The Predator (2018) - Written Review

*Sigh*

This movie...

Initially I found the prospect of a Shane Black-directed Predator movie a really fun idea, despite having never seen the original 'Predator' (something I'll fix at a later date). The marketing had felt a little lackluster, but given that this was Shane Black I assumed that the trailers were watered-down advertisements for a much more exciting and original movie. I was wrong.

The first...I think maybe half of 'The Predator' is a really fun, old school monster movie, even as far as the opening titles. The big orchestral score, the amazing practical Predator suit, it all seemed to point the film in the right direction.

However, the editing in this film is incredibly choppy, with many scenes notable by their absence, and there's very little sense of structure. 'The Predator' jumps from character to character, location to location, with very little narrative progression until these plot threads *eventually* intertwine. Even when these plot-threads do coalesce though, the film struggles to balance its enormous ensemble cast. The Predator keeps threatening to kill main characters, but then doesn't, making the film feel horribly over-stuffed throughout.

When the second Predator finally makes its entrance though (and for the record, the movie sets this up in the very first scene), the film does start to fall apart though. The awesome practical Predator is replaced by a large, hulking, CGI beast that looms over everyone and everything. Sure, the CGI looks alright, but nowhere near as cool as the practical first Predator. It's at this point that the movie just keeps...going...on. I was sat impatiently waiting for the narrative to progress to some kind of climax, which finally arrives complete with comically cartoon-ish action, plenty of CGI and no real satisfying conclusion.

Oh, and then the movie spends about ten minutes setting up a sequel that may never get made, because the humiliation of an unresolved post-credits scene wasn't enough. It needed to be before the credits.

Looking at the movie as a whole, I find myself questioning a lot of the writing decisions on the film. I couldn't work out if the main character was meant to be Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn or Jacob Trembalay, but no character really felt developed. Holbrook's character has some vague hint of character development, but it never really went anywhere. Certain characters even disappeared for large portions of the film, while the ensemble cast itself fails to create any particularly great or memorable characters.

Perhaps this movie could've been something special, but complete with it's confusing sequel/prequel/reboot title, it'll probably be best forgotten about. Just put the money into a sequel to 'The Nice Guys' instead. 5/10