MOVIE REVIEW: The Predator
(Lucifer - Alan Parsons)
One has to wonder if Jim and John Tomas understood how cool the world they were creating was when they wrote the screenplay for 'Predator' back in 1987. It was one of those unique movies where the villain very nearly ran off with the whole film. That was doubly impressive back then when you consider the sheer quantity of star power that the original Predator was competing against. Compete it did, and it could be argued that it was quite successful in repeatedly capturing the only trophy in Hollywood that matters:
The audience.
Since '87, Predator has enjoyed both sequels and spin-off in the theater, as well as a variety of treatments through other media. Something about the extra-terrestrial hunter compels us to pursue it over thirty years after its first sighting.
We find ourselves in 2018 for this latest hunt, and hardcore fans are wondering if this most recent hunt is worth going on. Is it?
THE SHORT VERSION:
Surprisingly, yes.
THE LONG VERSION:
This freakin' movie.
There's a lot about The Predator to poke fun at, and even more about the film to tear apart. There are plot holes, cliches are everywhere, and the story jumps around more than an old-school game of NBA Jam. You will be painfully aware of this as you watch the movie. Let's be real here; no one is expecting Citizen Kane out of any of these movies, and this most recent installment is no exception. The flaws of the film are bold and unapologetic. Perhaps that's why the parts of the film that are brilliant -- and said parts are present, I assure you -- also stand out the way they do.
I won't bore you by trying to talk about the movie's storyline. It's held together with the faintest of effort and only serves to move the film along from one set-piece to another. Audio and video for the film are both on par with what you would expect from current day movies, though I do have to throw a little bit of sunshine onto the film's score composer for taking so many of the excellent orchestral cues from Alan Silvestri's original work. Any hard-core fan of the series is going to feel right at home here.
What brings this movie to life, and I can't believe I'm saying this about a Predator movie, are the characters and the way they're written. Whoever was responsible for casting this film did an outstanding job, and the script that the actors were handed allows for legitimate character development for several of the principal actors. Stick with me here; I know that character development in a movie where you only want to see the monster kick ass seems counter-productive -- I'm looking at you, Godzilla 2015 -- director Shane Black somehow makes it work. The characters in this movie are absolutely the best part of it. The banter is sharp and well-written, and the movie manages to stay away from several pitfalls when it comes to representing many of its characters.
If you were even remotely interested in this and wondered if they could have possibly made it worth the price of admission, I would suggest to you that they have. I was pleasantly surprised with the movie as a whole, and as long as you set your expectations accordingly, I suspect that you will be as well.
SPOILER-Y STUFF FOLLOWS. You've been warned.
- I have to give a little bit of a shout-out to whoever passed on showcasing a naked Olivia Munn not once but twice in this film. I'm not going to sit here and suggest that I wouldn't have appreciated it, but in the current climate in Hollywood, Munn was allowed to have a large, active, intelligent role in this movie without flashing her body around.
- Yvonne Strahovsky is in this movie for a comparatively brief amount of time, but in the same vein as Munn, she isn't written as a typical suburban housewife. She's strong, principled, and knows precisely when it's time to reach for a firearm in this film. Shame she didn't have more screen time.
- I'm trying to decide on how much I like the 'treatment' of the Savant child in this film. They view his being on the Spectrum with a new lens that's actually rather refreshing, but I'm not sure how accurate the child's condition was portrayed. Maybe I'm looking too deeply into this...
- I so wanted there to be a Face Hugger inside of the pod at the end. What I got wasn't quite as good, but still cool.
- Wait, so you walk onto an alien space ship for the first time and you immediately give instructions to your goons to connect to the mainframe and download everything? What is this ID4 bullshit? If you're gonna do that, at least go get me Jeff Goldblum again.
- The kid is smart enough to translate the alien language, but isn't smart enough to not fuck around with the tech. Not sure I'm buying that.
- The extent to which The Predator tears through people in the lab is glorious.
- JAKE BUSEY!
I have to rail on this movie a little bit for a few things now:
- Modern movie-makers have no concept of suspense or the power of The Reveal. We were a third of the way into the original Predator movie before we ever got even a glimpse at what we were fighting, and two-thirds of the way through before a good, full reveal. You're allowed to see The Predator within the first 10 minutes of this new film, and it really ... lowers the film.
- Folks need to get over the 'let's do this at night' shit. The first movie -- and yes, it is the yardstick that I have compared all of the other content to -- took place during the day for almost all of it, and it was SO MUCH BETTER for it. I want to be able to see what's going on without a ton of jump cuts to hide special effect flaws.
- Both of the Predators in this film were goddamned bullet sponges.
- Where the fuck did the 'happy alien dog' thing come from? Are you fucking kidding me?
