Both families imbue this Predator film with a humanity that’s been lacking in the series for some time, and the solid ensemble cast Black has assembled bring his (and co-writer Fred Dekker’s) battered creations and sharp dialogue to life with verve and conviction. But they’re let down by a homestretch that rushes through the action and the characters’ fates so quickly it’s hard to keep track of who’s alive and who’s dead, shortchanging both the titular alien hunter and the emotional payoffs to several of the main players’ arcs.
Not that all of the characters have that much to them though, mind you. Olivia Munn’s evolutionary biologist, Dr. Casey Bracket, initially seems like she might serve a key function by offering exposition and scientific insight but at a certain point she becomes just another character with a gun. Alfie Allen’s Lynch is the weakest of the Loonies — I guess he’s Irish and can do card tricks? Yvonne Strahovski has a couple of decent scenes that show Emily is almost as much a force for the bad guys to reckon with his as her estranged husband, but she’s not terribly consequential in the long run. Jake Busey’s scientist, Keyes, is pretty much a walking Easter egg for hardcore fans; if he wasn’t playing a character that the filmmakers announced – but didn’t overtly reference in the script – was the son of Gary Busey’s Predator 2 baddie there would be nothing noteworthy about him.Faring far better are Trevante Rhodes as “Nebraska” Williams, (seemingly) the most well-adjusted of the Loonies who gets a few nice male bonding moments with McKenna, and the duo of bickering-but-devoted buddies Coyle (Keegan Michael Key) and Baxley (Thomas Jane) get the lion’s share of the jokes. Augusto Aguilera’s Nettles also gets a few dumb-sweet moments along the way, but as entertaining and likable as the Loonies are they’re merely supporting players to Quinn McKenna.
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.
Verdict
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, largely derailing what began as a promising entry in the wildly inconsistent franchise.
