A Reel Review: THE PREDATOR

In 1987, director John McTiernan and bigger-than-life star Arnold Schwarzenegger brought us PREDATOR, a thrilling mash-up of sci-fi, action, and horror which is today considered to be one of the best representing all three genres. Since then, the iconic camouflaging killer from space has suffered from lousy redundant sequels that just keep rinsing and repeating. Now we have writer/director Shane Black, who starred in the original film in a supporting role, returning to the franchise with a slew of new ideas for THE PREDATOR.

Set years after the events of the previous films, Army Ranger Quinn (Boyd Holbrook), encounters a Predator on the run during a mission. Determined to reveal this to the world, Quinn mails pieces of the Predator’s armor home, which is intercepted and activated by his mentally handicapped son Rory (Jacob Tremblay). The activation draws a massive, 11-foot tall Predator to Earth, which has the attention of a secret government agency seeking the alien technology, led by Traeger (Sterling K. Brown). Quinn falls in with a group of military prisoners (Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, and Augusto Aguilera), and a biologist (Olivia Munn), and set out to stop whatever the new giant Predator is up to.

One of the best, and classic forms of storytelling is the Man vs. Monster tale. The original PREDATOR and its sequels and spinoffs hung its helmet on that to the point of boredom. Aware of this, writer/director Shane Black tries to counter this by giving the Predators their own storyline to get through. The first Predator that arrives is revealed to be a rogue, who is being chased down by the super-big Predator. The reasons for the rogue are odd (he’s actually trying to help humanity, despite killing quite a few), and opens a door for a lot of convoluted de-mystifying of the creatures. The reasons for the Predators having an interest in our planet are mentioned, not quite explored enough, and seem to contradict what a Predator is all about. There are a lot of odd choices made in the plot, and while some of the ideas are interesting, they are never given a chance to grow.

But where THE PREDATOR falls apart is in the editing. Pieces of the film seem to be missing. Scenes begin abruptly, characters appear in places out of the blue and obtain weapons out of nowhere, and it overall has a very choppy feel. A lot of character work seems to have been left on the floor; Quinn’s reasons to mail home alien armor and weapons make no sense, and Olivia Munn’s scientist character somehow knows how to shoot machine guns and do Kung-Fu for no given reason.

When the action does start there’s some fun to be had. The Predators look great, and get to chop and hack bodies (and each other) into bloody messes; it’s by far the goriest of any PREDATOR film, and it earns its R-rating with plenty of blood-and-guts and swearing. Black has fun with his characters as his talent for witty dialogue is all over the film; the banter between everyone is a blast, and by far makes this the funniest PREDATOR film we’ve ever had. The group of misfits Quinn finds himself with earn their place in the film, although there are some choices with the mentally handicapped (Quinn’s son and Thomas Jane’s character who has Tourette’s) that come across as out of place. The practical effects are excellent, but the CGI is awful…the Predator dogs that travel with the big guy are like cartoons. Henry Jackman’s score is excellent; with some re-scoring on the original PREDATOR theme and his own stuff sounding like it came out of an action flick from the 1980’s.

The cast does well with what they have to work with. Boyd Holbrook is a bit of a plank but it fits his character, although some sort of emotion would have been nice. Olivia Munn is fine even though her character is all over the place. Young Jacob Tremblay is outstanding, and Sterling K. Brown steals the show as the ruthless government stooge. Thomas Jane is also very funny, providing audiences won’t get offended with his mentally-handicapped character providing laughs.

After all the messy editing and sloppy plotting, THE PREDATOR has a chance to redeem itself in the last act and sets itself up for an intriguing, end-of-film reveal. Instead, we get one of the dumbest and weirdest endings ever seen in a PREDATOR film or anywhere else. It’s so shockingly stupid and awkward it destroys any goodwill the film may have earned with its action and characters, and makes zero sense in the overall story. THE PREDATOR gives us something new all right, but it’s all bullshit. All of it.

BOTTOM LINE: Fuck it