BLOOD WORK: SILVER TONGUED SILVER SCREEN: THE PREDATOR (2018)

I remember a weekend in the late 80's when HBO was having a "Free to All HBO Weekend" and my parents recorded PREDATOR. I remember vividly the moment Carl Weathers' arm came flying off, the first time I remember really seeing graphic violence on screen (it was either that or when Bishop was ripped in half in ALIENS). Predator scared the $#!+ out of me (I was five or six at the time). A few years passed and I eventually faced my fears. Now I have probably seen it a few hundred times and have introduced it to many friends. The action. The suspense. The music. And the monster. Predator is one of my favorite movies of all time.

I've always preferred the Predator to the Xenomorphs (I think the Xenomorphs are amazing too). The Predators have a little more personality and there's a lot more that you can do with them. I know it's an unpopular opinion but I like PREDATOR 2 as well as both AVPs, and PREDATORS. The first AVP loses a few points for being the only PG-13 entry in the series, but I still enjoy it. And I actually really really enjoy AVP:R for the sheer brutality, gore, and intensity on display. I know the AVPs are on the receiving end of a lot of hate these days, and yes, I don't feel any Predator sequel has topped the original, but I firmly believe that there is a lot to enjoy from all of the movies in the series. I haven't hated any of them. I even got heavily into the Predator extended universe stuff with the books and comics.

Which brings us to the latest film in the franchise, the sixth film to feature the Predator and the fourth solo Predator movie: THE PREDATOR (the laziest title in the series). Co-written and directed by Shane Black, the man behind IRON MAN 3 and the writer of MONSTER SQUAD and LETHAL WEAPON. Black's co-writer on this film is none other than Fred Dekker (the man who directed one of my favorite horror homage films NIGHT OF THE CREEPS as well as directing Monster Squad).

Black and Dekker seem thick as thieves on The Predator and manage to channel the essence of the 80's with this latest Predator movie.

THE PLOT

A Predator escapes pursuit through a worm hole/warp gate which transports him to Earth. After crash landing the Predator is rendered unconscious. Taken to a secret government lab for study, geneticist Casey Bracket discovers a strain of human DnA within the Predator. The Predator escapes, seeking out the remains of his downed ship. The humans and the Predator race for the space ship only to be stopped in their tracks by a new super Predator, bigger, stronger, and deadlier. It's every man, woman, and Predator for themselves as they converge of the downed Predator space craft.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

Whatever pixie dust Hollywood was snorting during the 1980's that resulted in such gems as MANNEQUIN, WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S, PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, and so on (all films which I adore), Shane Black and Fred Dekker found a few dime bags worth and created The Predator. This movie is crazy. In fact this feels pretty in line with Fred Dekker's other films. If this were the 80's it wouldn't feel out of the ordinary. This movie feel's like a grown up version of the Monster Squad or a more serious (not much more though) version of Night of the Creeps. Again, I'm comparing it to all things that I love. But...

I'm not sure it's a good fit for a Predator movie.

As far gore as goes, wow! This movie's got the goods. This is what an R rated film in the 80's was like sans gratuitous nudity. No nudity at all in fact. There is however a gratuitous amount of swearing and cursing, so arbitrarily executed that it feels forced, like an R rated 80's movie. The action is epic, over the top, and utterly ridiculous in a few instances (such as riding a space ship like John McClane would ride a fighter jet).

In this respect The Predator is more in line with Predator 2 than Predator 1, which is probably a good choice since the previous film in the serious did a fine job of recapturing the feel and tone of the original. It is my personal opinion that the wild and insane film that is Predator 2 is underrated and in need of reevaluation. And when I say it feels more in line with Predator 2, I mean that this movie is just as frenetic, actually more so in fact.

Law of Quadrilogies. Maybe there's a certain frame of mind that one enters when crafting the fourth film in a franchise. It's strange to say but it feels as if the filmmakers took their cues from all the wrong sequels, such as ALIEN RESURRECTION and JURASSIC WORLD with the hybridization plotlines and transforming the title characters into bizarre caricatures of what they once were. Then there's the law of action movie escalation that entrapped LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, where our human characters are suddenly acting on super human levels of skill and resilience. Then there's the sheer ludicrous moments of INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. And UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING with more monkeying with genetics plotlines and the super lycan (in this case, the super Predator). The Predator embodies all of these esthetics.

Then there's the short order cook of character development. This movie, like so many others shows signs of GOTGism. When introducing characters in this film we are shown in rapid succession exaggerated stereotypes in which, after just ten seconds of an introduction, we know who these characters are. It really is a marvel of storytelling. Thomas Jane and the crew he travels with in this film are fantastic in these roles. As for the other characters I keep wishing Sterling K. Brown and Boyd Holbrook would've been switched as hero/villain. In reality I wish Olivia Munn had been the lead as I enjoyed her character the best. But like all the others, she too suffers from being overly exaggerated.

And the Predator. The fugitive Predator we meet at the beginning felt striking, aggressive, and totally badass. Had the whole movie been about him then maybe the film would've felt a little more gritty and harsh. It's when the super Predator is introduced that the film veers into the land of 80's drug induced insanity. I liked the idea of a super Predator but as the film went on and grew progressively crazier the character seemed endemic of the destabilization and the perfect symbol of the ethos of the film as a whole.

Now remember, I've only seen the film once and I could be way off base here and even change my mind later, but this is kinda how it felt once the credits rolled.

THE VERDICT

The Predator is wacky as balls. It's all over the place more so than any other Predator film in the franchise (including the AVPs). It's suffers from post Guardians of the Galaxy disorder as well as the quadrilolical plague. It's like Shane Black and Fred Dekker found a vintage pound of 80's Hollywood cocaine and snorted the whole thing. Had this film come out in the 80's maybe we'd be celebrating it today. I liked the actors save one and wish they would've been a little less hyper-developed and little more real. The Predator on the other hand started off good, kicking ass and not giving a $#!+ about names (and then you discover at the end that he's trying to help humanity? Where did that come from?!), but the super Predator goes maybe a little too far.

I liked it, but it was a little too much. Oh, and the Predator-Killer is both awesome and stupid at the same time.

Overall Ranking: 6 out of 10

Nude-O-Meter: 0 out of 10