E's Reviews: The Predator

The Predator was written and directed by Shane Black and stars Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Jacob Tremblay and Trevante Rhodes. 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 stop this new Predator from ending everything.

We’ll start with the bad...and no, I won’t talk about the controversy that surrounded this movie, we already know it got some bad press. The editing of this film was just so damn poor, they jump from scene to scene without any real flow or proper transition. One scene you’re seeing someone get interrogated, another we’re following Olivia Munn’s character, the next you’re on a bus, then we’re back to Olivia Munn? I mean, I don’t mind Olivia Munn, she’s nice to look at and is very talented as an actress, but these transitions were really very poorly done and they’re all over this movie. Another thing that really bothered me was just how bad the dialogue was. I’m a huge fan of all the Predator movies, but I think this one had just the worst dialogue of them all. It was also way too cheesy and tried way too hard to be funny. Sure, there are some awesome jokes, but too many jokes and your movie goes from being an action horror film, to being a comedy, and no one really wanted a comedy. These were, for sure, some of the biggest and most apparent issues this movie has, for a lot of people, it’ll take them right out of the picture. Another thing was the plot. This movie had potential, but then the plot takes a weird turn towards the third act that completely destroys everything that had happened before. I really don’t want to spoil it for anyone...but that ending was just really bad. Also, I’m trying to figure out why every Shane Black movie has to center around a kid...like why is there always a kid that takes center stage in his movies? Iron Man 3, The Nice Guys, now The Predator?

As for the good, the action was awesome, the acting was pretty good especially from the kid, Jacob Tremblay, who I think will become one of the premiere actors in Hollywood. The special effects and CGI were pretty good, I especially liked the Predators (there are two) who looked really cool. The blood and gore was what you’d expect from this franchise. There are some really REALLY good jokes in this one, particularly anything involving Thomas Jane and Keegan-Michael Key’s characters (you’ll see when you watch it).

It’s one of those dumb action flicks that you’d watch in the 80’s or 90’s with your buddies on a Friday night or something, where you really need to just leave your brains at the door and just watch the explosions, blood and guts on screen. It’s not going to win any awards, it has a poor plot and a poor script, the editing is annoying, but the action and the comedy was definitely a high point for it. Sometimes the comedy becomes overbearing, but otherwise it’s an enjoyable “dude” flick. If you’re a fan of the franchise, check it out, it’s in theaters now.

Final Score: 7.5/10