Search results
Sep 14, 2018 · Shane Black’s “The Predator” is a fun, brutal, fighting machine that wastes no time getting down to business—not unlike its title character. It’s not big on wasted dialogue or too many attempts at meta humor, playing both like an homage/throwback film to the action of the ‘80s and something that feels new and fresh.
Sep 14, 2018 · 34% Tomatometer 296 Reviews. 32% Audience Score 5,000+ Ratings. From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets of suburbia, the hunt comes home. The universe's most lethal hunters...
- (296)
- Shane Black
- R
- Boyd Holbrook
Sep 7, 2018 · ‘The Predator’: Film Review | TIFF 2018. Shane Black upgrades the 20th Century Fox franchise with a new cast and a new monster in 'The Predator,' which world premiered as the opener of...
- “Here we are again, bro... Same kind of moon, same kind of jungle.”
- The Predator Images
- Verdict
By Jim Vejvoda
Updated: Apr 21, 2020 1:31 am
Posted: Sep 7, 2018 9:00 am
This is an advance review out of the Toronto International Film Festival 2018.
With its bawdy sense of humor, disorderly cast of characters, and hardcore kills and action, The Predator does a lot right to reinvigorate the 31-year-old series. But everything crashes down during its frenzied, messy final act, a disappointing conclusion to what had largely been a fun romp up until that point.
Shane Black (who played a supporting role as Hawkins in the 1987 original) co-wrote and directed this continuation of the franchise, bringing his signature blend of dark, profane comedy, and offbeat familial dynamics to the material. The Predator blends humor and heart as it explores two broken families: one, a group of self-proclaimed “Loonies” – psychologically damaged veterans bound for a military psych ward – and the other is the McKennas, a military family that’s fallen apart for a host of reasons. The latter includes dad Quinn (Boyd Holbrook), a former soldier now employed as a merc, mom Emily (Yvonne Strahovski), and their young son Rory (Jacob Tremblay).
Holbrook brings a world-weary resignation to the role; McKenna has seen it all, so much so that he doesn’t even seem particularly surprised to learn that aliens exist. He has some warm moments with his son that help humanize him, but when you get down to it McKenna is there to kill and break things. Holbrook’s gruff-but-relatable portrayal helps make this otherwise-rote character appealing. Meanwhile, Jacob Tremblay once again proves he’s one of the best kid actors working, giving a nuanced performance as Quinn’s gifted son Rory, a role that could’ve easily been overplayed or reduced to a plot gimmick in lesser hands. Another standout is Sterling K. Brown as the film’s human villain, Traeger, a remorseless government agent who doesn’t have any real dimension to him as a character but does deliver a few zingers and badass moments with stone-cold aplomb. Brown finds a way to make this smug, amoral operative as charming and smart as he is relentless and intimidating.
But as much as a solid crew of human characters are necessary for an audience to be emotionally invested in a story about many of them being gruesomely hunted for sport, a Predator movie lives or dies based on how cool and intimidating its title character is ... and that’s where The Predator proves woefully inconsistent. While we get all the usual badassery associated with the alien hunters, the introduction of a bigger, meaner variety of the already absurdly lethal original version raises the stakes of what the creature and the series is capable of... until it just peters out. Outside of his strength and size, this new Predator doesn’t seem particularly better or more cunning than his smaller counterpart.
The original Predator film has elements of horror to it as well as action; that monster was scary because we knew so little about it at the time, and its less-is-more approach to showing him is an old-school cinematic trick meant to ratchet up dread and suspense. This movie, by contrast, quickly becomes a straightforward action flick (a genre more in Shane Black’s wheelhouse than horror), a film where bullets replace the human ingenuity that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hero used to outwit his foe in the original. It’s a weird mixed message since The Predator sets up Rory, who is on the autism spectrum, as someone whose intelligence and problem-solving skills are key to understanding and defeating Predators... but then it pivots to suggests that anyone with cool weapons and a tactical advantage can prove a match for the Predator, regardless of intellect. Unlike the original film, brawn proves superior to brains here.
The last half-hour is not only choppily executed at a breakneck pace, it just looks bad to boot. The visual effects take a noticeable dip in quality during an aerial battle and the climactic showdown is too easily resolved given all the buildup. Even worse, the big payoff scene at the very end comes across as cheesy and unintentionally campy rather than exciting, and doesn’t build much anticipation for what the franchise might have in store should this movie gain enough traction to relaunch it.
The Predator is, in many ways, a throwback to what made the 1987 original so beloved: it includes many of the same elements, such as the rowdy camaraderie amongst absurdly macho protagonists, a debauched wit, and a primal battle between man and beast. It’s a shame when everything splinters apart in the haphazard and shoddy-looking last half-hour, l...
Sep 14, 2018 · With Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key. When a young boy accidentally triggers the universe's most lethal hunters' return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled scientist can prevent the end of the human race.
- (144K)
- Action, Adventure, Horror
- Shane Black
- 2018-09-14
Sep 14, 2018 · Predator. Release Date: 2018-09-14. Movies. Movie Reviews. 2.5 star movies. The Predator aims to revitalize the sci-fi action franchise with fresh ideas, but succeeds at delivering mindless action more than cohesive mythology.
People also ask
Is the predator a good movie?
Is 'the predator' worth watching?
What does the predator do in the movie 'The Predator'?
Who are the actors in 'the predator'?
Sep 14, 2018 · 2018. R. Twentieth Century Fox. 1 h 47 m. Summary From the outer reaches of space to the backwoods of southern Georgia, the hunt comes home in Shane Black’s explosive reinvention of the Predator series. Now, the universe’s most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before.
