I got the chance to see The Predator on its opening weekend today, and I have to say that this is one of the best movies I have seen all year. It’s been years since I’ve seen a movie that was nothing but pure fun, and The Predator executed that without sacrificing any plot value. While I expect to give this movie a mostly positive review, there are just a few problems I had with the film, and I hope you agree with my assessment.

The Cast

Something I noticed right away is how perfect the cast of this movie was. When you see a movie in the Predator franchise, you expect to see nothing but tough guy actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers, but The Predator gave us all a pleasant surprise. Not only did we get a star vehicle in Olivia Munn and promising stars like Boyd Holbrook and Sterling K. Brown, but we discovered the next generation of A-listers in one movie.

Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Alfie Allen and Augusto Aguilera all had a huge coming out party in this film, and I fully believe that every single one of them are going to star in their own movies extremely soon. Rounding out the cast is Keegan-Michael Key and Thomas Jane, both of whom provided the kind of comic relief that we needed from a serious franchise, and I feel that their chemistry with one another is what really gave everyone a laugh. I couldn’t have hand-picked a better ensemble for a Predator movie, and I feel like that’s what really invested everyone to this film early on.

Humor

Everyone knew that there were going to be some comic relief since Keegan-Michael Key was cast in the movie, but no one anticipated that The Predator would be as funny as it was. This isn’t just an action film, it’s an action comedy. Most critics have given this movie bad reviews because of how much humor it implemented, but I personally loved it. I was not expecting to laugh so much during a movie in the Predator franchise, and I was pleasantly surprised.

Choosing Shane Black to direct this movie was an excellent idea, and that’s because of how proficient he is at using comedy in his action movies. Just look at Lethal Weapon and Iron Man 3. If every movie in this revitalized franchise consists of the same amount of humor, then you can count me as a thoroughly satisfied viewer.

Fight Scenes

I’m not really the kind of person to be picky about the plot of a movie, but when it comes to action scenes, I’m a savant. For the most part The Predator got it right with the explosions and gun fights, but there were a few scenes that just didn’t make any sense. First and foremost, I have a huge bone to pick with the bus scene. When McKenna and the others are chasing down a Predator on the bus, he hangs out of the bus door and fires at the creature with a shotgun.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever fired a shotgun with one hand, but you absolutely should not. All this would lead to is a broken arm. While McKenna is as tough as they come, he fired a shotgun and didn’t even flinch. No recoil, no broken arm, nothing. That is just simply impossible.

There are a few scenes like that where the writers and director didn’t take physics into account, but every hand-to-hand fight scene was impeccable. There were very few times that these skills were needed, but when the gang did have to use their fists, it was entirely accurate. The fight coordinator even went as far as having McKenna use a real jiu-jitsu sweep to armbar combination, which I personally enjoyed as a lover of martial arts. There’s a lot to hate about the unrealistic combat of the movie, but at the same time, it’s a lot of fun to put all of that out of your mind and just enjoy the explosions.

Undecided Characters

An extremely sloppy plot device that is sometimes used in movies that are apart of a franchise is leaving a character’s death up to interpretation. Personally, this is my biggest pet peeve whenever I see a movie. The Predator didn’t do this just once, but twice in the same film. The last time we see Jake Busey’s character he is telling Dr. Bracket to chase after the Predator. He has an obvious stomach wound, but it is entirely survivable. However, should Shane Black or the studio decide not to use his character in a sequel, then we all will just assume that he died.

On the flip side, the last time we see Alfie Allen’s Lynch is when he is getting his arm blown off just before the final climax of the film. However, the character isn’t confirmed to be dead. It’s just assumed that you can’t survive a wound like that, or that the Predator finished him off right there. We just don’t know for sure. If the studio decides to use Lynch in a sequel, even though McKenna and Bracket mourned his death, they gave themselves the ability to do so. This is just a personal pet peeve of mine that I found in the film, and while I don’t think it takes away from my enjoyment of this particular movie, it may just take away from future installments in the franchise.

Conclusion

While The Predator had a few obvious flaws, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy every minute of it. This has to be one of the best, most pure fun movies I have seen all year-long, and I personally think it is one of my favorite films of all time. We live in an era where every movie has to be seen as a masterpiece, otherwise it’s a total failure. The Predator harkens me back to a time where it was perfectly acceptable to make a movie that was just pure action, and I think a lot of people are missing that from their every day entertainment. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who claims to be a fan of the action genre, and I truly think that The Predator will be as much of a classic as the original.