Directed by Shane Black. Written by Black and Fred Dekker. Starring Boyd Holbrook, Jacob Tremblay, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, Augusto Aguilera, Sterling K. Brown, Niall Matter and Jake Busey.
Plot: the Predators track some of their own equipment to Earth and a team of troubled soldiers and a scientist have to fight them off.
A Predator ship crashes on Earth and attacks U.S. Army Ranger Quinn McKenna (Holbrook) and his team. Only Quinn makes it out of the fight alive. Stupidly, he sends some of a deceased Predator’s armor to his house where his autistic son, Rory (Tremblay), receives the package and starts playing with the armor. Quinn is then captured by government agent, Will Traeger (Brown), who knows the Predators exist and wants more information about them from Quinn. Will also brings Casey Bracket (Munn), an evolutionary biologist, to this government facility so that she can examine a sedated Predator and study it’s DNA.
Will puts Quinn on a bus with several other soldiers/prisoners who call themselves “loonies”. And when the sedated Predator wakes up because he hasn’t been sedated enough, he kills most everyone and escapes the facility. Casey goes after him and eventually ends up with the loonies. Since Quinn figures the Predator is going after his armor now, he takes Casey and the other loonies to find Rory.
Before the movie ends you’ve got a bigger, badder Predator in the picture, a kidnapping, a firefight, several explosions and a sacrificial death. But none of it is good and none of it adds anything to the movie overall. The effects are decent, is was funny in parts and the cast was good, although sometimes they were severely miscast. For instance, Olivia Munn as a scientist was a reach, but to make her into a ninja scientist was just ridiculous. And the humor was okay when the movie started, but by the end it had gotten really old. The whole script had become terrible really, with all it’s cocky banter. How many times does the average person actually say the word ‘fuck’?
As for the characters, I didn’t like most of them and DJ didn’t like anyone at all. The direction was also horrible as the movie had no smoothness to it. Too many things were uneven. Take the innovation, which we would’ve called good if not for the fact that the Predator had ample opportunity to kill Quinn and didn’t. The Predator killed several other people with an, almost literal, wave of his hand, but he just tossed Quinn around a bit eventually allowing Quinn to gain the upper hand. In short, we almost hated the whole movie and therefore cannot recommend.
I suppose I could list my favorite movies here, but instead I'll give you a strange glimpse into what makes me TaraRomero.
1. I met George Romero. He was the kindest and sweetest man. He talked to me for longer than he should have with the line getting longer. He also held my hand. And when he noticed the ladybug I have tattooed on my wrist, he said he liked it and asked me it's name. Till then, it had not had a name. Now, I call him George.
2. I love stickers. All stickers. I just adore them. I even ask for stickers for Christmas! As a matter of fact, the birthday that just past, every member of my immediate family gave me sticker packs as gifts. Affordable and extremely appreciated.
3. I have never put much stock in astrology or horoscopes, but I LOVE the magic of the MBTI. Omg. I am an INFP and it actually sounds just like me. Introverted mostly. Creative always. Heart before head and not the most logical. Totally me! For better or worse.
4. It's no surprise I count horror so high up on the list of things that make me, me. However, it's so within my soul that I was part of the Horror Club in college. Interesting bunch. And even took a Horror Lit class as an elective. I got an A.
5. Coffee always makes me happy. Always. I'm particularly fond of caramel macchiatos. But I'll drink black coffee if it's the only thing available.
6. I hate shock for the sake of shock and endings that depress me. I always mention the movies Within (2016) and the Eli Roth produced, written and starred in, Aftershock (2012), as proof of this distate I have. I abhor the idea that just because I like horror, some people think I'd actually praise a movie that lets you think the "Final Girl" just made it through the night, only to slap her in the face with a tsunami.
7. We are big time animal people. I mean, if I could, I'd have an elephant, a bear, a zebra, a penguin, an otter and a meerkat, living with me. Seriously though. We have 2 dogs right now and 2 cats. Both cats we picked up when they each came to our front door hungry. And both dogs we got from 2 different sets of neighbors. Both who, unfortunately, don't know how to care for pets long-term. But they're happy and healthy now!!
8. Revisiting my love of horror, one of the above cats, my cat, is a little black guy named Church. Because Pet Sematary. His middle name is even Pascow. To give credit where credit's due, the name was DJ's idea. But he loves horror too!
9. I'm big into art. Along with movie posters and an Anne Frank quote, I have some actual paintings on my wall. I really think Dali paints beautifully when he wants to. And if I don't get to see Michaelangelo's Pieta in person some day, I will be very disappointed.
10. Lastly, I find Emily Dickinson's poetry intriguing. I took an elective course about her as well. But do you know I injected horror even there? I was given a poem to dissect and I picked one on death, of course. Then, I researched old "Death Photos" and even printed out copies for everyone in the class. They were so interested in looking at them that it stopped them from all looking at me, and I was able to deal quite well with my stage fright. Haha
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