Movie Review: The Predator

The Predator ** / *****

Directed by: Shane Black.

Written by: Fred Dekker & Shane Black based on characters created by Jim Thomas & John Thomas.

Starring: Boyd Holbrook (Quinn McKenna), Olivia Munn (Casey Bracket), Jacob Tremblay (Rory McKenna), Sterling K. Brown (Will Traeger), Yvonne Strahovski (Emily), Trevante Rhodes (Nebraska Williams), Keegan-Michael Key (Coyle), Thomas Jane (Baxley), Alfie Allen (Lynch), Augusto Aguilera (Nettles), Jake Busey (Sean Keyes). 

 

It really should not be possible for Shane Black to assemble a cast as good as the one he has for The Predator, and subject matter that really should suit his sensibilities as much as this film seems to, and still make a film as dull as The Predator ends up being. Black has always been good at writing action movie banter, between his male characters, and to be fair in The Predator, he really does try to do the same thing. But it reeks of effort this time – as if it’s someone trying, and coming close, to Black’ style, but not quite getting there. Perhaps this wouldn’t matter very much if the storytelling worked – but it doesn’t. The Predator is littered with either plot holes, or just things the movie doesn’t really bother to explain. The action scenes are confusing and full of poor CGI don’t redeem the film either. Truly, it shouldn’t be possible to screw up this film this bad – but someone, they found a way.

 

To be fair though, perhaps it’s just time to admit that the Predator franchise has never been very good, except for the first installment, that pitted army commandos in the jungle led by Arnold Schwarzenegger against the alien hunter with dreadlocks, superior weapons, and the ability to become invisible when needed. That first film is a lean and mean 1980s action thriller/horror film and it still works. Does anyone really want to go to bat for 1990’s Predator 2, either Alien vs. Predator movie or Predators though? I thought not. There is no reason why another film in this franchise couldn’t work, but we’re 30 years and 5 films in, and it hasn’t yet.

 

This time, a Predator crashes land in a jungle, and kills an entire army unit – except for elite sniper Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook – far and away the most boring character and actor in the film, so of course he’s the lead). In order to have proof that he isn’t crazy, and he did see the alien in question, he mails some of its gear to himself back in America. It doesn’t help much – the army needs a scapegoat, and he’s it, and soon he’s placed on a bus with other crazy vets – who call themselves the “loonies”. For some reason, the army also enlists Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn) to help to, but it doesn’t take her long before she has no choice but to team up with the same loonies – as they all have to go back to get to Quinn’s son, with Asperger’s Rory (Jacoby Tremblay), before either the predator or the human villain Will Traeger (Sterling K. Brown) finds him.

 

Nothing that happens in the plot of The Predator is all that clear. It kind of plays as if you’re watching a movie on cable while falling asleep every few minutes for just a minute or two, and then having to reorient yourself on what happened. The narrative takes so much shortcuts that you’re constantly having to piece together what must have happened off-screen to get to this point we’re now in. When the film does slow down enough, to get some of Black’s dialogue scenes in, they aren’t bad – but you kind of think they should be better. The cast is good, but they are all basically given just one note to play – and while some, like Keegan Michael Key, have fun notes to play – and others, like Sterling K Brown, are clearly having fun saying whatever ridiculous crap they are given, none of them really add up too much of anything interesting. Talented actors like Munn and Tremblay, are basically given nothing to do.

 

Perhaps none of this would matter if the action scenes were better. After all, you go to a Predator movie to see these giant aliens rip people’s spines out, and if nothing else, you have to admit that Black does deliver on that. The action scenes get bloody and don’t hold much back. They are also dimly under lit however, perhaps in an effort to hide to hide the shabby CGI – which becomes more and more of an issue, as we get more than one Predator, not to mention some Predator dogs as the movie progresses.

 

In short, I was shocked by just how incompetent The Predator seemed. Sure, it has flashes of fun and excitement, but with this cast, with this director, The Predator should be one of the best B-movies of the year. It isn’t. It’s downright awful.