Review: The Predator Lacks Any Killer Instinct
- Nov 15, 2018
- 2 min read
Once a lethal killer, now a throwaway joke. Ladies and Gentlemen, this isn't a parody. Welcome to The Predator.
A crashing spacecraft, one carrying a lethal alien, is discovered by Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook), a black ops sniper. When the alien wipes out his team, and after he takes some of its equipment, McKenna is captured by Traeger (Sterling K Brown), the lead of a mysterious government organisation. Locked away with a collection of ex-military lunatics, McKenna soon finds himself hunted by a deadly creature. But its not the biggest, nor the meanest thing out there.
Oh boy, where to begin. The bad dialogue? The poor comedic timing that ruins often funny jokes? The plot revolving around a super predator trying to "upgrade" itself with the brain of an autistic child? In Shane Black's attempt to make the Predator franchise, bigger, flashier, and better, it is instead rendered dumber, duller, and yeah, flashier. Gone are the days of a team of bonafide badassess being hunted through the jungle by a mysterious killer. Forgotten is Danny Glover and his weird, off-kilter sequel that, for all its problems, was at least fun. Instead we have The Predator, a movie that feels like the three prior films smashed into one unpleasant picture that no one, myself included, really wanted.
Are there any positives? A few. Thomas Jane is fun to watch, there's a handful of genuinely, laugh out loud moments, and...well...that's really it. The predator itself is a shadow of its former self, our team of soldiers aren't particularly interesting, nor overly distinct, and the child is nothing more than annoying.
There is, admittedly, a good film in here somewhere. A horror comedy about a brain hunting alien that seems to be unstoppable, and an attempt to counter it by a group of unhinged soldiers. Unfortunately, The Predator isn't this. There's hints of quality, but it's ultimately disappointing, absurd to a jaw dropping degree.
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