Rating (2 out of 5)

The Predator and their technology is cool. The movie has some good moments but is overwhelmed by a overly complicated plot and to many characters.  Was very disappointed in the ending and overall with what was delivered.

Plot: A Predator ship crashes to earth and the Predator escape in a pod, crashing on our Army sniper Quinn (Boyd Holbrook).   He steals some of the Predator tech and sends it home. He is then sent to the Army psych ward by the government to cover up the alien.

OMG…. the plot is too complicated.  It should be Predator lands hunt man.  Man fights to survive.

Here is my 2nd try.  Bad government guys have a Predator after it crash lands on earth and the government will eliminate/kill people who know about the Predator. Army boy (Quinn)  knows and while being sent to the psycho ward for the military, must escape and save his son (who is autistic and understands Predator).  Quinn recruits a team of psychos and a doctor to help.   There is a mega large hybrid Predator (let’s call him H-Predator) who is chasing the small Predator (let’s call him S-Predator) who crashed to earth, because S-Predator has technology that will save us all against the invasion by S-Predator and his buddies.

What I Liked: The Predator (both) is still pretty cool.  The H-Predator also brought with him two alien dogs.  Those were cool, and one became an ally.  Also still enjoy the way the Predator is able to jump around a forest and stays hidden.  That never gets old.

There is a joke that the Predator name is wrong.  Because he hunts for sport he is not a “Predator” but should be called “Hunter”.  It came up twice and thought that was humorous.

There is a scene in a hotel after they save Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn) a doctor, who was brought in to help the government, who the government is now trying to eliminate.  Quinn’s psycho team rescued her and are waiting in the room for her to wake.  When she does wake, she goes for the shotgun against the wall.  The guys had all made a bet about what the first thing was that she would grab.  It was funny as they all passed money around and she is very confused.   I just wished they had used that gag a little more in the movie.

I enjoyed the S-Predator breaking out of the government facility.  That was a straightforward scene as he tore through the scientists and the guards.  This movie needed more of those scenes.  There was shoot in the sequence where Casey is trying to get away, and is stuck in the quarantine room.  She has to get naked, and is huddling naked as the S-Predator finds her.  But as she isn’t attacking, he just leaves her and pulls open the door.

I also like the fact that Jake Busey was in the film, since his father was in Predator 2.

The character Traeger (Sterling K. Brown) was entertaining on the screen.  He represents the big bad government.  There is a scene where a government staff member is interrogating Quinn, and Traeger is watching through a window.  His demeanor and lines were great; really made the scene work for me.  I really liked Mr. Brown in this role and how he came across on screen.  I hope to see much more of him in movies, even though I don’t feel that his character was poorly written.

What I Didn’t Like:  The first Predator movie was simple.  Predator was hunting them.  A clear and focused plot.  In The Predator though, the government is bad, and we thought S-Predator was bad, but turns out to be good.  We think the government is good, but then they are bad, but then good again.  The audience wants to see an action flick, with simple Predator versus humans.

I will let a lot go in a movie like this.  For example, they capture an alien, but then don’t have anything specialized for capturing him again.  Heard of GPS, or radiation implants.  The bullets didn’t seem to penetrate, so they didn’t have anything more sophisticated in all this time we have known about him to sedate and capture.  However….

The ending scenes were awful.  First the H-Predator escapes to his ship.  Now they are able to damage the ship with their little guns, when they couldn’t hurt the alien before… Please.  Then the last surviving members of Quinn’s team, jump on top of the alien spaceship and hold on as the space ship begins its ascent.  I was rolling my eyes.

But it got worse.  Then the electric shields begin to surround the ship.  Quinn gets below the shield, his friend jumps above it, and the third amigo is cut in half.  So the ship is about to go into outer space, and the friend on top decides to jump into the engine, which destroys the engine.   Don’t you think the Predators would have the humanoid test like  we have the turkey test for our jet engines.

That was just ludicrous.  Then to top it all off, Quinn, Casey and Casey’s son all escape and have a ceremony to honor the fallen comrades in arms.  Was this supposed to be a teary eyed moment.  Waste of valuable screen time.

Then on top of all this, the final clip has Quinn now in charge of the whole program and his son part of the science team, and the they open the pod that the S-Predator was trying to give us.  Oh gosh don’t let them make another one.

Conclusion: While there were couple of good moments in this movie, an overly complicated plot and a terrible ending really hurt this film.