The Predator

This review may contain spoilers!

Admittedly the Predator films have generally been more miss than hit but this feature is certainly carrying the flag for worst Predator film yet. I would give The Predator a 3/10.

This film has fairly engaging action scenes, moments where intensity can suddenly break out and you're briefly diverted from the weak plot into a mindless joy ride of gunfire and explosions. Something that this film manages to strangely craft for itself is an entertaining tone; you find yourself laughing at a weak line of dialogue or comedic beat because the film roots itself so heavily in this jovial atmosphere. This is certainly a lighter version of the Predator which doesn't necessarily work but it certainly crafts the tone well. The special effects look great in two major scenes; the opening scene and near the end of the final act. This is because a significant amount of the work that went into the effects of this film is in the alien spacecraft; making for some interesting visuals and set pieces alike.

Jacob Tremblay, who played Rory McKenna, has fast come to fame as one of the most talented young performers in Hollywood and that stays consistent here; while the plot behind this child with Aspergers is flakey there's certainly no getting away from the stunning work Tremblay does in depicting the mannerisms and vulnerability of his role.

However, the best performance came from Trevante Rhodes, who played Nebraska Williams. From the start you soon get the feeling that you're going to like Rhodes in his role; you also get the impression he is going to be woefully underused. This performance is entertaining because this character is so laidback and resigned to his fate of imprisonment and sentence of 'insanity'. Yet what sets Rhodes apart is how he slowly begins to reveal his character and the motivations behind him as the film progresses. Seeing this role so low and lost, filled with regret over not being able to finish the job or not being able to be the person he could've been is a great subplot to observe. The world-weary yet charismatic soldier Rhodes gives us is every bit more fascinating than Holbrook as the protagonist, someone should let the casting director know.

This film is a very messy thing to watch. From the beginning we are thrown into this big conflict between two Predators and given little context as to what we're seeing; this wouldn't be so bad if we weren't then introduced to four different main protagonists, three separate important plot devices and one unnamed alien investigating organisation that never gets explored much outside of the fact that it's 'government'. Feeling a little overwhelmed? Well, then you're getting a good sense of the film already. As the film progresses we get a scatter-bomb of weird developments that just don't make a lot of sense: really lowbrow or poorly written dialogue, a very unnecessary nude scene, a bunch of unlikeable side characters and a betrayal from the unnamed government organisation (big shock!). In the second act the film takes a weird twist and becomes more like an old family film; the main child protagonist comes into prominence, there are alien dogs who become somewhat domesticated and alien creatures explode into goop that looks like something out of the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. The final act all rounds out with a pretty underwhelming final fight and the revelation of some weirdly Iron Man looking Predator armour that goes beyond tacky. The cinematography is horrible for an action film, often poorly framed and not setting up anything appealing or dynamic. The special effects aren't so great when the focus isn't on the spaceships, the Predator creatures don't look very good, the invisibility design looks somehow worse than any film that has come before and the alien dogs feel like something that should have been left on the cutting room floor. The score that feels beat for beat like a copy of the score from the original Predator film seems to beg us to attribute nostalgia to what we're viewing, but ultimately it's like watching a poorly half-completed jigsaw puzzle with pieces from about five different boxes.

Boyd Holbrook, who played Quinn McKenna, should never have been cast in a leading role; Holbrook's drawling tone and casual approach to performance make him boring and repetitive to watch. Keegan Michael-Key, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen and Augusto Aguilera, who played Coyle, Baxley, Lynch and Nettles respectively, is a unique idea for a group of side characters in theory but in practice these were a set of personalities reading bad dialogue who did not match up with one another at all; reasonable from someone like Aguilera who hasn't left much of a mark onscreen yet but I expected a lot more from the rest. Olivia Munn, who played Casey Bracket, never really feels like a scientist and doesn't seem to present the background to her character very well; Munn has a habit of being a bland addition to an action feature but it's a shame to see her have so much screen time in this one. Sterling K. Brown, who played Traeger, doesn't seem to know what sort of role he's playing; at times we get the brutally serious government agent yet sometimes this can fall aside to an almost maniacal, macho hothead. Yvonne Strahovski, who played Emily, is that necessary bridge between Tremblay and Holbrook but unfortunately fails to connect with either of them; Strahovski feels a bit tacked on at times and even her 'big speech' scene has no punch to it.