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Rating: 2.5 out of 5
One of the greatest action films ever made was Predator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is an all-time film with some classic one-liners, but it is intense, and that music just draws you in. With all good things, Hollywood manages to mess up a franchise and try to milk it for every drop of profit it can. Predator 2 was meh at best, taking place in the concrete jungle of New York. Then we got two incredibly shitty crossover films with Alien vs. Predator. Those absolutely sucked ass. The third installment of the Predator franchise was Predator starring Adrien Brody. It was decent and tried to have some of the magic from the first film, but it missed some points. That film introduced some new types of Predators and even Predator dogs.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we are back again with a fourth installment of the Predator franchise called The Predator. The film was entertaining but heavily relies on the notion that we already know about the Predator species and what they are trying to do. This one goes so far into the action-adventure and fantasy realm that it leaves out the notion of Predator hunting and goes in a different direction.
U.S. Army Ranger sniper Quinn McKenna (Holbrook) is ready to snipe his target on a hostage retrieval mission. Things look good when a Predator ship crash-lands on Earth. The Predator attacks Quinn and his men, killing most of Quinn’s men. Quinn manages to incapacitate the Predator while taking part of the Predator’s armor. Quinn mails the pieces to prove that aliens really do exist, which is retrieved and discovered by his autistic son, Rory (Tremblay). Quinn is recovered by Will Traeger (Brown), a ruthless government agent who stops at nothing to retrieve anything related to the aliens’ existence. Traeger has Quinn arrested after showing the government has been studying the Predators along with many other Predators making visits to Earth. Traeger also brings in Casey Brackett (Munn), an evolutionary biologist, to study the anatomy of this ruthless creature. It is soon realized that this Predator visit differs from all the others. This time, a more powerful, evolved, and badass Predator is hunting down all. Quinn races against the clock to get to his family while forming a group of unique servicemen to help save Earth.
I have mixed feelings about this film. I personally enjoyed this film because it was so over-the-top. I know the essence of the original Predator film is long gone. Actually, I did watch Prey. That was a prequel, so all is not lost because that movie was AWESOME!! This is not a review of that movie but this one. The story is okay as one Predator is on the run from another Predator that is hunting it, and it crashes land on Earth after what seems like a hyper jump. Technically, we have a Predator that is hunting a Predator. The story explains that one Predator was escaping from the others. Why, you may ask? Great questions. The Predators evolve from fighting other species and taking their best qualities. Once they rule over one planet, they move on. The one that escaped was trying to help humankind. I don’t know why but let’s roll with it.
That is where the confusion comes in with this film. The military and humankind want to stop the one Predator who crash-landed. They take him in to be studied until he wakes up and kills everyone. Lack of communication was highly missed. The other Predator is a straight-up badass with nanotechnology, two freakin dogs, and a creature that gives zero fucks about humanity. Its mission is to track down its prey and figure out some other stuff along the way. This Predator is bigger, stronger, faster, and way more intense than the little one.
You may ask, how does humanity get involved in this battle between two predators? Well, that is another great question, and I am happy to answer that question. Well, first, humanity has been studying the Predator for a while. The film has a running joke about the Predator being named the wrong name. That is too much to get into. Will Traeger, a government agent and Director of the “Stargazer Project,” seems to know everything about the Predators and wants to harness their technology and weaponry. The government also brings in Casey Brackett, an evolutionary biologist, because she knows more than anyone about evolution. That is one side of the human story of why they are involved.
The other side of why the humans are involved is because of Quinn’s decisions. He witnesses the Predator crash landing, and what does he do? Take the Predator’s mask and cloaking stuff. You don’t think the Predator would be after it? Not only that, but he also mails it home from another country, where his autistic son opens it and thinks it’s like a video game. Also, his son is a genius. Obviously, the Predator or Predators would be after this stuff because it does have a tracking device on it. After Will arrests Quinn because he was going to talk, Quinn must head home with his ragtag group to save his son. Dumbass humanity and their stupid problems.
I want to say that I really enjoyed the group Quinn formed after escaping arrest. They actually made this film really fun to watch, and they were entertaining. I feel like the film really relied on action but also way more comedy and stupidity. Each one had a story that made you scratch your head because it was crazy, and you wondered how they survived. When they were fighting the Predator’s dogs, the chaos was crazy, but also how they made the dog become one of them. The whole fighting in the woods scene was crazy. The Predator gives them 15 minutes to run before hunts them down. Also, it states that it is coming to capture “McKenna.” We learn that it wasn’t Quinn but his son because the Predator sees autism as the next stage of evolution.
In all Predator films, you need a final fight scene. This one was meh, as it was a combined effort between Quinn, his son, and Casey. The Predator gets his arms chopped off and kills it with its weapons. There were no “you are one ugly muthasucka” or iconic lines. I really didn’t expect it, but it is what it is. The ending sets up the movie for a sequel that will never come. McKenna and Rory are in a science lab watching the opening of cargo found on the Predator’s ship. The scientists believe it was left behind by the little Predator who had his head crushed. When they open the cargo, a piece of technology floats out and attaches itself to a lab worker. The lab worker turns into a Predator killer suit with insane weaponry before being deactivated. The reason for this suit is to protect humanity, with Quinn raising his hand, saying it is his. Now you would think that more big-ass predators would arrive, but how don’t you know the big-ass predators have a suit of their own. Whatever, it is way too much for this film.
The Predator is one of those films you will either love or most likely hate. It tries to tie in the previous films but fails to really make a strong connection. The cast is okay in this film, with a few moments here and there that will make you laugh. This franchise has gone down the tubes, but you can always watch the original and the newest one, Prey.
