Movie Review: The Predator (2018)
Storyline
"The alien Predators come to the southern backwoods of the US state of Georgia, and a group of former soldiers and a biologist have to face the Predators to save the human race." -Source: https://www.foxmovies.com/movies/the-predator
Watch out for?
The young boy, Jacob Tremblay as Rory McKenna. Great acting he got there.
Conclusion
The movie itself...
It felt like the movie was shot by different people.
The movie pace was like sudden accelerate and changed pace which makes the tension falls apart, then proceed with a fast pace and dead end.
The movie left me very CONFUSED. The focus shifted all over the movie.
I still prefer the portion where it felt like the predator movie style of "fight-run-survive and loop again". But the movie kept trying to bring a main story frame and pull it together but not a smooth transition.
Spoilers Ahead:
Feels like I watched a sci-fi drama but on the big screen and it was like.. "what? I just finished a movie? Where's the follow up?" Not that I wanted more, but it ended with a superb thumbs up gears look for the Ultimate Predator Killer... BUT the way it was portrayed made the WOW impact felt like a "hm.. Oh.. okay.. that's the new gear...so..?"
I really had to say.. or ask..
1st... Where did the faith of Emily McKenna (acted by Yvonne Strahovski) on her Quinn McKenna (acted by Boyd Holbrook), ex-hubby came from?
Her role as the supportive mother and ex-wife felt like she was trying to be tough but without a very good reason. Normally the mother would be screaming in tears or blaming the ex for taking their child and putting their child in danger. I mean it's like... why the need to be a divorced status? There wasn't even a love link between Casey Bracket(the lady professor) and Quinn. Why can't Quinn be the man with a family? IF they are still together, it would make more sense of why she trusted and sided with Quinn
2nd... Why can't there be more survivors?
Everyone fought side by side and the chemistry was build up but they just had to wipe everyone off. It's just almost an instant wipeout when I thought finally there is a movie with maximum survival counts. Although some died in honor but there can be more survivors.
3rd.. The role of Casey Bracket(acted by Olivia Munn), the lady professor is a biologist. Did she served the army too?
Casey was almost as good as the soldiers and she even had the courage to run after the predator even though she had witnessed what the predator did. It killed or wounded people badly BUT that didn't freak a normal human away? She managed to survive... BUT not the others... ? So she is the tough one apart from the main lead and the young boy? If the character was someone like the tomb raider, skilled in many areas and had braved through storms, then it seemed ideal. Also, towards the end of the movie, she was SOOOOO far away from the alien craft, but suddenly she appeared out of nowhere. How did she know to use the ball and how did she come to the site where the alien craft crashed? She can't fly.. right? Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to find out who she really was in the movie.
4th.. Will Traeger (acted by Sterling K. Brown) is a hard to understand.
He gave the reason to the name of the Predator. He played the villain being rough to the young boy. He even managed to figure out the objective of the evolved Predator? Did he had the ability to read his mind? I thought he had strike a deal with the Predator. But faced against the Predator, he was in fear. But before that, he was acting almighty and looked like he can kill a dozen. He had many gears to research and even had a lab with the scientists to help him. But the weapons was used by his team wasn't anything that could hurt the Predator. So what have he been researching on? And at the end... he was finished off in such an ironic manner.
5th.. Quinn McKenna (acted by Boyd Holbrook) was pinpointed by the predator as the "Ultimate Predator Killer"? Why? How?
I watched the movie, he fought like the rest of the cast. His additional ability was to command the others. Because he got to save his boy, so he have to give it all to save him. Is that why the predator see him fitting the role well?
Letting his wife narrate the number of battles, credits or honor he got was the proof? When the predator roughed him up, it felt like the predator only wanted to throw him away than to kill him. When the predator hunted the others, it took minimal effort to finish them off... Be fair and let the lead guy get rough up badly like the other Predators movie did with their lead man/lady in order to show that he is the very tough guy who survived it all to fit the title well!
6th.. NO COMMUNICATION is the best communication for Predators!
From past movies till date, there were only body language communication and strange characters unknown and unreadable to human. It was great when Rory was able to understand their language and hacked into their system. But when there was direct translation to human language, it felt totally NOOOOO... The sound and the sentence is just so NOT Predator's style. For a moment, it seemed like the call from the killer for the movie called "Scream"...
------------------------------------------------
Side track...
It's the opening week of the movie but the theater I visited was less then 10% filled on a weekend at the afternoon slot. Given the movie is rated M18, it could one of the reasons.
