4. The Predator (2018)
Directed by Shane Black.
Starring Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen and Sterling K. Brown.
This one really stings. Fans were rightly excited by the prospect of former Predator alum Shane Black returning to the franchise he once starred in, yet this cynical attempt to broaden the series into more generic, mass-market blockbuster fodder falls disappointingly flat.
With Black pulling double-duty as writer-director, slivers of his quick-draw, rat-a-tat wit occasionally shine through, but he too often tries too hard to match the exaggerated vulgarity of the original Predator, provoking more eye-rolls than laughs in the process.
Though the cast is certainly game – Boyd Holbrook, Sterling K. Brown and Trevante Rhodes all do fine work here – they’re too often stranded in a tonally and narratively messy sci-fi horror-actioner with little interesting to do or say. Taking the brilliant Thomas Jane, who would be perfect to play the lead in a Predator movie, and casting him as a Tourette’s-afflicted, PTSD-suffering comic relief army vet is offensive for several reasons.
It’s common knowledge that The Predator was heavily tinkered with in post-production, with most of the third-act being re-shot following disastrous test screenings. The entire film, however, has an overly frantic, rushed clip to it, where characters rarely feel like more than cutouts and action beats are busily edited into incomprehension.
That’s to say nothing of an incredibly eyebrow-raising central plot, placing too much of an emphasis on a young autistic boy (Jacob Tremblay) key to the Predator’s arrival, and overwriting the classic monster with a Bigger, Better Hybrid that’s ultimately just a gaudy CGI abomination.
It’s not without its fun moments, though it’s also cringe-inducingly referential to the original film, and too often finds unintentional thrills with its more out-there elements, especially the full nature of the new Predator’s mission and the hysterical sequel-baiting final scene.
Fitfully amusing but chaotically edited, visually ugly and ultimately quite charmless, The Predator is a crushing, troubling disappointment for fans of both the series and Shane Black.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
3. Predator 2 (1990)
Directed by Stephen Hopkins.
Starring Danny Glover, Ruben Blades, Gary Busey, María Conchita Alonso, Bill Paxton and Kevin Peter Hall.
Nobody could dare call Predator 2 a lazy sequel, with its ambitious shift to the concrete jungle of late-90s Los Angeles. Without the same tonal assurances of its predecessor, though, Stephen Hopkins delivers a wildly uneven, at times unbearably goofy follow-up to the action classic.
Though its release predated the L.A. riots by two years, it’s incredibly difficult not to view Predator 2‘s portrait of urban decay with those optics in mind. Hopkins’ direction may often be flat and uninteresting, but he at least creates a palpable hellhole aesthetic for the city, one which amusingly brings the Predator a-knocking.
Danny Glover may be no Arnold Schwarzenegger, but his more down-to-Earth appeal makes him an entertaining lead all the same, while a wise-cracking Bill Paxton, hard-ass Gary Busey and peak-popularity María Conchita Alonso bring plenty of added value to the table.
Unfortunately the movie’s tonal whiplash is extremely irritating, switch-footing from gruesomeness to cartoonish silliness on a dime. The infamous “Want some candy?” scene and the sequence where the Predator repairs itself in an old couple’s apartment feel wholly at odds with, say, the terrifyingly intense subway massacre and the memorable slaughterhouse battle.
It’s also fair to argue that Predator 2 may have demystified the titular creature a little too much, even if the final meeting between Harrigan (Glover) and the Predator army on-board their ship is a blast, punctuated by his ballsy challenge: “OK, who’s next?”
A bold attempt to expand its predecessor’s mythos, though fundamentally hamstrung by a schizophrenic tone and Hopkins’ dull direction.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
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Originally published June 12, 2022. Updated July 14, 2022.
