This has so much stuffs in it but there is just not enough time to breathe. It's either studio intervention or makers trying to fit in all the action in it. Shane Black is just unable to hold attention as there are multiple stories going in a unnecessary convulted mess. I think there was a great story here that needed maybe two movies or more than three hours of time to be fully realized. No one in the movie shines overall. Good thing is that it has loads of nonsensical action sequences which might please action fans.

4/10

I liked that fact that this movie makes fun of its multiple reboots "The Predator first came here in 80's but they have been here a lot recently"

Thoughts on the film (light spoilers)


* Boyd Holbrook was okay even if he completely lacks charisma. Also kind of funny how his hair turned white in the last scene. I’m sure it was because of the stress and not a bad dye job for reshoots.

* There were too many characters. Alfie Allen (his character probably had a name) and Nettles have absolutely no reason to be in this.

* Because there were too many characters there was no reason to care about anyone.

* I like that Jake Busey is in this movie.

* Doesn’t feel hacked to death, at all.

* Were Key and Jane’s characters lovers?

* I had to listen to the podcast Fighting in the War Room to learn that the predator machinery that Sterling K. Brown was wearing was the reason for his demise. I didn’t see it shoot him in the head as it really is a “blink and you’ll miss it” moment. He’s the human villain of the movie (for no reason really). You’d think his death, more than anyone else’s, would’ve at least registered.

* From listening to FITWR, the original third act sounds like it would’ve been fun. The third act that made it into the film is decidedly not.

* I don’t care if 20th Century Fox had to pay him $20 million dollars, but how the hell was Arnold not in the alien coffin-like-thing at the end as The Predator Killer? Boooooooooooo.

C

Would have been cool to have Arnold in the end but we get a stupid machinery...ugh and an empty promise to a sequel we'll never see.

Alien or Predator which one continues to disappoint the most?

I don't understand how there isn't a good Predator movie in over 30 years. Is it really that impossible. Or was it truly Arnold that was the factor?

I mean if Black couldn't turn it around, it'll never happen.

It's a bad film no doubt, but still a somewhat entertaining train wreck at least. I still want to know just what the fuck Shane Black and Fred Dekker were thinking while writing the script for this. Turning the Predator franchise into an action comedy is just wrong on every level and just what the hell was that piss poor excuse of an ending lol.

C-

"That's my new suit, bubba. Hope it comes in a 42 long!" Shoot me in the head.

This is a travesty. Despite a healthy budget and his own pedigree (as the director of the clever cult favorite Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and the divisive-but-wildly-profitable Iron Man 3), Shane Black defies expectations by creating perhaps the worst Predator film or at least tying Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. The film has a peculiar disregard for logic and...I'm going to call it continuity; I am not referring to minor editorial faux pas—the cup is empty in one shot, but full in the next—but rather a grander sense of incoherence. Scenes haphazardly crash into other scenes with neither flow nor rhythm. There are strands of plot—a soldier is declared insane to cover up his encounter with a Predator, an autistic child deciphers the language of the Predators, a sinister government organization researches the Predators—but they are undeveloped and never coalesce into a satisfying whole. Basic questions of time and space—how far has this character traveled? how much time has elapsed since this event?—are oddly hard to answer. This spacial and temporal confusion extends to under-lit, untidily cut action sequences which fail to capitalize on the iconic Predator design and obfuscate what are meant to be fan-servicing moments of over-the-top gore. And the characters, an endearing effort by poor Jacob Tremblay excepted, are a despicable lot; everyone is either a preening, vulgar caricature or anonymous and wooden. Black also completely misfires in his bid to introduce a significant comic element to this franchise; lest he ever threaten to develop even a modicum of tension or atmosphere, he rapidly deflates it with a forced one-liner or a juvenile gag, even "hilariously" giving one character Tourette syndrome.

- The initial Predator, we learn, is here to help the human race combat his own species...but he still hunts and skins our hero's team upon his initial arrival. I guess old habits die hard.

- Olivia Munn is bad enough as the exposition-delivering scientist (she "wrote the book on evolutionary biology!"), but she is then randomly revealed to be an adept firearms handler and, as far as I can tell, fearless. She doesn't hesitate to leap atop a moving bus, either, and can match a Predator's pace running.

- Sterling K. Brown's anticlimactic death is outpaced only by the fate of Yvonne Strahovski's character...she runs out of the basement and out of the movie entirely.

And poor Tom Jane. Of most actors I constantly root for this guy. He is continuously wasted. He could have just as easily been a better lead off the bat.

Yeah Thomas Jane was seriously wasted here. I definitely think he would have been better utilized in the lead role than Bored Holbrook.

