Predator - Upgrade

One step above parody. Without question it's the worst in the franchise.

I went into this movie trying my best to stay objective and take it for what it was. And I enjoyed it as a sci fi action movie, it wasn't bad. No where near as bad as some of the more fanatical fans seem to think it was here.

Acting was good, screenplay was good, pacing was good. Story was actually not that bad neither. Unless someone wanted to try and challenge the original in terms of plot, there's not many options that works, this kinda did work.

If you ignore the more crazy fans that like to bash on anything that's not on par with their own opinions, you'll enjoy this film.

People don't seem to understand that rating 5 out of 10 is "watchable but not for me." ratings. Yet there's individuals out there that give perfectly alright movies 2 and 3 stars just because they can't give objective opinions even if their lives depended on it.

But I digress.

The movie was a excellent action movie, a great sci fi movie and a questionable Predator movie. So how should we base the rating then?

7/10 action movie. 7/10 sci fi movie. 5/10 Predator movie.

Final verdict = 6/10

Am I the only one that actually enjoyed this movie? Was it even in the same league as the original predator? Hell no. But the special effects were great, the predator looked amazing, the action was entertaining, the acting was okay, majority of the attempts at humour were cringy, and there was little to no tension. BUT I enjoyed it for what it was, a B flick monster popcorn movie. I guess my expectations weren't that high, I knew what I was getting into.

I guess the main question is why. Why did they make this sequel? Why was the story so bad? Why were the characters so bad? Why did they take a classic movie and dump on it? More importantly, why did I watch it?

Everyone believes they need to put a new spin on things as though movies need an upgrade. Shame on you Shane Black. Yeah, you added more flash, more bang, more action, more everything but it lacked other more important things: quality, character, uniqueness.

They tried to incorporate too many characters, too many fields of expertise, and too many variations of the original. It just ended up being a dismemberment orgy of red and green blood with tons of one-liners, quips, and inept government henchmen. It was terrible.

In an attempt to be bigger, badder, better it came off as a cheap cash grab trying to profit off of the sacred name of a legend. I watched. I didn't pay but I watched. I knew better but I thought just maybe... A guy can wish can't he?

I'd heard nothing but bad things about The Predator, wall to wall hatred and mockery. It was even suggested that it was one of the worst movies of 2018 and comparable with the messy AVP movies. Going in I was forced to have low expectations, and I firmly disagree.

Let's make something clear, I am not saying The Predator is a good film because it simply isn't but worst of 2018? Absolutely not. It's just a badly flawed addition to the franchise yet manages to be oddly loyal at the same time.

So a Predator comes to Earth but this time the government is ready for it. Cue lots of action, blood shed but a pretty wafer thin plot that doesn't exactly go anywhere.

With a stellar cast including Thomas Jane, the stunning Olivia Munn and the excellent Keegan-Michael Key it had no problems on that front. Okay actually I retract that, the leading man Boyd Holbrook is less than impressive and just wasn't up to the task.

With an odd amount of comedy and levity The Predators tone isn't exactly in keeping with the original movies yet manages to solidly feel like a Predator film thanks to the original score and franchise tropes. I loved the first movie, I thought the second was passable and hated the third but this right here is underwhelming yet perfectly watchable despite the lashings of Hollywoodness it has.

Sure it's goofy and badly flawed but I'm not sure exactly what everyone expected. There are certainly a lot of problems with the film, I'd have liked it to be darker, I'd have liked it to be longer and I'd liked the original Predator to have gotten more screentime.

Regardless despite it's many many problems it comes under the category of harmless take your brain out fun.

The Good:

Loyal score

Some great nods to previous movies

Quite a few very funny moments

Decent cast

The Bad:

Lacks elements that should be essential for a Predator movie

Naff ending

Much of the cast feel wasted