The Predator movie review

Grade: C-

Rating: R, 1 hour 47 minutes

In a Nutshell: Directed by Shane Black, THE PREDATOR is a sequel and offers a respectful nod to the previous films in the franchise. Unfortunately, it’s not very good and easily the worse film in the series. It was going to be a remake of the original, but Shane Black wanted to do something different to add on to the previous stories. You might just want to spend your time watching the original Predator instead.

Tips for parents:

Director Shane Black wanted The Predator to be rated R, like the original. Mission accomplished. It definitely earns its R rating.
Lots of profanity and many F-bombs. I hate it when little kids swear, so I was so disappointed to hear sweet little Jacob Tremblay cuss a couple of times. Dang it.
Tons of bloody, gory, violent deaths with limbs and heads ripped off
LOTS of shooting
One character is a chain smoker and even puts out a cigarette on his tongue. Ick.
Alien and English subtitles to read quickly
Bullying
Disabilities represented are Tourette’s Syndrome and Autism. Director Shane Black actually has Tourette’s Syndrome in real life.
A mom leaves a note to her son, saying that if he makes a mess in the house, “I will cut you.” Not funny, Mom.
Lots of crude jokes
Military criminals escape a prison transport

Uplifting theme:

Second chances
Courage
Unity
Friendship
Relationships
Family

Things I liked:

The Predator isn’t just invisible the entire movie; you get to see a LOT of it. Like the original movie, the alien creature is a real guy in a 7 foot tall suit and not CGI.
The cast is very strong and provides a ragtag group of characters that are extremely flawed, yet lovable, including Trevante Rhodes (best known for his starring role in MOONLIGHT), comedian Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Boyd Holbrook, and Jacob Tremblay.
The movie has a good amount of humor, which I always love; HOWEVER, I think it’s almost too much. No one seems to take all of the killing very seriously and it seems like director Shane Black is more interested in providing quips and quirks than true suspense and fear. By the way, did you know that Shane Black actually played the role of Hawkins in the original Predator movie?
Twinkies reference. Ha ha
Even The Predatordogs have dreadlocks. Ha ha
There’s an interesting part of the movie that suggests that “Spectrum” could actually be the next step in the evolutionary chain. Jacob Tremblay plays a young boy who is somewhere on that spectrum.
There a scene that reminded me of the alien laboratory scene from the awesome movie INDEDPENDENCE DAY. I love that movie.
Olivia Munn is always pretty to look at, but in this movie she also does a great job kicking The Predator butt and has her share of stunts and physical feats.
The ending makes me wonder where the franchise is going to go with this. Predator meets IRON MAN?
I love movie trivia. For example, pay attention to the school, football field and barn in this movie. They’re the exact same ones used in the TV show SMALLVILLE. The line “You’ll never see him coming” is from The Predator and IRON MAN 3, both directed by Shane Black.

Things I didn’t like:

It’s not as suspenseful as it could or should be. The ex-soldiers seem to just have fun shooting at stuff, rather than actually being afraid. That tension would make the audience more afraid.
I couldn’t always understand what everyone was saying, because either the characters mumbled or there was so much shooting going on in the background.
The Star Wars space fight scene in the beginning was kind of hokey, but I did think that black hole portal thing was cool
Many of the scenes are at night, which will make watching this movie on a computer screen or small TV hard to see. In fact, the first shooting was so dark that it was nicknamed “the Night Cut” by the director who decided to reshoot the Third Act. (It’s still dark.)
Awww, a nice alien with altruistic intentions. I don’t buy it.
Edward James Olmos was going to be in the movie, but all of his scenes were cut from the final film. Too bad. He’s solid.

Funny lines: