The Predator

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. (13/09/2018)

Shane Black upgrades everything imaginable, sets a fast pace and, especially with Dolby Atmos, successfully fulfills the requirements of a hit action movie (it’s taken up a level by the high-powered climax). What does not work, however, are the characters – there are quite a lot of them, not one of which is likable or interesting (Jacob Tremblay’s boy had “Spielbergian” potential but failed to fulfill it). The attempts at humor and coolness don’t work; moreover, they’re here at the expense of the atmosphere and tension for which I love the first installment and don’t mind the second. This one is a more action-packed and imaginative, but not much smarter Paul W.S. Anderson’s Alien vs. Predator. (21/09/2018)

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. (14/09/2018)

I love that Shane Black wrote and filmed it his way and didn't merely need to slavishly reference the original, like Predators did last time. He simply made a typical comedy full of verbal wars and unexpected situations (in which once again a child in danger plays an important role, but who is far from defenseless), and although he was mostly interested in entertainment, there is also a decent amount of tension. Even though I have a few reservations, mainly about the beginning and the end, I'm still very satisfied. I was also pleased by the unknown but sympathetic actors (Black's screenwriter helped them a lot by ensuring the viewer would like them, and their deaths are therefore seriously impressive), and I have to praise Henry Jackman, too, who played with Silvestri's music in a much more original way than John Debney did last time. (14/09/2018)

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. (14/09/2018)