The Predator: Not a Clean Kill, But a Really Fun Movie

I've got a confession: I've never seen the original Predator. As a sci-fi and movie fan in general, I'm disappointed in myself. I saw the trailers for this new one and they had me intrigued. They had humor, a great cast, and a lot of cool action. It was also interesting to me that the director, Shane Black, was in the original Predator. I'm kind of glad I've never seen the original because I can just judge this one by itself. With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the review!

The Predator is directed by Shane Black and stars Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, and Sterling K. Brown. After his unit is attacked by a Predator, Quinn McKenna (Holbrook) sends some of the tech home. His son (Tremblay) activates it and in doing so attracts a bigger, deadlier Predator. Now, McKenna and a group of ex-soldiers are Earth's last defense for stopping the intergalactic killer. Now, on to the review!

There's quite a few things I like about this movie. The main thing is the cast. Out of everyone Keegan-Michael Key and Sterling K. Brown steal the show. They are absolutely hysterical. Every time Brown showed up, even though he was the villain, I cracked up. He was great. I also really liked the relationship between McKenna and his son. I really believed that Holbrook and Tremblay were father and son. I was sort of expecting the cliche of the father not understanding the son, even more this time because Rory is on the autistic spectrum. That wasn't the case here. They had a real special bond with each other that was nice to watch. I also like the chemistry the ex-soldiers had with each other. They were really funny. I actually really liked the humor in this film. From what I've heard, the original didn't have any. I didn't mind it here. Yes, not all of the jokes land, but when they do they're pretty funny.. That's something that director Shane Black is pretty good at from the movies I've seen of him (Iron Man 3 and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). The humor won't work for everyone though. The Predators are pretty cool too. They should be because, well, they're in the title of the movie. When they show up, the action kicks up. The action is where this movie excels. Evey time the Predators perform a kill, it's so satisfying to watch. There are quite a few gags that had me chuckle ( I won't spoil anything). The visual effects, particularly those for the ultimate Predator, are pretty good. He looks like he's going to come right out of the screen. The sound effects are well done as well. There are so many cool sounds. Wrist blades cutting through soldiers, spaceships crashing through the woods, and energy weapons blasting away are just a few.

I mentioned the action scenes are where this movie excels. I wish I could say the same for other parts of the movie. The beginning is a bit clunky. I could tell Shane Black just wanted the Predator to get here and start hacking guys away. It felt like everything else was just a setup for the action, which I'm not against. It's just that with this movie it felt choppy. Like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the action is really well done. Well for the most part it is. There's an action scene towards the end that is just all over the place. Logic is thrown out the window and the CGI isn't very good. As a matter of fact, the last fifteen minutes aren't good either. The ending was just put in there to set up a sequel that I doubt will happen. There are some lines of dialogue that are just awful too. A few times I cringed. There's a few other things I want to talk about, but they're spoilers so I won't go into them. With all of this movie's flaws, I still had fun.

The Predator is a fun, flawed movie. It has a great cast, the jokes are pretty funny, kick-ass action, the Predators are awesome, the father-son relationship is well done, and Brown and Key steal the show. Sadly this is hampered by the fact that the movie is a bit choppy, the ending isn't good at all, and some of the dialogue is very cringe-worthy. Even with all of it's faults, I had a good time with The Predator. Now, I just have to go watch the original. If I were to rate it, I'd give The Predator a 7/10.