I have to admit that I never liked the character of The Predator. I liked the original 1987 film, but the alien itself just seemed like a big bully to me, even though it is well documented how much I love the “Alien” films. I always thought they were wimpy because they needed weapons, unlike the Xenomorphs.
“The Predator” is the latest attempt to make a go of it from director by Shane Black (Iron Man 3). Starring Boyd Holbrook (Logan), Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight, 12 Strong), Jacob Tremblay (Wonder), Keegan-Michael Key (Keanu), Olivia Munn (The Newsroom), Sterling K. Brown (This is Us), Thomas Jane (The Punisher), Alfie Allen (John Wick), Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck), and Brian A. Prince (Black Panther), Quinn (Holbrook) is an Army Ranger on a mission in Mexico. When a spaceship with a Predator crashes, Quinn escapes with some of the equipment that he hides at home where his prodigy son, Rory (Tremblay), finds it and starts to figure out how it works. A special government unit collects the ship and its pilot as they catch up with Quinn, whom is sent to a mental facility to keep him quiet. At the same time, the unit calls in one of their top biologists in Casey Bracket (Munn) to study the alien, which escapes and forces Quinn and Casey to work together with a group of soldiers who escaped the facility with Quinn to stop the alien before it gets to Rory and its technology.
The film has its share of CGI, which was good overall given a lower budget than other films of its type. It did not blow my mind visually, but it was still well known. There is a strong cast with some well known names, and Holbrook does fine as the lead even though he has a few action films to his credit. Brown also does well as the head of the government unit who just cares about getting the mission done.
The first thirty minutes of “The Predator” was good, but it falls apart when it takes the focus off the Predator story and makes it more of a story of Quinn and the group of soldiers. There is good action the level of violence that can be expected, but there is too much comedy of an adult nature put in to just try to get a laugh. If you are looking for a good action film, you may enjoy this film, but it may leave you wondering if the plot could have been better so I will recommend it as a RedBox rental.