[MacBlayne]

THE PREDATOR

A lot has been said about this one. While critical reception was mixed, fan and audience reaction was hostile.

Being a Shane Black fan, I was excited. I was hoping audiences were just braindead after so much Marvel crap, and were repulsed by a film that would feature proper storytelling (a talent Black possesses).

Sadly, The Predator is a disaster. It is marred by ugly visuals, sloppy editing, shockingly bad story revelations, tonal inconsistency, and schmaltz. The acting is all over the place, and I don’t mean the performances are bad, but that nobody really gels with each other. It feels like a film that was assembled, rather than one that was directed.

And this is important, for the film was a victim of massive studio interference. The Predator was meant to kick off a new series of Predator films for the studio, much like how Prometheus rebooted the Alien series. However, the studio seems to have panicked. The film was pulled from Black, and was heavily reshot without his involvement. Cinematographer Larry Fong expressed his extreme displeasure towards Fox, and revealed he was not involved with reshoots or colour-timing. Jake Busey and Thomas Jane have recounted Black being visibly distraught at the premiere, and his horror at seeing the new ending (Black was not aware of the crowbarred epilogue). Edward James Olmos also told of how he had a whole subplot that was completely deleted.

Months after the film’s release (which actually made a minor profit in the box-office), photographs were leaked showing multiple Predators on a tank and chased by other vehicles. These scenes took place during the day. Black confirmed that the studio had decided a night setting would be better for the climax, and had hoped to convince Fox to release a director’s cut on BluRay (this was denied).

Eventually, Black’s script leaked online. Having read it, I can confirm that it is very different from the finished film. Is it better? Yeah, but with a caveat. Black is a tremendously talented writer who understands structure, set-up, and pay-off. Nothing happens without an earlier scene preparing it. Even the film’s more repellent aspect (autism being the next stage of evolution) is downplayed. The boy is still autistic, and is targeted by the Uber-Predator, but this is more due to the creature’s scientific curiosity rather than a very misguided attempt at appealing to mothers across the world.

However, I don’t think Predator lends itself to an expanded universe. The joy of Predator is the simplicity. The first film is simplicity perfected. Predators understood this, and stuck with it. Predator 2 expanded thematically, but kept the Predator stuff simple. The Predator is far too vast and sprawling. It’s a prison-break film crossed with espionage, and three episodes of The X-Files. It’s way too much.

The finished film has very little to praise. There are some good set-pieces, such as the Predator escaping from the base, or the assault in the suburban house, that are deliciously violent. Since it is derived from a Shane Black screenplay, there are some fantastic lines of dialogue (Sterling K. Brown earns his ham). But it is an unpleasant mess that clumsily transitions between scenes, and a mean streak of humour that feels more bullying than politically incorrect. Non-fans should keep away. Fans should watch only to satisfy their curiosity, because The Predator will satisfy very little else.