Happy New Year to all of you sick and depraved horror nuts out there! Here’s to hoping that 2019 is full of good health, happiness, and tons of horror and sci-fi goodness! There are still a ton of flicks that I need to cross off of my 2018 watch list, so let’s start the new year off with another from the past few months, Shane Black’s The Predator.
The Plot
An alien ship has landed on Earth once again. Now it’s up to a group of ex-soldiers and a scientist to save the day and learn as much as they can about the alien hunters, while also preventing the end of the human race.
My Thoughts
I believe this is another film that got a lot of hate upon it’s initial theatrical run. I’m not sure where all the negativity is coming from quite frankly. What are people expecting when they purchase a ticket to go see a new Predator film? These are not meant to be the most serious films ever created. Instead, they are meant to be full of action and brutality and this is where Shane Black delivers with The Predator.
With a runtime of 1 hour and 47 minutes, which is eerily the exact same length as all three other entries in the 30 year old franchise, The Predator features a cast full of familiar faces. If you’ve watched anything in the past year or two — film or television — you’ll recognize almost every single actor who plays a role in this film. Olivia Munn (X-Men: Apocalypse, Deliver Us From Evil), Trevante Rhodes (Bird Box), Boyd Holbrook (Logan), and Sterling K. Brown (Black Panther, television’s “This is Us”) are just some of the names involved.
Joining these talented actors for some comedic relief are Keegan-Michael Key (“Key and Peele”), Thomas Jane (The Mist), and Augusto Aguilera, just to name a few. Everyone involved is more than qualified to be featured in a film of this nature, so acting performances clearly aren’t an issue for this sci-fi action thriller.
Beyond the film universe, The Predator franchise has been expanded greatly in comic books, novels, video games, and more. They can literally keep making these films for as long as movies are a thing. I’m fine with this and so should most people. The alien sport hunters that we’ve been watching for over three decades are vicious killers who stop at nothing to complete the task at hand. They leave only bloodshed and carnage in their wake, so why wouldn’t horror fans embrace any and all future titles instead of bashing them so harshly?
The bodycount for this film is much larger than any horror flick I’ve seen in recent years, and while there are tons of CGI special effects being utilized, everything looks pretty damn real to me. I’ll take this amount of CGI any day, if it means the predators can continue to kill as many as they have in this entry.
Shane Black, who had a role in the very first Predator film, making a rather lewd joke about the size of his girlfriend’s… er, nevermind… managed to throw in some clever Easter eggs for diehard franchise fans to enjoy, while also introducing new elements to the four film deep series. Sure, it isn’t the first time we’ve seen a super, evolved Predator, but this one is different and badass, and I am a fan.
Co-writers Black and Fred Dekker even made sure to include a “Get to the chopper[s]” line, which is one of the many memorable quotes from the original film. The inclusion of these throwback lines is a practice that has become almost mandatory in any and all post-Schwarzenegger sequels, whether they star the Austrian Oak himself or not.
The Verdict
If you’re looking for a super serious film, skip right over this one. If you want to have fun watching a bunch of lunatic ex-soldiers running around blowing things up, then The Predator is for you. It features great acting, tons of balls-to-the-wall action, gore galore, and even a few Predator dogs!
The Predator is available now on Digital HD, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
I give this one 4 tin foil unicorns out of 5!