The Predator (2018)

With Shane Black directing, and working from a script he co-wrote with Fred Dekker, it's fair to say that expectations for The Predator were high, higher than the expectations that fans had for any other instalment in the series. And then came the reshoots and the controversy, and those expectations started to dip. And now some people are claiming that this film has turned out to be their biggest cinematic disappointment of this year. I'm not sure what they were expecting but I got a Predator movie, so am happy enough.

Boyd Holbrook is a soldier, and he's also the person who first comes into contact with our hunting alien beastie. He even manages to get the better of it. This leads to him being interrogated and then loaded on a bus with other problem military personnel (including Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, and Thomas Jane). Meanwhile, the predator is being examined by a team, overseen by Sterling K. Brown. Olivia Munn plays a scientist type called in to help, Jacob Tremblay is a child who unlocks some predator-tech that he gets his hands on, and there are a number of fun set-pieces throughout that feature people being targeted by those familiar three red dots.

Okay, it feels a little tamer than some other Predator movies, in terms of bloodshed and savagery of the violence on display. And there are some ideas mixed in that I can understand people being put off by, although I didn't mind them (they're fun and never really slow down the momentum of the plotting). There's also a bit more comedy running throughout the movie than some might have expected (although when did Shane Black last write or direct a movie that didn't have a strong vein of humour?). But, despite those differences, this is still a Predator movie.

The cast all do a decent job, although some aren't well served by the script. Having Tremblay play a boy with Asperger Syndrome feeds well into the plot, although it also feels lazy to have his character be one of those all-too-common magical and supertalented Autistic individuals that crop up occasionally as convenient plot points in Hollywood movies. The bigger mis-step is having Thomas Jane play a soldier who suffers from Tourette's syndrome (and Jane suffers because of that). Holbrook is a solid lead, Munn holds her own alongside the guys, Brown is a lot of fun as the man heading up the team already well-informed about the alien species they finally have available to inspect more closely, and Rhodes, Key, Alfie Allen, and Augusto Aguilera fill out the rest of the core group.

Where the film suffers is in the actual direction, and the editing. While the script may not be as sharp as I would like, it's passable in terms of fun dialogue and exposition. But the weak execution of the material shows a surprising lack of focus, and maybe even a lack of heart, from Black. Individual scenes are fun but rarely come together to form something that flows organically from beginning to end. What's worse, none of the death scenes have any impact, even if some of the characters are more likable than others. There's never a feeling that there are real stakes at play here. The whole thing is a romp, but it at least has a consistency of tone throughout (whether or not you like that tone is a different matter altogether - I did).

If this was one of 100 other movies with the same failings then I could have easily disliked it more, and I am very surprised at some of the mistakes made by Black here, but it's a Predator movie, and it still does enough to keep fans of our favourite dreadlocked hunter alien happy. Hell, I was grinning when I heard someone tell others to "get to the chopper", so maybe that tells you all you need to know about how easy it is to please me sometimes.

7/10

It can eventually be hunted down here.