By Brennan Atkins
and Noah Barnes
Entertainment Correspondents
“The Predator” is a sci-fi action-comedy film directed by Shane Black featuring Boyd Holbrook as Quinn McKenna, Jacob Tremblay as Rory McKenna, and Olivia Munn as Casey Bracket – thankfully, not Steven Wilder, best friend of the director and real life predator.
Two liters of Coke, three bags of Doritos, the complete collection of “South Park,” and a “Predator” poster up on the wall – this is the inspiration for Black’s new entry into the series, or so it seems.
We would love to talk about the story, if it were anything more than a chase, followed by a new predator, and another chase.
The CGI is mediocre at best.
The sets are polar opposites of the original – which were intriguing and ominous.
None of the actors looked like they wanted to be there.
The most apparent Paw with this movie is it doesn’t seem as if it knows what it wants to be. The film wants to be an homage, comedy, action and a slasher at points, and it ends up not hitting any of these marks.
When the Predator is on screen, it’s an action movie. If it isn’t, it’s a comedy. They switch up the mood of the movie in an instant. One scene, they will be fighting for their lives, the next, they make fun of a fellow soldier who has Tourette’s syndrome – yes, it’s as juvenile as it sounds.
It’s hard to tell when a character speaks if it’s going to be pertinent to the story or if it’s a setup for a joke.
The jokes themselves also seem to fall Pat consistently throughout the movie. It seems as if they correlate humor with how many swear words they can use in a sentence, and it’s sad to think this is probably why there is a character with Tourette’s in the first place.
It’s very obvious (and confirmed) that the third act of this movie was reshot completely. The editing is so fast-paced, if you blink, you will miss something. Subplots that were introduced seemingly never conclude.
Whether you are a fan of the “Predator” series, Black’s work, or action movies in general, you will be disappointed.
Grade: F
Who? What? How? How?