The Predator is the franchise's most chaotic and most disappointing entry, a film that mistakes frenetic energy for momentum and irreverent humour for wit. Shane Black's 2018 film had the ingredients for something genuinely interesting: a director who appeared in the original, a cast of considerable talent, and a premise that attempted to expand the franchise's mythology in ambitious directions. The result is a film that squanders all of those ingredients in a production that feels simultaneously overstuffed and undercooked, its tonal inconsistencies and its narrative incoherence suggesting a film that was significantly compromised between conception and release.
At a Glance
Director: Shane Black
Runtime: 107 minutes
Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown
Release: 2018
Critics Rating: ★★ (2/5 stars, a wasted opportunity)
Audience Rating: ★★ (2/5 stars, the franchise's weakest entry)
Review Breakdown
Plot
A sniper accidentally triggers a Predator's distress beacon, leading to the arrival of a larger, genetically upgraded Predator hunting the original. The plot involves a government conspiracy, an autistic child who can communicate with alien technology, and a group of military veterans with various psychological conditions who are recruited to stop the threat. The narrative is the franchise's most convoluted, attempting to introduce new mythology about the Predators' genetic upgrading programme while simultaneously delivering the action set-pieces the franchise requires. It succeeds at neither with any consistency, and the film's tonal lurches between comedy and horror undermine both registers. The third act in particular is a demonstration of narrative incoherence that suggests significant editorial intervention.
Characters
Boyd Holbrook's Quinn McKenna is the film's most underwritten protagonist, a character defined almost entirely by his relationship with his autistic son rather than by any qualities of his own. Holbrook is a capable actor given insufficient material, and the character never achieves the definition that would make his arc meaningful. Trevante Rhodes is the film's most compelling presence, bringing a physical authority and an emotional intelligence to Nebraska Williams that the film does not adequately reward. Sterling K. Brown's Traeger is the film's most entertaining creation, a government antagonist of cheerful menace whose scenes are the film's most consistently enjoyable. Keegan-Michael Key and Thomas Jane provide the film's comedy, with variable success.
Tone
Black pitches the film at a register of irreverent action comedy that is entirely at odds with the franchise's established atmosphere of dread. The humour is frequently forced and occasionally lands, but the tonal inconsistency means that the horror sequences, when they arrive, carry none of the weight they require. The film seems uncertain whether it wants to be a Shane Black ensemble comedy or a Predator film, and the attempt to be both simultaneously produces something that is fully neither. The upgraded Predator, which should be the film's most threatening creation, is rendered less frightening by the comedic register surrounding it.
Meaning / Themes
The film attempts to engage with themes of neurodiversity and the idea that autism represents an evolutionary advantage, using Jacob Tremblay's Rory as a character whose condition allows him to interface with alien technology. The intention is more interesting than the execution, and the film's treatment of the subject is too superficial and too instrumentalised to carry the thematic weight it reaches for. The genetic upgrading mythology, which suggests that the Predators have been incorporating human DNA into their own species, is the film's most ambitious world-building element and the one most inadequately developed.
Direction
Black's direction is competent but uninspired, lacking the spatial intelligence and the tonal control that distinguished the original's filmmaking. The action sequences are staged with adequate clarity but without the physical imagination that gives the franchise's best set-pieces their impact. The film's production values are high and the visual effects work is technically proficient, but neither compensates for the narrative and tonal problems that undermine the material throughout. Henry Jackman's score is the film's most anonymous technical element, functional but entirely without the distinctive character that Silvestri's original themes brought to the franchise.
Cultural Reception
The Predator received mixed-to-negative reviews on its release and was a commercial disappointment, grossing significantly less than its predecessors. It is now widely regarded as the franchise's weakest entry, and the production's troubled history, which included significant reshoots and the removal of a scene involving a registered sex offender, has been extensively documented. Black's subsequent comments about the film suggest considerable frustration with the production process, and the film's incoherence supports the reading that it was significantly compromised between conception and release.
Final Verdict: The franchise's most significant creative failure and its most wasted opportunity. A director with genuine personal connection to the material, a cast of real talent, and an ambitious mythological premise are all squandered in a production that cannot decide what kind of film it wants to be. The Predator is not a disaster of incompetence. It is a disaster of incoherence, which is considerably more frustrating.