Okay, I think that's all.
One has to wonder if Jim and John Tomas understood how cool the world they were creating was when they wrote the screenplay for 'Predator' back in 1987. It was one of those unique movies where the villain very nearly ran off with the whole film. That was doubly impressive back then when you consider the sheer quantity of star power that the original Predator was competing against. Compete it did, and it could be argued that it was quite successful in repeatedly capturing the only trophy in Hollywood that matters:
The audience.
Since '87, Predator has enjoyed both sequels and spin-off in the theater, as well as a variety of treatments through other media. Something about the extra-terrestrial hunter compels us to pursue it over thirty years after its first sighting.
We find ourselves in 2018 for this latest hunt, and hardcore fans are wondering if this most recent hunt is worth going on. Is it?
THE SHORT VERSION:
Surprisingly, yes.
THE LONG VERSION:
This freakin' movie.
There's a lot about The Predator to poke fun at, and even more about the film to tear apart. There are plot holes, cliches are everywhere, and the story jumps around more than an old-school game of NBA Jam. You will be painfully aware of this as you watch the movie. Let's be real here; no one is expecting Citizen Kane out of any of these movies, and this most recent installment is no exception. The flaws of the film are bold and unapologetic. Perhaps that's why the parts of the film that are brilliant -- and said parts are present, I assure you -- also stand out the way they do.
I won't bore you by trying to talk about the movie's storyline. It's held together with the faintest of effort and only serves to move the film along from one set-piece to another. Audio and video for the film are both on par with what you would expect from current day movies, though I do have to throw a little bit of sunshine onto the film's score composer for taking so many of the excellent orchestral cues from Alan Silvestri's original work. Any hard-core fan of the series is going to feel right at home here.
What brings this movie to life, and I can't believe I'm saying this about a Predator movie, are the characters and the way they're written. Whoever was responsible for casting this film did an outstanding job, and the script that the actors were handed allows for legitimate character development for several of the principal actors. Stick with me here; I know that character development in a movie where you only want to see the monster kick ass seems counter-productive -- I'm looking at you, Godzilla 2015 -- director Shane Black somehow makes it work. The characters in this movie are absolutely the best part of it. The banter is sharp and well-written, and the movie manages to stay away from several pitfalls when it comes to representing many of its characters.
If you were even remotely interested in this and wondered if they could have possibly made it worth the price of admission, I would suggest to you that they have. I was pleasantly surprised with the movie as a whole, and as long as you set your expectations accordingly, I suspect that you will be as well.
SPOILER-Y STUFF FOLLOWS. You've been warned.
- I have to give a little bit of a shout-out to whoever passed on showcasing a naked Olivia Munn not once but twice in this film. I'm not going to sit here and suggest that I wouldn't have appreciated it, but in the current climate in Hollywood, Munn was allowed to have a large, active, intelligent role in this movie without flashing her body around.
- Yvonne Strahovsky is in this movie for a comparatively brief amount of time, but in the same vein as Munn, she isn't written as a typical suburban housewife. She's strong, principled, and knows precisely when it's time to reach for a firearm in this film. Shame she didn't have more screen time.
- I'm trying to decide on how much I like the 'treatment' of the Savant child in this film. They view his being on the Spectrum with a new lens that's actually rather refreshing, but I'm not sure how accurate the child's condition was portrayed. Maybe I'm looking too deeply into this...
- I so wanted there to be a Face Hugger inside of the pod at the end. What I got wasn't quite as good, but still cool.
- Wait, so you walk onto an alien space ship for the first time and you immediately give instructions to your goons to connect to the mainframe and download everything? What is this ID4 bullshit? If you're gonna do that, at least go get me Jeff Goldblum again.
- The kid is smart enough to translate the alien language, but isn't smart enough to not fuck around with the tech. Not sure I'm buying that.
- The extent to which The Predator tears through people in the lab is glorious.
- JAKE BUSEY!
I have to rail on this movie a little bit for a few things now:
- Modern movie-makers have no concept of suspense or the power of The Reveal. We were a third of the way into the original Predator movie before we ever got even a glimpse at what we were fighting, and two-thirds of the way through before a good, full reveal. You're allowed to see The Predator within the first 10 minutes of this new film, and it really ... lowers the film.
- Folks need to get over the 'let's do this at night' shit. The first movie -- and yes, it is the yardstick that I have compared all of the other content to -- took place during the day for almost all of it, and it was SO MUCH BETTER for it. I want to be able to see what's going on without a ton of jump cuts to hide special effect flaws.
- Both of the Predators in this film were goddamned bullet sponges.
- Where the fuck did the 'happy alien dog' thing come from? Are you fucking kidding me?
Okay, I think that's all.
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