predator: Requiem. I $%^& you not, one of the plot points is the science professor training a Predator dog, literally at that moment I jumped to the conclusion that the Predator franchise jumped the shark completely, it’s so out of place and beyond idiotic, why would you throw that into an R-rated gore-fest that children aren’t allowed to watch?

            When the movie remembers to be a Predator movie, it’s a lot of fun and offers plenty of creative kills that goes hardcore with the R rating. The gore and action almost make up for its narrative and character flaws.

            Honestly, this is a movie I’d recommend renting or streaming when it comes out on Netflix or Redbox and fast-forward through the film and only stopping on the Predator scenes.