Review of The Predator (2018) by Beyond The B — 13 Sep 2018

'The Predator' that we get on the screen is no way the film Shane Black intended - surely? Fox has obviously forced him to 'Deadpool' it up.

To sum it up, the film is a parody of a 'Predator' movie, it's a spoof of the franchise and the current mindset of studio executives with their "MCU, MCU, MCU" envy.

Why is it a parody?

One running joke is that they shouldn't be called 'Predators' and it's repeated so many times it gets annoying. The first time, I liked it, it's a reference to the first film's original title of 'Hunter' and a dig at marketing execs who want a catchy name, but repeating it verges on insulting the actual series as a whole.

Then there are the callbacks to lines from the first film that are played for laughs - cringe laughs.

The score chimes in everytime a helicopter lands just because that's how the original movie opened.

There's a tacked-on ending that's a direct swipe at the studio with a 'Fant4stic' reference and dig at studios who want every film to kickstart their own MCU.

This is a joke, it's not a proper 'Predator' film. They took all the studio notes and delivered a lampoon of the franchise - giving the studio exactly what they asked for in the most sarcastic way possible.

If you go in knowing it's not a serious film and basically an MCU/'Predator' hybrid, then you may enjoy it, but I really wanted a 'Predator' film that took itself a bit seriously with Shane Black humour fitting in naturally - not being forced in. Yeah, the original had p***y jokes, but this leans very hard into that, very hard and when the serious moments do occur they aren't in the right place or I wasn't in the right mind space to appreciate them because the spacing of the funny and serious moments is way off.