The Predator

The best film in the last thirty years with the Predator in the main or a supporting role. Which is weak praise and a truly dismal business card for the series' sequels and spin-offs, since there are inconsistencies in almost every scene. For every good line, there is at least one awkward one, and every great action scene is followed by a WTF moment (all thanks to Thomas Jane and the overly used dogs). While the casting of Boyd Holbrook and Sterling K. Brown is on point, Olivia Munn's unfortunate presence is a disappointment, as I cannot believe her as a doctor even for a moment. Similarly, Jacob Tremblay, who never fails, seems to have stepped out of a different movie. But beware, this is unstoppable and relentless entertainment, and after almost falling asleep eight years ago while watching Predators, this is a big step forward, though unfortunately with a sad lack of care. Shane Black must have known how many fans look up to him as the savior of the entire franchise, and his sometimes self-parodic approach must have surely shocked many of them. (13/09/2018)

Just my type of movie. I pity the people who expected what had been written about it. A new Predator that refreshingly shatters people’s conventional expectations. Black serves up a wacky team movie in which the toughest badass grandmaster killer is a kid with Asperger’s. The great cast led by McQueen’s badass Holbrook has great dynamics. The best scenes are those without action, with dialog and tinfoil unicorns. The deaths are cool (Tomas Jane rules) and the only problem is that sometimes the creators overdo it and the story loses its logical progression and they make too much fun of the genre. The ending relies exclusively on strength. But full marks for entertainment value. If Forrest Gump looked at the back, he would know what he was about to eat. (13/09/2018)

If you're expecting a classic Predator, you'd better stay at home, because Shane Black will really piss you off. Unlike the first and second films, there is no sense of a fight for life, but instead the building of a mythology that is not very interesting and feels rather funny. Furthermore, Black completely mismanages the action scenes and especially towards the end Predator: Evolution turns into a proper mess. But on the other hand, I can't say I was bored. The running time is just right, Boyd Holbrook more or less handles the lead role, and the other soldiers are likeable, although, unfortunately, they occasionally make some unexpected and off-the-cuff remarks, as if the editor didn't quite get his job together, and they understandably are no match to Arnold's crew from the first film. The new Predator is actually a weird mix of an old movie, a war flick, a bit of dumb comedy, and something that has ambitions to have two more installments. As action sci-fi B-movies goes, it's fine. As a Predator movie, it’s not. (13/09/2018)

As if the Predator got into the hands of Carpenter in the mode of Big Trouble in Little China / Escape from XY. Yes, it's a truly B-rate nonsense. Yes, it's stuck time. Yes, it has little in common with the Predator. But it's extremely fun; sometimes intentionally (it typically uses one-liners in a Black style) and sometimes not (it does not hold together and does not make the slightest sense). Which doesn´t mind because whether it's silly, degraded, B-rate in terms of one-liners, it's just fun at all times. I this movie had been made a decade earlier, it would have been a cult movie today. So, the worse Predator, the better the B-movie. And it´s a damn good B-movie. (12/09/2018)

It's not as bad as the ratings and reviews say, but from one of the most anticipated films of the year and the guy who wrote the screenplay for The Last Boy Scout, the untapped potential hurts quite a bit. As an action B-movie, though, the film works reliably. There's quite a bit of action, blood is not spared, and especially at the end it's a pretty decent carnage and the characters are pretty good. The prevailing triple combo is the likable Boyd Holbrook, the beautiful Olivia Munn and the witty Keegan-Michael Key, who finally has a role tailored to him and quite a lot of space. Disappointingly, the atmosphere is almost non-existent, the suspense is also lacking and I couldn't find any Wow effect or scene that made me want to see the film again. That the story is uninteresting and naive I won't criticize, because the old Predator doesn't have a sophisticated script either. For me, the film is hurt quite a bit by the fact that it takes place in a city instead of a jungle. Anyway, the film fulfils its purpose of entertaining, but unfortunately you will not take anything more away from it this time. 65% (15/09/2018)