The Predator: Review by @Kush_Hayes
2018s The Predator written and directed by Shane Black is an entertaining movie, but its only ok. Thats at face value. The more I think about this movie, I feel like the writer of Lethal Weapon decided to see how far he could spoof Predator movies as well as Marvel movies. Ill get into that in a bit.
Because it seems to matters to the status quo, this continues the tradition of being an RatedR movie. Its full of plenty of F-Bombs and tons of violence. Its abhorrently violent, but it doesnt feel like it carries any weight with it whereas the original movie from 1987 was also violent for the time, but the brutality and gore of it reached the audience. Some people in this movie die simply for laughs. Tone is all over the place in this feature.
We have a band of unlikely heroes who despite being identified in the trailer, are not so much mercenaries as they are just criminally insane soldiers. However, you do end up liking most of them and they collectively have really good chemistry that carry us through the scene.
As usual, the military and or a government agency are involved and want to harbor the technology the Predator has, and as usual things go horribly sideways. Sterling K Brown steals every scene he’s in as hey plays the Govt official who normally would have ulterior motives, struts through with exactly what he wants to do with Predators technology.
Our regular Predator is kind of a footnote in this story as the real focus is on our new and improved Alpha Predator who has Ironman - like exoskeletal armor in his own skin. Our new Predator also has his own agenda which is to obtain the DNA of Earth best warriors. That may be simplifying it in this review, but Ill allow the movie to expand on that. It might even make you cackle like a bastard.
This brings us to Boyd Holbrook who absolutely plays a Shane Black hero. Obviously hes tough, he has an attitude, hes the best with firearms and hand to hand combat and over a dozen times are all these traits exhibited. He is much better in Logan and in the Netflix series Narcos.
Shane Black expands the lore of Predator to what I think will satisfy fans of the 30+ year old franchise. Swap out Halloween for Christmas and this movie has all the tropes of a Shane Black movie. That is by no means a negative thing. The man has a formula and knows how to modify it to fit most narratives.
Most of the Predator movies leave the ending open, but you know its only inevitable that our hero will meet their demise in the near future. This movie not only leaves the door wide open, but takes them off the hinges suggesting that this story will have a continuation in the movies pre credit epilogue that feels like a traditional Marvel End Credit scene.
This movie is fun, has lots of action, contains a lot of swearing and violence, that feels more cartoony than anything.
Three out of Six Blueberries
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