The Predator

The latest installment of the Predator franchise, simply titled The Predator despite it being the fourth film in the franchise, is a curiously strange entry in the series. For a series built on hard hitting action, an intense villain and equally intense violence, this latest entry is surprisingly...really funny. 

Quinn McKenna (played by Boyd Holbrook) is an Army Ranger sniper who witnesses the a Predator crashing to earth from his failing spaceship. He goes to investigate and locates the wreckage of the pod, but no Predator. Grabbing a couple items, including the Predator face mask and gauntlet, he high tails it to the nearest town to mail the items home before he is picked up by Government agent Will Traeger (played by Sterling K. Brown), who knows Quinn witnessed something. Traeger decides to have him placed in a Veteran's psych ward to keep him locked up and Quinn is placed on bus with several other vets, including Nebraska Williams (played by Trevante Rhodes), Baxley (played by Thomas Jane), Coyle (played by Keegan-Michael Key), Nettles (played by Augusto Aguilera) and Lynch (played by Alfie Allen). Things go sideways when the Predator shows up at the base looking for the stuff Quinn stole. Meanwhile, biologist Casey Brackett (played by Olivia Munn) is brought in to assist and study the Predator. Back at Quinn's home, his young son Rory (played by Jacob Tremblay) has found the package his dad sent home and opened it, discovering the Predator tech inside. Rory accidentally activates the tech and begins playing with it. Quinn realizes the Predator is looking for the stuff he took. He convinces his fellow prisoners to help him break free, and along with this newfound band of misfits race to get back to Quinn's home ahead of the Predator, picking up Casey along the way and with Traeger and his goons in hot pursuit.   

Shane Black makes his return to the Predator series here, this time as director and co-screenwriter alongside Fred Dekker. The result is an unusually witty and funny film that also adds some wild new twists to the Predator and their ongoing lore. For perhaps the first time since the first film, this movie manages to craft a unique and memorable assortment of characters to occupy the film. The band of misfits as I have come to call them are the assorted vets Quinn meets on the bus that become a unit of sorts against the Predator. They're a fun group, if not altogether there mentally (it is a bus destined for a Veterans Mental Health hospital after all), but they are a surprisingly lovable bunch that I found myself really rooting for. Dekker and Black also find some unique ways to twist the formula for the film by including Quinn's kid in the action, an incredibly intelligent kid on the autism spectrum who happens to have a talent with languages, which comes in handy when he starts playing with the Predator tech. There are also a few plot points that reminded me more than a little of another Shane Black/Fred Dekker movie, The Monster Squad. In fact, tone-wise, this film is very much in the same wheelhouse. All that we are missing is a character kicking Predator between the legs and remarking with astonishment, "Predator's got nards!"

Still, there is a reverence for the previous films that runs throughout this one. It references not only the first film but the second one outright, while also maybe obliquely referencing the third one (it's hard to fit that one in since it takes place on another planet). They even bring in Jake Busey to play Sean Keyes, the son of Gary Busey's character from Predator 2. At the same time, they do a great job of expanding on those previous films and trying to take the series in some interesting new directions. They aren't content to just rehash what came before and I appreciated that choice. That said, the tone of the film does seem a little off in places with one moment in particular standing out that had me wondering if wants me to laugh or is supposed to be an emotional moment. I wasn't alone there either with someone in the back of the theater laughing and I wasn't sure it was supposed to be funny. I would elaborate but it would be a huge spoiler. Suffice to say, for better or worse, it is definitely a Shane Black Predator movie.

The acting in the movie is solid, with Boyd Holbrook giving a suitably charming performance. Sterling K. Brown gives an interesting spin on the shady government spook, giving his character plenty of wit and personality, but underneath is a genuinely frightening menace. Olivia Munn was good as Casey Brackett, bringing both strength and intelligence to her character. Jacob Tremblay continues to impress as one of the best young actors working today with his turn as Rory. He really does a great job of capturing who a character like Rory would be like without him seeming stereotypical. I also loved the unique buddy relationship between Keegan-Michael Key and Thomas Jane's characters that brought a lot of humor to the film.      

This film is certainly one of the more interesting entries in the on-going Predator series. It is a very jokey and comedic film whereas the other films have been far more serious. Whether or not this works for you will greatly depend on how well you can enjoy a film like this that is perhaps tonally more in line with a Predator film a 13 year old boy daydreaming in class would dream up rather than a serious minded sci-fi action-horror film. Because that is the best way to summarize what this film is. It's not that it's a bad thing or a bad film, or at least I didn't think it was (plenty of critics are disagreeing with me there). I enjoyed it for what it was and applaud it for daring to be different, but at the same time I can say your mileage may vary.