Synopsis:
From the outer reaches of space to the to the backwoods of southern Georgia, the hunt comes home in Shane Black’s explosive reinvention of the Predator series. Now, the universe’s most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before. And only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and an evolutionary biology professor can prevent the end of the human race.
What We Thought:
Overall I liked The Predator, but it’s nowhere near the classic the original film is. This isn’t a remake and is a part of the Predator universe, but the first film is hands down still the best.
I think my biggest complaint is that they tried to make it too funny. Sure Director Shane Black is known for mixing comedy with action, but Predator (and other action movies) have funny one liners delivered by action guys you don’t expect to be funny. This has funny guys (Keegan-Michael Key for one) saying funny things that are intentionally funny. Jesse “The Body” Ventura delivers the iconic line “I ain’t got time to bleed” in the original film and you remember it to this day. This has a scene on a bus with actual jokes not just one liners.
Another complaint is there is a scene with Olivia Munn’s character that doesn’t get explained by the end of the movie. Munn plays an evolutionary biology professor that is trapped in a room where a Predator sees her, doesn’t attack her and just leaves. I was expecting this to pan out into something and it doesn’t. They never reference why it ignores her and you are left to believe it simply didn’t see her as a threat. Yet it killed others in that same building. Was Munn’s character linked to the Predator somehow? They talk about how Predators take the DNA of other species and the new generation has evolved because of it, but they don’t connect Munn to it at all. They want Boyd Holbrook’s son (played by the fantastic Jacob Tremblay) because he’s on the spectrum, but at no point does that scene with the Predator and Munn mean anything again.
Other than that stuff it’s not a bad movie. With summer blockbuster season over, The Predator is a decent enough way to kill some time. I didn’t love the exact ending either which leaves the door open for future movies, but the movie is under 2 hours and it was an easy enough watch. Some of the action is good and it does make references which work like Whoopi Goldberg and getting to a chopper, but don’t expect it to be a classic. If you need some sci-fi action it should fill the void for now.
Cast & Crew:
- Boyd Holbrook
- Trevante Rhodes
- Jacob Tremblay
- Keegan-Michael Key
- Olivia Munn
- Sterling K. Brown
- Thomas Jane
- Alfie Allen
- Augusto Aguilera
- Jake Busey
- Yvonne Strahovski
- Director Shane Black
Recommended If You Like:
- Predator
- Predators
- Science Fiction Mixed with Comedy
The Nerds Templar 