I wish I could say The Predator was good, but it's not. This fourth film in the franchise was written and directed by Shane Black, who also appeared in the original Predator. He had since gone on to do great movies like The Nice Guys and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the latter of which is a personal favorite of mine, so I have no idea how he dropped the ball so badly here.
The Predator stars Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Olivia Munn, Keegan-Michael Key (as in Key and Peele), Sterling K. Brown (Gordon from Supernatural), Brian Prince, Augusto Aguilera, Thomas Jane (yes, that Thomas Jane), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Jacob Tremblay, and Yvonne Strahovsky, with a couple special appearances by Jake Busey, son of Gary Busey, who starred in Predator 2. If that sounds like a lot of names to you, that's because it is. One of the problems of this movie comes from the fact that it is bloated with far too many characters, half of which barely get any time to shine despite being part of the main group. I also owe it to myself to mention that Thomas Jane's character was so far over-the-top that it annoyed me more than the dumb mistakes made by the child character. Speaking of which, can we all agree not to write dumb or annoying children anymore? If you want to see kids done right, look to 2017's It or Stranger Things. I would, however, like to say that Sterling Brown was by far the best actor in the movie, and I genuinely enjoyed his character.
Sadly, the plot, when it's even there, is a complete mess. The ending makes no sense at all, and is completely out of left field. I like when a film doesn't take itself too seriously, but The Predator doesn't take itself seriously at all. It's much more of a comedy than an action flick, and it's not a thriller in the least. There is absolutely no tension anywhere in this movie. I did appreciate the two times I counted where characters directly quoted the original film, and I have to admit that a lot of the more comedic lines were very funny, but that's not what this film should be. Comedy is used in an action thriller to break up the tension, not the other way around. The practical special effects were honestly done very well the scant few times they were present. Conversely, the CGI was pretty bad, especially on the Predator dogs, which were entirely unnecessary and had no reason to be in the film at all.
As I said before, this movie is not good. If you are a completionist and want to see this movie just to complete your Predator viewing checklist, knock yourself out. Dedicated Predator fans should probably skip this. If you're just looking for an end-of-summer/early fall action movie, please avoid this one. Go see The Meg or Peppermint instead.
Review of The Predator
