The Predator Review

The Predator

Arnie dodged a bullet saying no to this one.

Predator is one of my favourite action films of all time. The 1987 classic had everything, the guns (the actors tried to make theirs as big as the props), Arnie on top of his game, Apollo Creed, viscous violence, iconic one liners and one of the best movie villains of all time. John McTiernan did the impossible and managed to make a terrifying monster movie while getting great performances from a remarkably egotistic cast. Danny Glover was a disaster while Adrien Brody gave a solid effort neither could muster anything on Schwarzenegger’s leading man in their respective sequels. Predator never needed a sequel at all never mind a third sequel being released in 2018 (That’s not even including the 3 awful Alien Vs Predator films.). The Predator sees Shane Black return to the franchise to direct a sequel/reboot to the iconic characters story, he had already acted and made uncredited contributions to the originals script. Now just before the film was released Olivia Munn revealed that she was forced to act in a scene with a registered sex offender without being informed of his crimes. Black cast his friend in scene where he hits on Munn without even telling the actress of his crime. Munn was then basically bullied by her castmates with many of them cancelling interviews with her and leaving her to do press junkets on her own. Now the scene has since been removed and Munn has received apologies from both her co-stars and Black but at the end of the day the actress was forced to work with a literal Predator and to be shunned for standing up for herself by her colleagues is disgraceful.

The Predator tells the story of a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers who team up take on the universes most lethal hunter when a young boy (Jacob Tremblay) accidentally calls him to earth. This film is mess that completely forgets what makes the original Predator great.  Predator was masterful in the way it used its ensemble, bouncing them off each other to create characters who even with little backstory are still embedded into our minds. Take Blain (Jessie Ventura) from the original for example, the character may not have been given lots of story, but he was given well written dialogue which made the character awesome, “I ain’t got time to bleed” in many movies would be a throwaway line but this piece of dialogue fuels the character. The Predator has an ensemble cast but not one of the human characters is memorable. Black was the worst part of the original film, his awful monologue about his girlfriend is still cringe inducing. Black basically makes every character in this film Hawkins (his character in the original). The film is more of an action comedy than an action film. Marvel know how to make action comedies, Black himself made a terrific one in Iron Man 3. The same goes with Black’s last movie The Nice Guys, one of my favourite films of the last few years. The Nice Guys featured terrific action and a hilarious odd couple pairing of Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. Black in both movies mixed comedy and action to perfection. The Predator on the other hand features Terrific action which I’ll get to later with offensively bad comedy which almost makes the film a total disaster.

Mental illness is a very tender topic. As someone who is diagnosed with severe depression i obviously understand the severity of having a mental illness. Black it appears does not seem to understand how sensitive of a topic this is.  The soldiers who suffer from PTSD are made out to be delusional and are mocked by other characters. The lead character Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) is suffering from PTSD which is never fully explored besides other characters mocking him for it. Keegan-Michael Key’s character Coyle sole purpose in the film appears to be to mock Keyes (Jake Busey) for having Tourette’s. It’s not as if he is bullying the character for dramatic purposes instead the whole crew ignite in laughter whenever Coyle’s disability is mocked. Rory is a young child with Asperger’s but the words that the other characters use to describe are so awful that I refuse to type them. Disabilities should not be mocked in a film in 2018. The world has progressed and knows that disabilities should not be poked fun of with jokes that are in nothing but poor taste. Black wrote this film with Fred Dekker, the man behind Robocop 3, these two men’s humour is way too dated to be on full show in 2018.  Olivia Munn’s character Casey is also ridiculed to dozens of sexist comments that left me sighing with disappointment. It’s not as if these awful jokes are sporadic but every single scene featured awful jokes which left me sighing with disappointment. All the actors are held back from giving great performances by the material given to them. The two writers need to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror.

Boyd Holbrook was a solid leading man. The actor certainly looks the part, but I found Quinn to be quite a bland character, he needed to be furthered explored rather than just thrown into action scenes. Holbrook was phenomenal in Logan last year and I see him having a great career if he can land some more leading roles which feature more character depth in the coming years.  The human characters are wasted with nearly every single one of them being forgettable. The most disappointing character was Coyle because Keegan-Michael Key is a terrific comedic actor who deserves better roles. Olivia Munn and Sterling K. Brown are two terrific actors given nothing to do. The standout character in the film is Nebraska, played by Moonlights Trevante Rhodes. Rhodes lights up the screen whenever he appears. Nebraska is hilarious and badass, he is the only character in the film who would make the original crew.  So, the humans are mostly empty shells of characters but how does the Predator himself fare?

Thankfully the only thing The Predator nails is the Predator himself. The character has never looked better, the effects on the monster has made him look threatening and a villain to be feared. The film shows him off from the first scene and with effects like this why wouldn’t you! Casey even reimagines the famous Arnie line calling it “one beautiful mother****er. The film earns its R rating with terrific violence and gore. The Predator tears off limbs, blows heads off and takes down its enemies in wonderfully grotesque ways. Any action scene which features the Predator pulled me back into the film when it began to lose me. The film is a blood fest which is refreshing in an era of film where we don’t often get to see it with studios tending to make films lower rated to make more money. I admire 20^th Century Fox for allowing The Predator to really let lose in its action scenes. Unfortunately, if Disney manage to complete their takeover we might not get to see much more action blood baths. The action is honestly the only thing going for The Predator, it’s a real shame that nothing else is a strong as it because this action is top notch.

Overall, The Predator is a huge disappointment.  This is a rare misfire for Black whose filmography is one of my favourites in Hollywood. The director needs to focus on making more original films instead of going back to a franchise that shouldn’t be a franchise. This is a reboot that completely misses the point of the original. Predator isn’t meant to be a comedy, there’s way too much people dying for you to be making Modern Adam Sandler level jokes. Just like Its ally Alien last year, The Predator could have been a great movie which may have even surpassed the original, unfortunately you’ll leave The Predator feeling like you just watched a comedy written by a group of teenagers who think swearing is funny. This film is one ugly mother****er.

Liam’s Summary of The Predator

Best Character: The Predator in The Predator is the best Predator since Predator in Predator.

Worst Character: Alfie Allen plays Lynch who is more unlibale than the guy ho killed John Wicks dog.

Best Moment: The action sequence in the school is old school action at its best.

Worst Moment: Someone says “Get to the Chopper” in a way that will make you face palm harder then you ever have.

Overall Rating: 2/5