"The alien Predators come to the southern backwoods of the US state of Georgia, and a group of former soldiers and a biologist have to face the Predators to save the human race." -Source: https://www.foxmovies.com/movies/the-predator
Watch out for?
The young boy, Jacob Tremblay as Rory McKenna. Great acting he got there.
Conclusion
The movie itself...
It felt like the movie was shot by different people.
The movie pace was like sudden accelerate and changed pace which makes the tension falls apart, then proceed with a fast pace and dead end.
The movie left me very CONFUSED. The focus shifted all over the movie.
I still prefer the portion where it felt like the predator movie style of "fight-run-survive and loop again". But the movie kept trying to bring a main story frame and pull it together but not a smooth transition.
Spoilers Ahead:
Feels like I watched a sci-fi drama but on the big screen and it was like.. "what? I just finished a movie? Where's the follow up?" Not that I wanted more, but it ended with a superb thumbs up gears look for the Ultimate Predator Killer... BUT the way it was portrayed made the WOW impact felt like a "hm.. Oh.. okay.. that's the new gear...so..?"
I really had to say.. or ask..
1st... Where did the faith of Emily McKenna (acted by Yvonne Strahovski) on her Quinn McKenna (acted by Boyd Holbrook), ex-hubby came from?
Her role as the supportive mother and ex-wife felt like she was trying to be tough but without a very good reason. Normally the mother would be screaming in tears or blaming the ex for taking their child and putting their child in danger. I mean it's like... why the need to be a divorced status? There wasn't even a love link between Casey Bracket(the lady professor) and Quinn. Why can't Quinn be the man with a family? IF they are still together, it would make more sense of why she trusted and sided with Quinn
2nd... Why can't there be more survivors?
Everyone fought side by side and the chemistry was build up but they just had to wipe everyone off. It's just almost an instant wipeout when I thought finally there is a movie with maximum survival counts. Although some died in honor but there can be more survivors.
3rd.. The role of Casey Bracket(acted by Olivia Munn), the lady professor is a biologist. Did she served the army too?
Casey was almost as good as the soldiers and she even had the courage to run after the predator even though she had witnessed what the predator did. It killed or wounded people badly BUT that didn't freak a normal human away? She managed to survive... BUT not the others... ? So she is the tough one apart from the main lead and the young boy? If the character was someone like the tomb raider, skilled in many areas and had braved through storms, then it seemed ideal. Also, towards the end of the movie, she was SOOOOO far away from the alien craft, but suddenly she appeared out of nowhere. How did she know to use the ball and how did she come to the site where the alien craft crashed? She can't fly.. right? Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to find out who she really was in the movie.
4th.. Will Traeger (acted by Sterling K. Brown) is a hard to understand.
He gave the reason to the name of the Predator. He played the villain being rough to the young boy. He even managed to figure out the objective of the evolved Predator? Did he had the ability to read his mind? I thought he had strike a deal with the Predator. But faced against the Predator, he was in fear. But before that, he was acting almighty and looked like he can kill a dozen. He had many gears to research and even had a lab with the scientists to help him. But the weapons was used by his team wasn't anything that could hurt the Predator. So what have he been researching on? And at the end... he was finished off in such an ironic manner.
5th.. Quinn McKenna (acted by Boyd Holbrook) was pinpointed by the predator as the "Ultimate Predator Killer"? Why? How?
I watched the movie, he fought like the rest of the cast. His additional ability was to command the others. Because he got to save his boy, so he have to give it all to save him. Is that why the predator see him fitting the role well?
Letting his wife narrate the number of battles, credits or honor he got was the proof? When the predator roughed him up, it felt like the predator only wanted to throw him away than to kill him. When the predator hunted the others, it took minimal effort to finish them off... Be fair and let the lead guy get rough up badly like the other Predators movie did with their lead man/lady in order to show that he is the very tough guy who survived it all to fit the title well!
6th.. NO COMMUNICATION is the best communication for Predators!
From past movies till date, there were only body language communication and strange characters unknown and unreadable to human. It was great when Rory was able to understand their language and hacked into their system. But when there was direct translation to human language, it felt totally NOOOOO... The sound and the sentence is just so NOT Predator's style. For a moment, it seemed like the call from the killer for the movie called "Scream"...
------------------------------------------------
Side track...
It's the opening week of the movie but the theater I visited was less then 10% filled on a weekend at the afternoon slot. Given the movie is rated M18, it could one of the reasons.
Comments