Seriously that guy has one setting, and it's set to Annoying. But not in the fun way, in the bad acting way.

He must be Hal's son otherwise that would have never happened.

You ever see the punisher short they made before they rebooted it

[youtube2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWpK0wsnitc[/youtube2]

Yeah that Dirty Laundry short is the definition of badass. Before Bernthal Jane's Punisher was always my favorite, but then again I've been a fan of his since Deep Blue Sea. Makes it even sadder to see how he is being used in movies these days, especially crap like this where he is reduced to being some crazy dude with turrets who is nothing more than a joke.

The Tourette-centric humor is so lazy. Just the most basic, cynical, juvenile way to shoehorn in randomly profane one-liners.

Is Shane Black a bit overrated? Even beyond this movie being godawful...Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys are fun detective romps with well-cast leads, and obviously he wrote Lethal Weapon and the underrated Last Action Hero. But I feel he is overpraised in certain circles. A lot of people had immense faith in this because SHANE BLACK WAS DIRECTING, and he just completely shit the bed.

I'd say that Predator (2018) failed more because of the direction than the lack of ideas. Predator mask in Halloween, the decoding by Tremblay, the hounds and the overall multiple times the Predators coming here could have resulted in wiping up the slate clean from previous bad movies. Shane Black fails to build coherence to the movie he co-wrote, he is the biggest reason for this movie's failure and lacks skills to build up a important moments.

THE PREDATOR

Saw this Saturday and I actually liked it. I had low expectations going in especially after that last trailer which felt overly comedic. The film did try alot of comedy in it and it felt suicide squadish at times but it was fine in the end. I enjoyed all the action in the film. That was very entertaining. I enjoyed the visuals and seeing the Predator in action and an invisible Predator is always good to watch on screen. The upgraded Predator was fun. They could have done a bit more with the Hounds. The acting was at times serious and then super over the top. Finally, I enjoyed the end setup but like another reviewer suggested...make that movie instead of hinting at something that we might not get if the film isn't successful.

Grade - B

I’m sure the low expectations helped but I enjoyed this a lot. I liked the rag-tag group of “loonies” that counter the hulking machismo of the 80s gang. It’s certainly not a smart movie, but I respect that they even dip their toes into issues like PTSD and autism. And that these things don’t necesarrily have to hinder everything you do, they can even be used to help overcome certain obstacles. The Predator is about these half-aliens/half-humans finding a way to fit in. I really wish they had followed through here instead of just killing everyone. The end is thrilling, but it’s definitely the weakest part of the film.

And while it does sometimes feel like they let a 14 year old rewrite the script, telling him to add as many “fucks” to the dialogue as possible, the movie is very funny. Keegan always has a corny one-liner and even the kid gets off some good burns.

A question that will never be answered because the movie flopped:

Are the Predators cross breeding themselves? Or ar they collecting DNA for the Engineers/David?

I thought it was clearly mentioned that they are collecting DNA for the Engineers.

So would that mean the Predators are just creations of the Engineers/David, the same as the aliens, and not their own sentient species? That’d be a tough look.

I think it was more for them to adapt to the planet better and not really being created entirely by Engineers. I think the animation when Trembley wears the mask clearly showed that there was an existing alien in which they infuse the DNA and make it more human....and yes I just read what I wrote....ugh!!

A huge disappointment. Just no care for the Predator brand at all. Trashy night-time action and lobbing quotes from the original into the already mediocre mix. "Get to the choppers!" ... kill me now. I mean, I admit, there is something fascinating about seeing the predator walk around in modern day America, slicing scientist's throats, and just generally being a bad ass. The scene where he escapes from the lab is great. But that's where the fun ends. The rest of the film is very throwaway. The actors that make up that sort of criminal crew are a complete waste and offensive to any rightful predator fan's intelligence. And the whole thing with those predator dogs is just shit. It's just completely meh in every aspect. But as much as I know it's trash, I find it hard to hate the film. It is the type of film that I could see myself enjoying later, and it at least satisfies my long-awaited predator fix. It's also the first and only predator film I've seen at the cinema. I did, however, nod off in a few scenes towards the end, which I think embodies how I feel about the film more than anything I've written in this post. C

This has some cool gory kills, and some of the jokes could be funny, but just don't work in the film. As do none of the actors, everyone seems miscast, especially the kid was annoying but I'll still always seeing Munn onscreen no matter what she does. And beyond that it's all just pretty bad, it just doesn't connect. The sliding on the ship at the end looked fake and it seems so desperate for action and gags that it's actually boring. I'm kind of in the middle between a D and a C here depending on what I'd focus on.

C-