The Predator is the latest movie in the Predator franchise. The history of which has been spanning over 21 years. The newest installment is directed by Shane Black on a budget of 88 million dollars. Despite the hype and people accredited to the movie it didn’t stand up to critiques’ expectations and lacked a sense of overall enjoyability.

First off, the whole story didn’t grab my attention and the ending could have just as easily been presented at the beginning of the movie. All of the characters’ actions did not make any rational sense and the predator’s actions completely contradict his whole goal. You can see the ending from a mile away except for the mild twist at the end, which didn’t have me excited or wanting more at the end. There was no sense of closure and just ended up with me wanting my money back.

The characters are easily forgettable and remembering who they are is difficult especially after leaving the theatre. This is due to the fact that they’re names are so common: such as Quinn and Nebraska. It seems as though the characters are being too friendly with each other or trying to do a stand-up comedy act even though they are still characterized as rude and selfish. Towards the end, they try to redeem themselves but it just doesn’t work they are still the selfish people they were at the beginning of the movie. The jokes they make are childish and annoying making you want to shake your head in shame rather than making you want to laugh. They also seem as though they try to make the worst decisions possible.

Most of the special effects are incredibly well done such as the laser cannons and the alien technology. The helmets interface and spaceships look like they could jump out of the screen. However, other effects are incredibly lackluster for example, the blood in the movie. The human blood doesn’t look terribly realistic but once you see the predator bleed it looks abhorrent and makes it seem as though they took early 2000s special effects and mixed it with glow stick juice. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue but it is an absolute gorefest and blood seems to be in every scene. Now that isn’t always a bad thing, but for this movie, it feels like they went overboard.  

I rate this movie 2 maroos out of 5.