The Predator (2018) Review

The Predator (2018) Review

The Predator sort of challenges our expectations of what a Predator movie can be. It is largely unlike any Predator movie before, but I don’t mean that in a purely good way. In fact, I’d say this movie is pretty bad. But, my two main positives are, it has an entertaining cast of characters, and is never boring. The Predator is certainly entertaining all the way through, even when it’s bad. And it gets unbelievably bad at points. 

The first act is good. It sets up two separate storylines, one with a solider, McKenna, having a close encounter with a predator that becomes known as the “Fugitive”, and another with a kid with Asperger’s in a suburb. The kid is McKenna’s son, and receives a mysterious package from his estranged father containing the Fugitive predator’s mask and wrist gauntlet. McKenna is put on a bus with a bunch of other mentally deranged soldiers, each messed up in their own ways. Then, meanwhile, in a secret lab, a scientist gets to meet the fugitive the government has captured and studied, but the predator predictably escapes and goes on a killing spree. The crazy soldiers end up forming a rag-tag team, along with the scientist, to hunt it down, but then the storylines of the son and father converge when an upgraded predator shows up with two predator dogs, hell-bent on killing the Fugitive and capturing McKenna’s son. 

The opening moments of The Predator felt totally jarring at first. Gone is the simplicity of the original of a starry sky and lone predator ship dropping one hunter down to earth. We are thrust into a space battle: a predator ship attacking another predator ship, which feels like something out of a low-budget sci-fi movie, then one of the ships crashes in Mexico, and it feels like a Predator movie…for a bit. Then it starts getting into the convoluted plot, and I found it felt like a superhero movie. Every Predator has its own overarching genre; the first one is a combat action film that becomes a sci-fi-horror-thriller, the second one is a crime action film that does the same, and Predators is a sci-fi-mystery-horror-thriller all throughout. 

So what is The Predator, then? You could say it’s a comedy—it’s certainly the funniest Predator movie yet, intentionally and unintentionally—but it’s also still a sci-fi thriller, I guess. Gone, though, is any sense of horror. Not a single thing about this movie is scary. Some of the comedy, though, is actually pretty good. As much as I didn’t want this movie to be funny, I'll admit, I found many of the jokes worked, and I laughed out loud a few times throughout. Having said that, it was more than a little strange to see a sequel in a franchise that was pretty much dead serious to begin with, and maintained that serious tone for all subsequent sequels, suddenly become totally silly, self-aware, and comedic. 

The second act works mostly to build up the characters. The team is pretty much all likable, with a few standouts, and the kid isn’t that bad. But the third act struggles hard. I knew prior to seeing it that the ending was largely re-shot, and it shows. The action becomes hard to follow, the editing is poor, and it almost gets boring, but there are some inventive moments still to be had. 

For all the new stuff it tries, The Predator commits many sins of past sequels. There are cheesy, obvious throwbacks to the original, it copy-pastes music from the original even more than Predators did, and the final battle is anticlimactic. But it also invents new ways to be stupid, in ways that I can’t believe were allowed by the studio. The predator dogs are terrible, but it’s taken so far and to such a point of stupidity, that I was entertained by it. Having Jake Busey play the son of his actual father’s character Peter Keyes was a pointless connection to Predator 2 that went nowhere, but I guess was a mostly harmless, fun reference for fans. Every single callback to other Predator movies made me cringe, but then there was other stuff that made me cringe even more. 

The upgrade predator is awful, made only more so because the Fugitive predator is awesome. Fugitive looks incredible, is badass, brought to life with great practical effects, and is even funny, but upgrade is dumb, loud (Yeah, remember when the predators were stealthy? Not anymore, now you hear their heavy footsteps long before you see them.), and created entirely with poor cgi. Had it been depicted in the traditional method, maybe it wouldn’t have been as bad, or maybe if the cgi had been better, but the upgrade predator was a huge disappointment. Of all the new predator stuff (and there’s a surprising lack), there was one thing added to the lore that I liked. The invisibility is given a concrete source, and used in interesting and new ways throughout the movie. There are also some intense moments of gore, which felt more reminiscent of the original than other more recent Predator films, so that made for another entertaining aspect.  

As of right now, I’d rank The Predator just a notch above Alien: Covenant. It’s not as well-produced, but more entertaining, and tries to be more original (emphasis on tries). I’d still pick Predators and Predator 2 over The Predator, though, but The Predator has decent human characters played by good actors, so that automatically puts it above AVP, even if the action and effects aren’t as good. 

So The Predator…I’m not sure what else to say. It’s the least Predator-like of all the Predator movies so far. It was funny, and it was entertaining, but I went into this thing with seriously low expectations, and came out having had a relatively good time, but still feeling it was a poor attempt to further the franchise. I’ve been waiting for a new Predator for eight years, and afterwards, sort of felt like…that’s it? That’s the best they could come up with? I’d be content if they let the franchise simmer for another few years before trying to bring it back again, hopefully in a less wacky and convoluted way.  

I know this review is really long already, but I want to talk about the ending, so spoiler warning. In an age of nostalgia, you’d think The Predator would go for the jugular in this regard, and it almost does. Throughout the movie, it’s teased that the Fugitive predator brought a gift for humankind in a mysterious pod, but no one knows what it is. They wait until the very end to reveal it. A few things were going through my mind: is it going to be Arnold Schwarzenegger in there? Is it a xenomorph? A new species of alien? But no, it’s a weapon—a suit, like Iron Man’s—for McKenna to wear so he can do battle with predators in a future movie. 

I don’t hate the concept, but the execution is downright disgraceful. Instead of going in a nostalgia direction, it turns into a pure superhero ending. Remember when the first trailer for this movie said “From the director of Iron Man 3” and everyone rolled their eyes? Well, that wasn’t really a poor choice on the marketing team’s part. It sets up a sequel no one wants to see, and I’d put money on it that this idea will not be followed through. If we couldn’t get a follow-up to Predators, there’s no way this should get one, either. 

Well, that finally concludes my reviews of the Alien and Predator franchises as they stand in 2018! Now, let’s move on to a very different series, with one of the most iconic faces in the slasher genre. Can you guess which one?