6.5 / 10. Typical gory Predator fun, the storyline had promise, but it’s not anything fresh

The Predator is the fourth instalment in the Predator Sci-Fi action film franchise, directed by Shane Black and written by Black and Fred Dekker.

After an alien Predator ship crash-lands on Earth, U.S. Army Ranger Quinn McKenna and his team are attacked by a Predator while on a hostage retrieval mission. McKenna incapacitates the Predator and sends parts of its armour by mail as proof of the alien’s existence – to his home address …

Quinn’s young son, Rory, a highly intelligent boy on the autism spectrum receives and opens the package, accidentally sending out a welcome call to the alien Predators to visit their favourite holiday timeshare, Earth. Quinn and his PTSD-afflicted soldiers and an evolutionary biologist, Casey Bracket, must defeat the predators and discover what their ultimate plans are.

I felt nervous and excited at the prospect of another Predator film. Glad to hear parts of the original film’s musical score used, and all involved tried their best, but this film wasn’t on a par with the classic 1987 original. The reason the first one worked so well was you didn’t really see the Predator until the end, but we all know what the Predators look like now and what they can do, albeit fantastically designed creatures.

The motley crew of ex-special forces soldiers thrown together had amusing moments, especially Thomas Jane’s Baxley. Boyd Holbrook puts his all into the role of Quinn, Trevante Rhodes as Nebraska is cooler than cool, and Sterling K. Brown (Traeger) is always great. Jacob Trembley plays Rory and is a terrific young actor, and Olivia Munn as biologist Casey is likeable, if a little too serious.

The new uber Predator looked amazing, but the ending was a bit of an anti-climax, there wasn’t even any great musical finale from the score, it seemed to finish in a whimper.

The storyline had promise, but some plot aspects are not fully explained which may have added interest to the story, however, overall it was typical gory Predator fun. The Halloween costume scene was a highlight, trick or treat indeed.

“Get to the choppers.” Please.