Sometimes a franchise won't die despite the fact that it's only had one good movie among the rest of the sludge. Predator was 80s Arnold cheese. It was testosterone banging an 80oz tomahawk steak with aliens. It was a chance to showcase Arnold as an action star against an other-worldly being. It was a chance for a group of he-men to wag their nuts at the screen and get killed in brutal ways. It was a movie for Arnold and Carl Weathers to show how goddamn big their arms were. But that's it. It should've just stayed that way. After the success of Predator, the studio, as studios are wont to do, greenlit a sequel - a sequel intended for Arnold to star in it. When he read the script, knew it was shit, and passed, the studio decided to go with Danny Glover and, uh, Gary Busey(?). From there, they decided to cross movies with Alien Vs. Predator and did that a couple times. Then there was the underrated, yet also underwhelming, Predators a few years ago that, again, never lived up to the first movie. So, finally, in a last ditch effort to cash in on a franchise that has been dead for over 30 years, Hollywood God Shane Black stepped in. And goddamn I was excited. Shane Black (The Nice Guys, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3, Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight) is my favorite writer/director in Hollywood. He's one of the best genre-crossers in the business. He's able to write whip smart action/thriller/espionage/spy/noir movies that just happen to be funnier than most comedies out there. So, if you were going to breathe new life into a long dead franchise, the guy who should be able to do is Shane Black. And I'm here to tell you that he... ALMOST did. But not exactly.
This time around, The Predator revolves around another Predator crashing into Earth. A soldier, Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) finds the unconscious being and takes his helmet and arm-gun-thing. He mails it to his family to hold onto it, only his Aspberger-y, on-the-spectrum son Rory (Jacob Tremblay) opens it up and figures out the Predator's alien language, inadvertently summoning a more deadly Predator to Earth. Along the way, scientists examine the unconscious Predator body and study it. They call in Biologist Casey (Olivia Munn) to figure out who/what it is. Watching over her is Traeger (Sterling K. Brown), a high up government official who might actually just be violently insane. Finally, McKenna is locked up with a group of ex-soldiers, now called "loonies". Among them are Moonlight's Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, and Tom Jane. All of these forces and people collide when the original Predator, and a massive super-Predator start messing everything up for everyone.
There is a lot that I liked about The Predator. Shane Black has always been able to make epic movies seem small. Nearly the entire movie takes place in a small town with small-town set pieces displaying big-time action sequences. There's a battle at a middle school. There's a fight on a local baseball diamond. The "jungle" sequences happen just in the woods bordering the town. The small town vibe juxtaposing the large popcorn action sequences makes the movie have a different and unique feel to it that elevates the Predator franchise. The action sequences are pretty fun as well. Black knows what a Predator audience looks for. He knows the reason AvP was so bad is because of its PG-13 rating and the fact that when the Predator did anything violent, the camera would have to quickly cut away, leaving the audience longing for the blood and gore of the first movie. This one has it. Let me tell you. The kills are fun and gross and embody the real spirit of the Predator franchise (think: Carl Weathers' severed arm rolling down a grassy hill still firing its gun). Black doesn't hold back with the violence and it's probably the best action in a Predator movie since the first one.
There's also Shane Black's signature wit running throughout the film. Everything he writes is tongue-in-cheek and it makes the movie very funny. If it wasn't connected to an already established "serious" franchise, I'd want to market this movie as a sci-fi action comedy, because all three elements are equal within the film. The "loonies" together (especially Keegan-Michael Key spouting off-color jokes) work as the badasses and as the comic relief. It's nice to be able to have that kind of balance in a film so nothing feels overtly serious, but you know they're also not taking this movie as serious as some of the others have. There's a lot of fun to be had in the film. So, why didn't I love the movie? It's something I've been trying to figure out since I saw it. The movie is seriously missing... something. It's lacking a quality that's present in all of Black's films. It's lacking a quality that made the first movie so iconic its spawned a thousand sequels. And the only thing I can think of is it doesn't have that leading man quality to it.
Boyd Holbrook can't carry a movie. I'm sorry, but he can't. It was a mistake to make him the lead man because he just can't do it. I didn't really care about his character. I didn't really get any emotion behind his stoic alpha male facial expressions. I couldn't connect with him and therefore I didn't care about him. He's a fine actor. He was great as the villain in Logan, but he didn't and couldn't carry that movie either. Shane Black has a specific way of writing his characters and his dialogue. There's a certain tempo one must have in order to deliver the writing in the most charismatic and Shane Black-y way possible. And I'm telling you right now-- Boyd Holbrook will never have that. It's like Wes Anderson. He has a certain and specific style of writing dialogue and the way he wants his characters to speak, in a certain rhythm. He has a keen ear for actors who fit in well with his movies. And there are a ton of actors who would NEVER fit in with a Wes Anderson movie. Shane Black usually has these larger-than-life, full of personality and charm leading men who are able to aptly translate Black's style to the screen. Robert Downey Jr. did it perfectly in both Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe nailed it in The Nice Guys. Val Kilmer (Kiss Kiss), Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon), Samuel L. Jackson (The Long Kiss Goodnight), hell even Arnold was able to do it in Last Action Hero. But no one in this movie really nails it and the movie just feels... off. It's lacking that charismatic figure that really drives a Shane Black film.
But there were some standout performances. Olivia Munn was actually really great in the film. I don't usually find her very compelling acting-wise, but she nailed it here. Jacob Tremblay was also as good as he's always been. Key brings his usual joyfulness to a film and gives us plenty of laughs with his one-liners. It's awesome to see Tom Jane once again on the big screen. And Sterling K. Brown will never be able to do any wrong. So, there were the component parts to the film that SHOULD'VE made it equal to the first film, but without that one guy or girl to fully drive the film with full force, the movie leaves one desiring something more. The Predator is certainly not as bad as some of the reviews surrounding it are saying it is. There is something in this film for any sci-fi lover or Predator fanboy. But keep the expectations lower than usual. If you go in low, it'll satisfy you. I'm pretty sure I went in with my expectations a little bit too high. And for that, I felt just a little let down. Just go have fun watching a man in an alien suit gut different human beings in several creative and highly hilarious ways.
C+
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