Action with humor

Film review: The Predator

MANILA, Philippines — At first glance, the idea of creating a sequel to the Predator franchise seems a strange choice. After all, all attempts to extend the franchise beyond the original 1987 film that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger have paled beside that first Predator excursion. But with Shane Black directing and co-writing there held the promise of getting something quite different. This on account of the fact that with such films as Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and The Nice Guys under his belt, one could expect a healthy dose of humor and self-awareness to creep into the treatment.

Shane also wrote Lethal Weapon and The Last Action Hero. Of note is the factoid that Shane was himself in the cast of that 1987 film as Hawkins, one of the soldiers.

And so we have this 2018 sequel that rather than rebooting, truly extends the story via a prologue that has one alien Predator chasing another in outer space; and it would seem the pursued has some reason for heading to our Earth. From there, it’s just a matter of time before we’re introduced to the “humans,” led by military commando McKenna (Boyd Holbrook), this sequel’s version of a main protagonist. Of course, he’s given his own set of soldiers, this time out, his “Loonies” — and most impressive in this roster of misfits are Trevante Rhodes as Nebraska and Keegan Michael-Key as Cole. Pivotal in the film is young Rory (Jacob Tremblay), son of McKenna, who suffers from Asperger’s. That one of the Loonies suffers from Tourette’s pleads the case of Shane mining mental disabilities to enhance his characters.

In The Predator, we really feel the pedigree of Shane, as his films have been strong, masculine buddy films and marked by shafts of black humor. In Predator, you can now add violent, gory and visceral to the mix. Establishing the offbeat humor is what makes the middle portion of the film fun and watchable. The repartee between the Loonies is priceless and on target. It’s when the film’s final quarter has to deliver as straight action and sci-fi thriller that an uneven quality begins to creep in. The fact that you can’t really play off the Predator hurts, as he’s just literally a killing machine; and the give and take, the unholy banter between hero and villain can’t exist. There is an alien hunting dog/creature that attempts to fill the void, but it’s cute and distracting at best.

This is legitimate popcorn film: the jokes fly and the action and suspense are delivered. But so many scenes are shot at night, so it is murky and at times, confusing. Thanks to such films as Deadpool and Thor’s Ragnarok, we’re actually prepared for the film treatment of this Predator; but with such a one-dimensional title character, I wonder if this film can come close to those two. This Predator has its moments, but as a Part 2 seems inevitable, I hope it’ll make a better case of hitting its mark in subsequent installments.