Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Director: Shane Black

Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, and Keegan-Michael Key

Going into the theater I expected a pretty standard action film, but what I saw was almost a parody of the genre. This film is laughably bad in some parts, from cliché action movie lines to cringe-worthy jokes. The violence and gore was almost comical in some scenes, yet in others it reminds the viewer why this film got an R rating. The film does make reference to the original Predator movie with the iconic line “Get to the choppers”. The film also acknowledges how the name ‘Predator’ doesn’t make sense because the Predators are less predatory and more like sports hunters. The first Predator you see is mostly practical effects, but the second one is entirely CGI and the CGI looks spotty at some parts. The film had more plot holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese leaving the viewer slightly confused even as the action continues. When asked about his thoughts on the film former student Henry Osborne thought the film, “Cuts straight to the point, quite literally. No plot, no story, all fun”. Another student, Forrest Zach (12), said that the film was, “Entertaining, but a poor movie overall”. Overall this reviewer thoroughly enjoyed watching the film and would recommend seeing it with friends. 

The film follows Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook), an Army Rangers sniper, who first encounters the Predator when he crash lands near McKenna. After escaping the Predator and stealing his helmet and gauntlet, McKenna is deemed unfit to return to service by the US government and is sent on a bus with other former soldiers where we meet “Nebraska” Williams (Trevante Rhodes), Coyle (Keegan-Michael Key), Baxley (Thomas Jane), Lynch (Alfie Allen), and Nettles (Augusto Aguilera). We find out that the Predator who crash landed was captured by Will Traeger (Sterling K. Brown) and mercenaries working for the government, who bring evolutionary biologist Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn) to study it. She realizes that the Predators have been using DNA from other species, including humans to genetically upgrade themselves. The Predator escapes captivity and Bracket, McKenna, and the bus of ex-soldiers chase after him. The Predator escapes, and the group goes to Mckenna’s house to retrieve the Predator armor that he mailed to his house. They find that Mckenna’s son, Rory, who has autism, has found the armor and is wearing it around for Halloween. At that point, a second Predator has landed who is looking for the first one to kill him. The group searches for Rory but dogs of the second predator find him first. Just as the dogs begin to lunge at him, McKenna and the others arrive on the scene. They kill one of the dogs and try to kill the other one but it runs away. The first Predator finds them and chases them to the nearby school. They try to return the armor, but the second Predator arrives and kills the first one. The group escapes with the armor and the second one sets out to destroy any Predator technology that humans have.

The group has a brief respite at a barn, where Bracket realizes that the first Predator was bringing something to help the humans. Traeger and the mercenaries find them at the barn and they take Rory who knows where the first Predator’s ship crash landed. McKenna and the other soldiers prepare to attack the mercenaries when the Second Predator attacks, and kills Lynch. Even though they don’t trust each other, the Traeger and McKenna decide to team up against the Predator. He blows up the ship and then chases down and kills several members of the team, including Traeger, Coyle, and Baxley. He takes Rory to use his autism to amplify his genes, and McKenna and the group chase the second Predator to his ship, where he takes off with Rory. McKenna, Nebraska, and Nettles climb aboard and when the Predator activates a force field, Nettles has his legs cut off and falls to his death. Nebraska throws himself into the engine of the second Predator’s ship forcing it to crash. McKenna sneaks aboard and attacks the Predator. McKenna, Bracket, and the injured Predator dog bring down the second predator and kill him.

The movie then flashes forward to where the government has recovered something that the first Predator ejected from his ship before it crashed. It is revealed to be a Predator-killing suit of armor.