Review of The Predator (2018) by Billy B — 27 Sep 2018

The ugly alien is back. So a Predator crash lands on Earth. A military operation is nearby, and a sniper (Boyd Holbrook) crosses paths with him. He survives, but gets written off as insane, and now he has to team up with a band of misfit crazy military types if he wants to stand any hope of saving the day.

Now I like the Predator series, but I don't love it. With the exception of the Alien vs. Predator movies, I have seen all of the films, but they aren't something that I frequently rewatch or even movies that I hold in that high regard.

I do, however, love me some Shane Black, and that is really got my attention about this: it is his writing and direction. Well, I will just go ahead and say: this isn't the movie that will save the series.

Now I do think that it took me a really long time to begin to warm up to this. There is a really long wind-up, and while I may have been a bit on the tired side, I was largely bored with the opening 40 minutes of this.

It wasn't really doing anything that I haven't already seen before, but after the first half or so, that is when this starts to show its true colors: this is a comedy. An action-comedy, sure, but most of the lines and actions are done for comedic effect.

The theater I was in was almost completely empty, but for whatever reason, I had a couple sit right next to me. They reacted uproariously whenever this movie would go for it, and it did enhance my viewing experience, at least to a small degree.

Even though I did get some enjoyment out of this, there was a lot of this that didn't really do it for me. The script gets weak at points, which is a shame, because that is what I watch a Shane Black movie for.

Some jokes hit, but it really doesn't possess that snap that I was hoping for. It does get better once it becomes an ensemble piece, and it is not all bad, albeit always uneven. At least most of the kills are pretty cool, and I know that is the reason why some people are going to watch this.

I think you have to make up your own mind on it, because I can see fans and non-fans alike either digging this or walking away angry.