The Predator
You don't have time to bleed OR watch this movie...
From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets of suburbia, the hunt comes home in Shane Black's explosive reinvention of the Predator series. Now, the universe's most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before, having genetically upgraded themselves with DNA from other species. When a young boy accidentally triggers their return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.
Director Shane Black brings us the latest installment in the predator franchise with The Predator. Black rose to fame as one of the writers of Lethal Weapon and has brought us films like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Nice Guys and Ironman 3. With all of that said I was looking forward to this continuation/reboot/sequel. In a Shane Black movie you expect to see a ragtag group of people, witty dialogue, fast pacing and a share of violence. The Predator has all of these however the only problem is the some of these cards does not add up to or even make what looks like a whole.
There are major issues with this film. First of all the studio required a 35 minute hard cut of the film taking it from a little over two hours down to an hour and a half. There are literally scenes where vehicles and people appear and exposition is given in dialogue that makes completely no sense. There's no continuity in the editing, the re-shoots which were extensive, are easily recognized within the film. At the end the movie it is so thrown together that one of the main characters, as a matter fact let me just spoil it here, the protagonist of the whole movie, is killed instantly and if you blink or look down to reach into the popcorn bowl you will miss it.
What makes this film even more troubling is that the performances by the actors come across as genuine and some of the dialogue is even funny. The best parts of this movie are the gang of loonies that join up to try and save the day. Jacob Tremblay, Who rose to fame in the Room movie, is completely wasted here playing a young man who has autism. His character is a plot device more than anything else.
The Predator is a hunt best suited for another movie.