The Predator (2018)

"This time the galaxy's greatest hunter must face its most dangerous opponent since Dutch: expansion of the lore."

- Honest Trailer

"What the hell happened to this series? Of all the Predator movies, this one is the definitive worst. Just stick with the previous three Predator films. And with the Alien and Predator franchises now in the hands of Disney, i hope that we can eventually get good Alien and Predator films again. Heck, maybe even a new Alien vs. Predator film."

- JacobHessReviews

The Predator is a 2018 American science fiction action film directed by Shane Black and written by Fred Dekker and co-written by Shane Black. It is the fourth installment of the Predator franchise, and the sequel to Predators and features the role of Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen and Sterling K. Brown. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 14, 2018, by 20th Century Fox, in IMAX and Dolby Cinema, as well as standard formats.

A fifth Predator film known as Prey, set during the American Civil War has been announced, serving as a prequel where the the first Predictor arrives on Earth is set to be released in 2022 on Hulu and is set to be directed by Dan Trachtenberg, the director of 10 Cloverfield Lane, and written by Patrick Aison.

Plot
From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets of suburbia, the hunt comes home. 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 boy accidentally triggers their return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and an evolutionary biologist can prevent the end of the human race.

Why It's one ugly MOFO

 * 1) They made the Predators, a race of sophisticated alien hunters who hunted for the sole purpose of finding honor and sport in order to catch the most worthy prey, into generic alien invaders who collect DNA.
 * 2) *And how the heck would taking autism from a young boy to help them evolve their race?
 * 3) This movie suffers the same problem as both Predator 2 and Alien vs. Predator in which the Predators act like anti-heroes instead of villains and only kill characters who are armed with weapons or posing a threat to them. A notable example of this is when a predator escapes the science lab, sees Casey Brackett cowering in fear and leaves her.
 * 4) Jacob Tremblay's character, Rory McKenna (Quinn's son) is both a blatant Gary Stu character and a walking plot MacGuffin due to his autism. Since being autistic, he is treated as a cliched "bullied kid" who is nicknamed "Assburger".
 * 5) Quinn's mother got full custody of the aforementioned child even though she literally threatens to cut her child over something so minor such a thing would be unwarranted!
 * 6) The movie can't decide on whether it wants to be a serious horror thriller movie or comedic action film. In fact, it feels like a parody film at times and don't mix well at all (à la Austin Powers).
 * 7) Most of the characters are unlikable, cartoonish and over-the-top, in stark contrast to the more realistic and believable characters from the previous three movies, and by extent the Alien vs. Predator movies.
 * 8) Very poor special effects. That looks like something that would belong in a made for television movie.
 * 9) The action sequences are very weak and lazy, compared to the rest of Predator movies.
 * 10) The movie flat out ignores the events of the previous films.
 * 11) The soundtrack, while decent, is a retread of the Alan Silvestri score from the first two films.
 * 12) William Traeger, the film's secondary antagonist, is a very lame and pathetic villain who is nothing more than a pale imitation of Peter Keyes from the second film and lacks seriousness to the point of accidentally killing himself with the Plasmacaster he put on.
 * 13) The film is full of jokes that are insufferable, cringe-worthy at best or unfunny, intolerable and immature at worst, most notably Coyle (Keegan Michael Key's character) saying, "If your mom's vagina were a video game, it would be rated E for everyone."
 * 14) *Furthermore the forced comedy is extremely out of place and feels like watching a bad episode of South Park or The Boondocks.
 * 15) The "Upgrade Predator", an augmented super-soldier Predator, looks absolutely ridiculous and yet it replaces the regular Predator as the main threat halfway through the movie.
 * 16) Countless plot holes; The biggest prime example being if the Fugitive Predator's goal was to help humanity, than why did he attack and kill numerous people?
 * 17) Too much time is spent trying to set up a sequel than focusing on the story.
 * 18) The ending is terrible and nothing more than sequel bait.
 * 19) Shane Black initially hired a convicted Sex Offender (a friend of his) in a role were he would be hitting on Olivia Munn, but thankfully his scene was cut when Munn got word of a sex offender being part of the cast. This had the side effect of cutting her character's introduction, so she just appears with no build-up.
 * 20) The trailers just spoiled the entire of the movie, notably Feuding Predators.
 * 21) Like Alien: Covenant, the film totally botches the lore of the Yautja.
 * 22) The CGI is way too cartoony for what's supposed to be a serious film.
 * 23) Poor direction from Shane Black who directed the blockbuster films mh:greatestmovies:Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys, which are way better than this film.
 * 24) Similar to Halloween (2018) and The Suicide Squad, The title can be confusing for newcomers, whether it's a remake or a sequel.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The Predators still look amazing.
 * 2) The soundtrack is decent composed by Henry Jackman despite being a retread of Alan Silvestri's score.
 * 3) Some people find the opening scene good.
 * 4) Quinn, the main protagonist, is literally the only likable character in the movie.
 * 5) The film teaches a very good lesson about collateral damage caused by gadgets that you don't have enough experinece to use them properly as shown when one of Traeger's men accidentally cut off his hand with a Shuriken or when Traeger accidentally kills himself with a Plasmacaster.

Reception
The Predator received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, audiences and fans alike, with criticism being pointed towards its overdone violence, choppy editing, bland script, convoluted plot and weak climax. Praise, however, was given to the chemistry Henry Jackman's score, the cast and their efforts to overcome the script. It currently holds a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 4.88/10 and a critic consensus that reads, "The Predator has violence and quips to spare, but its chaotically hollow action adds up to another missed opportunity for a franchise increasingly defined by disappointment.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100 based on 49 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, those on PostTrak gave it a 66% positive score and a 55% "definite recommend", and social media monitor RelishMix noted there were "mixed reactions" about the film online.

Chris Stuckmann gave this movie rating of D+. DeviantArt user JacobHessReviews gave this movie an rating of 2/10 (Terrible), explaining that this one is the definitive worst.

Penguiz0 gave this movie a 30% in his Moist Meter, and said “It’s the best bad movie ever made”.

YouTuber Lukimus Prime hates this movie and rates it 4/10, regarding it as the worst of the standalone Predator movies.

Box Office
The Predator grossed $160.5 million worldwide against its $88 million budget and was declared a box office disappointment.

Upcoming sequel
In December 2019, Dan Trachtenberg was announced to be developing a film titled Skulls, with a script from Patrick Aison, set during the American Civil War and following "a Comanche woman who goes against gender norms and traditions to become a warrior." In November 2020, Skulls was confirmed to in actuality be a fifth film in the Predator franchise, with Trachtenberg indicating the film to have been in development since 2016, and to have originally planned to release the film without marketing it as an installment in the Predator franchise. The Walt Disney Company will produce the project through their 20th Century Studios banner.

Videos
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Trivia

 * Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down the opportunity to return as Dutch.
 * John Hopkins University in the movie is a tribute to the director of the first two Predator films, John McTiernan and Stephen Hopkins.