**** outta *****

4 outta 5

Writer and director Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Iron Man Three, The Nice Guys) has a way of combining ’80s style action throwbacks, rapid fire dialogue patter and extremely quirky characters. Now he sets his flashy style on the long running sci-fi horror franchise with The Predator. Black actually was in the original Predator film as the victim Hawkins so it’s neat to see him orchestrating the carnage. The result is a lot of fun and very bloody as it is sort of a middle ground between Shane Black oddball misfits and extreme Predator chaos. There are a few things that are a bit lame, this did not need a precocious kid in peril, but overall the movie is a blast as bullets and body parts are flying. 

American sniper Quinn (Boyd Holbrook) is on an assassination mission when a space ship crashes and out pops a human hunting killer space alien. A black ops team led by the ruthless Traeger (Sterling K. Brown) calls it The Predator and brings in scientist Casey (Olivia Munn) to inspect the creature. Meanwhile, Quinn has stolen Predator technology and has sent it back to his ex-wife (Yvonne Strahovski) and his son, Rory (Jacob Tremblay) for safe keeping. Quinn is loaded up onto a military prison truck with other criminal misfits like Nebraska (Trevante Rhodes), Coyle (Keegan-Michael Key), Baxley (Thomas Jane) and others. But things get crazier when a bigger and nastier Predator arrives, targeting Predators and the little human that stole its technology.

The secret weapon in the long running Predator series is, aside from all the spines being ripped out, is the good movies hold together based upon the strength of the ensemble. The cavalcade of crazies who make up Quinn’s crew are all really great, especially Key who is constantly throwing out extreme lines.  There is an exceptional amount of quipping in the film which may be when horror franchises inevitably slide into self-parody. But the quipping and jokiness is really just a part of Shane Black’s style. There is a secret underground lab here, which makes sense for this type of movie, but the attendant make a lame quip that is actually gold.

Holbrook is a decent lead but the best stuff is the back and forth between Key and Jane snipping at each other. Munn has some decent reactions to the Predator as she is interested to the detriment of her own health. Brown as the spook who cleans up after the Predators has some really darkly funny bits as a guy who does bad things yet loves his job. Strahovski is basically just a random mom but she’s charming which is nice since she plays a stone cold psychopath on Handmaid’s Tale.  These are not deep characters nor do they really go through anything approaching growth but they are much more interesting than the usual blank horror movie fodder.

Tremblay is playing yet another child with health problems which is quite the roster of messed up characters he’s acquiring off of Room, Wonder and Book of Henry. Rory is suffering from Asperger’s and also is intuitive enough to be able to use advanced Predator technology. Some of his scenes drag although he does get in a wild bit where he goes out Trick or Treating with a Predator mask on and mayhem ensues. The family stumbling onto advanced alien technology is an old sci-fi cliché but Black puts in enough unique spin on moments to make it worthwhile.

Some of the biggest new ideas in The Predator are actually things that popped up in the last franchise instalment, 2010’s Robert Rodriquez produced Predators. There’s a Predator dog in this movie that terrorizes the humans which also happened in Predators. Also in the 2010 and 2018 films there are larger, more evolved and nastier Predators that beat up on the classic Predator to show how badass they were. It’s always kind of weak in a monster movie where the new monster beats up the monster from the original to show how awesome it is. The bigger Predator here is an entirely CGI FX creature which sometimes looks a little fakey compared to the physical presence of the original. But the larger Predator has a really nasty vibe and even, via translation devices, tells the humans before hunting them “I offer you time advantage” which is a weirdly creepy line to say.

There is a ridiculous amount of violence here. One of the earliest shocking images is when the Predator is revealed from its cloaking device by being covered in blood. The Predator fight against the bigger more aggressive Predator is a shocking curb stomping. The finale involves a full on Predator hunt, jumping down from the trees and taking out its prey.  Also there is a darkly hilarious moment where a random solider tries to use a Predator spinning star which backfires spectacularly.

The Predator is a crazy sequel in a crazy franchise. It stumbles a bit by prioritizing some of the least interesting characters, it has a jarring sequel bait ending, and the film is sort of tonally all over the place. But that is part of its madcap, insane bloody charm. There’re rapid fire jokes, crazy babbling, and murderous space aliens. It’s a lot. But it’s never boring!