Film Review: The Predator (2018)

What happens when the screenwriter for a series of legendary 1980s action films is hired to write and direct a film that is a sequel to one of the best action films of that era? When it comes to Shane Black and The Predator, the answer should have been positive for most people, especially considering that Black, with his experience behind the camera, had previously portrayed the hunky special forces operator Hawkins in the famous 1987 action sci-fi classic. However, The Predator, officially the fourth film in the Predator series (excluding the two Alien vs. Predator films), did not perform well, not only among critics who were previously hostile to such films, but also among the public. Part of the reason for this was the poor publicity caused by Black's decision to cast his friend Steven Wilder Striegel, an ex-convict and registered sexual offender, in one of the film's roles, and also by the insistence of actress Olivia Munn to remove scenes featuring the problematic character from the film. However, the film's failure can also be explained by a series of Black's script errors and not particularly skillful direction.

The film is a simple, or "clean," sequel to the 1987 original, and its 1990 sequel Predator 2 (with homage paid by having Jake Busey portray the character of Dr. Sean Keyes, the son of Dr. Peter Keyes, who had been portrayed by Jake's father Gary Busey). The title character belongs to the Predators, the alien race that travel through the universe to hunt the most dangerous of their own, making Earth one of their most popular locations in recent decades. In this case, one of the Predators crashes onto Earth in a spaceship, fleeing from another Predator. This occurs in Mexico, where a group of US elite military special force operators, led by Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook), are on a secret mission against the local drug cartels. In the resulting chaos, the team is attacked, but McKenna not only survives but also manages to retrieve pieces of Predator equipment. Realising that his government is trying to cover up the whole thing, he sends the package to his ex-wife (Yvonne Strachovski) but the package is taken by his 10-year-old, mildly autistic son Rory (Jacob Tremblay), whose antics draw the attention of another Predator. The crashed Predator is subsequently captured and taken to a secret government laboratory for testing, where scientist Dr. Casey Brackett (Olivia Munn), an expert in evolutionary biology, is supposed to be involved. The Predator should also be sent there, having completed a stint in a military psychiatric hospital, but during transport, the Predator awakens and escapes the lab. McKenna uses the chaos to flee, as well as to create an improvised squad to try to capture the Predator and protect his son.

Black faced problems common to anyone attempting to create a sequel to a popular or classic film, with the most difficult dilemma being the balance between fidelity to the original and the risk of straying into unrecognisable territory to create something entirely new. Unlike the 2010 film Predators, which largely adhered to the original's 1987 formula, the new film includes some entirely new elements, not all of which are well chosen. The most striking difference is the different structure – the film takes place in several countries and locations, with differences in general tone and, ultimately, different genres. The Predator indeed contains so much humor that it could be called a comedy or at least a parody of the old classic Predator. The humor is mainly evident through a series of jokes and one-liners that come from McKenna's squad, which can be seen as a sort of "inverted" reflection of the team led by Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in 1987. The film loses its credibility at this point, as it is difficult to imagine anyone, even a psychologically disturbed person, fleeing a mental institution in such a good mood just to confront an alien, well-armed, and superiorly technologically equipped creature capable of eliminating them in spectacularly unpleasant ways. Black insists on violence, not only in quantity but also in quality, making The Predator stand out for its exceptionally high body count, a series of scenes where blood splatters, heads, arms, legs, and intestines fly across the screen, and whose explicitness accidentally or intentionally invokes a grungy black-humorous effect. All this, and the attempt to parody Spielberg's classic sci-fi films about First Contact, somehow works. The Predator is entertaining for both newcomers to the Predator series and for fans who will find a number of nods to the original, from identical replicas to the scientist character played by Olivia Munn, an actress physically similar to Elpidia Carillo, actress playing the only female character in the original Predator. However, in the end, it becomes clear that Black, despite his undeniable scriptwriting talent, lacks directing skills, and showing them far below those he so brilliantly used to employ John McTiernan 31 years earlier. The final parts of the film contain scenes of reckoning shot in irritating darkness, chaotic editing, and filmed in a way that sometimes leaves the audience unclear of what is actually happening. The "cliffhanger" at the end takes the form of a scene that serves as a sort of "hook" that should justify the next instalment. In any case, this version of Predator, no matter how entertaining, doesn't deserve the same legacy as the 1987 film.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here.)

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