By George Haerle
For The Daily World
With its splattered canvas of blood (bright green and red) and some great crude laughs, “The Predator” almost requires a disclaimer for old fans: This is not going to be what you expect, or maybe even hope for.
“The Predator” is easily the weirdest and most standout sequel to the 1987 original. It’s rocket-paced and never dull, exploring all kinds of new expansions to the lore of the alien hunter. But while the original film had a nice touch of silliness beneath the straight-faced macho gunfire and gore, 2018’s “The Predator” is an insanely over-the-top comedy.
Director Shane Black has delivered some weird, wild stuff in his successful filmmaking career. It seems perfect for the writer of the original “Lethal Weapon” and director of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” to direct a “Predator” sequel, because he was one of the actors in the original film — the first of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s military team to die.
But the cherry on top, and of particular note to film aficionados, is that Black’s former writing partner Fred Dekker co-wrote “The Predator” with him. This is an old-school monster movie lover’s dream, as Dekker has written and directed cult classics such as “The Monster Squad” and “Night of the Creeps.”
With those two writers behind it, “The Predator” is an absolutely silly creature feature with stellar casting and clever writing. Plot has generally taken a backseat for the sake of great characters fighting creepy creatures in Dekker’s movies, and “The Predator” definitely shows his touch in that regard.
The plot here is all over the place. A Predator reaches Earth with an item of personal importance, before being injured by a U.S. sniper (Boyd Holbrook) and captured by a shady government official (Sterling K. Brown). As a scientist (Olivia Munn) is called in to study the creature, a second and much deadlier Predator arrives to hunt down the captured one, leaving a wake of eviscerated victims behind it.
The sci-fi weirdness and extreme violence don’t stop there. Just a few of the plot points are Predator dogs; Predator DNA splicing and alteration; and Holbrook’s character’s son getting hold of some of the Predator technology. And the last five minutes of the movie sets up one of the most ridiculous sequel ideas I have ever seen.
The best part: the cast. Everyone is enjoyable in this movie. Holbrook is a solid lead, and the mentally scarred veterans he teams up with (Trevante Rhodes, Thomas Jane, Keegan-Michael Key, Alfie Allen and Augusto Aguilara) make for a hilarious ensemble. Key and Jane’s interactions steal the movie, and Rhodes is just awesome.
Brown is a fantastic, scene-chewing bad guy, popping endless amounts of nicotine gum throughout the movie. Munn is great, too, proving she can deliver a laugh and handle action scenes.
The monster itself is in great form, using a lot of the original sound and practical effects — though the bigger, meaner one is pretty much full CGI due to its massive size. Also of note, the original score is still there, in all of its glory. All in all, the technical aspects of the film are very authentic to the original.
But the film has gotten some undue flak from critics and die-hard Predator fans, with much of the online buzz expressing disappointment with the film. It’s surprising, considering our culture devours pulpy comic book movies.
“The Predator” is best left up to your own taste. If you love B movies, sci-fi creature features or horror-comedies, and you have an open mind for sequels that aren’t afraid to go in wildly different directions, you might just love this movie. But if you’re hoping for a sequel more in the vein of the first film, with macho action stars spouting ridiculous tough-guy one-liners, this is your word of caution.
I’m going to call it now: “The Predator” is going to be much more appreciated in about five or 10 years, when fans and cynics can see it as a horror-comedy creature feature, without the rose-tinted nostalgia glasses of the 1980s. This movie was supposed to be a fresh take on the Predator creature, and it can’t be denied it at least does that. It gets a solid B-plus from this critic.
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“The Predator” is currently playing at the Riverside Cinemas, 1017 S. Boone St. in Aberdeen.
George Haerle holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.
