Film Just Campy Enough To Be Charming
I was actually impressed walking out of the theater. It doesn't hold a candle to the original Predator, but as a sequel its quite worthy, does something different, and brings a lot of interesting new ideas to the franchise (whether these ideas are good is entirely subjective, but they are at least interesting). As noted on the main and YMMV pages, the film is funnier, campier, Narmier, and gorier than most entries and doesn't take itself too seriously, but it manages to straddle that line where all that just makes it fun, without pushing it over that line into self-parody. And there's surprisingly deep characterization, particularly among the Loonies, which makes you care for them and their troubles. Somehow, the movie manages to get both comedic and dramatic value from their mental health issues, portraying Group 2 not as a collection of funny quirks or angsty damages, but people doing their best to recover from traumatic experiences. The movie certainly has it's flaws, though. It feels like it really needed to be two movies, like several scenes were cut to fit the runtime, giving the film at points the feeling of lurching from one plot-point to the next. There's so much going on, some things were bound to get short shrift, but I can imagine that with the Predator franchise consistently underperforming and the Disney buyout looming, Fox didn't want to make a two-part film. Still, overall, it's a consistently enjoyable, funny, awesome film that adds to the Predator mythos in a clever, if not 100% agreeable, way.
Film Not Worth It
I knew the Rotten Tomatoes score going into the theater, but I didn't care. I'd enjoyed movies with scores like that before (Bv S, Justice League) and I simply figured that this would be another movie that I'd have vaguely fond memories of and could reasonably call "fine." This, tragically, was not the case.
I think the main problem comes down to it seemingly trying to be "smart" and "complex." See, the original Predator was a stupid concept and everyone knew it. The filmmakers knew it too, so they kept things simple and stupid, and thus created a beloved action/sci-fi classic. That's because the premise is simple: US commandoes are deployed to fight the goddamn Reds, the jungle happens to contain an alien trophy hunter, and now they have to avoid being killed See? A simple "Hunter-becomes-the-hunted" plot. Even Predator 2, the film that taught me about Sequelitis, had this as the basic plot, albeit with the improbably badass Mike Harrigan turning the Predator into the hunted.
The Predator, however, was not that. It's basic plot, in contrast, involves factional conflict on the Predator homeworld, Predators rushing to get human trophies before we die out (which is compared In-Universe to the rush for Twinkies back when Hostess closed down), a Government Conspiracy that studies the Predators, and the Predators collecting samples from across the universe to "evolve" themselves. See the problem? It's more complicated than a dumb, fun, action movie should be. It's still stupid, mind you, but unlike the original or even 2 its stupidity comes across as obnoxious rather than charming.
My favorite character has to be Bracket (though I had to look up her name on the Characters tab. I swear to Odin, put a gun to my head and tell me to name the Vets or die and I'd be hopeless). She's the token badass scientist. When she gets to the Stargazer base, she's told that she "wrote the book on evolutionary biology" (maybe Darwin got killed by a Predator in this universe?) and she proceeds to get pedantic about the misuse of the word "predator." Later, she says that the Predators are "evolving" themselves and that some experts say autistic people are "the next step in human evolution." I'm fine with pedantry, I'm the most pedantic person you'll ever meet. But she can't even be properly pedantic with her own discipline!
I admit that I liked most of the scenes with the Vets interacting. It was nice to see and had some good moments. But in a movie called "The Predator," it's not a good sign that I'm thinking, "God, the alien-hunting scenes are so boring, can't we get back to the humans just hanging out?"
This movie is bad. Not like Predator 2, which had a sort of throwback schlocky charm, but The Predator is just bad. Wait for it to come out on digital or something then get your friends to riff it.
Score: 1.5/5