The Predator (film)

The Predator is a 2018 American science fiction action film directed by Shane Black and written by Black and Fred Dekker. It is the fourth installment in the Predator film series (the sixth counting the two Alien vs. Predator films), following Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1990) and Predators (2010). Black had a supporting role in the original film, while John Davis returns as producer from the first three installments. The film stars Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, and Sterling K. Brown, and follows a group of mercenaries who try to protect a small town from an invading group of Predators.

Talks of a new Predator installment began in June 2014, with Black being confirmed as writer and director; much of the cast signed on between October 2016 and January 2017. Filming took place in British Columbia from February to June 2017, with the entire climax being reshot in July 2018 following poor test screenings.

The Predator premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2018, and is scheduled to be released in the United States on September 14, 2018, by 20th Century Fox in IMAX and Dolby Cinema as well as standard formats. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances, humor, and action but criticized the messy plot, thin characters and disappointing third act.

Cast

 * Boyd Holbrook as Quinn McKenna, Emily’s ex-husband, the father of Rory, and a former Army Ranger who discovers the existence of the fierce Predators but finds that no one believes they exist.
 * Trevante Rhodes as Gaylord "Nebraska" Williams, a former Marine who enlists in a special Predator-hunting operation headed up by Quinn, his best friend
 * Jacob Tremblay as Rory McKenna, Quinn and Emily's troubled son, who has a form of autism and is bullied in school but becomes a key player in the fight against the Predators due to his preternatural ability to learn languages
 * Olivia Munn as Casey Bracket, a disgruntled science teacher and biologist who joins the crew's mission
 * Sterling K. Brown as Will Traeger, an agent who jails Quinn but later needs his help with fighting the Predators
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Coyle, a man who teams up with Quinn and Williams to fight the Predators
 * Thomas Jane as Baxley, a military veteran from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder
 * Alfie Allen as Lynch, a former Marine who teams with several other outsiders, including Quinn, to stop the human-hunting Predators in suburbia
 * Augusto Aguilera as Nettles, a former Blackhawk helicopter pilot who has suffered a traumatic brain injury from a crash.
 * Yvonne Strahovski as Emily McKenna, Quinn's ex-wife and the mother to Rory
 * Jake Busey as Sean Keyes, the son of Peter Keyes
 * Niall Matter as Sapir
 * Brian A. Prince as The Predator

Pre-production
In June 2014, Fox announced a sequel which Shane Black, who also starred as supporting character Rick Hawkins in Predator, will direct and co-write with Fred Dekker, and John Davis will produce. Davis has said of the film that he thinks it is fresh and reimagines the franchise in a "different, interesting way". In February 2016, Black confirmed the title of the new sequel would be The Predator. Shane Black has referred to the project as an event film which aims to elevate the Predator series: "It's an attempt to 'event-ise' the Predator again... [An attempt to] make it more mysterious." Black also expressed that the film would mark a return to the "intimate" scale of the original film and that the film-makers hoped to achieve “the same sense of wonderment and newness that Close Encounters had when that came out.”

Black confirmed that the film is set in the present day and the titular character has upgraded armor. Black has also indicated that the film would be a sequel set in present-day 2018, following the events of Predator and Predator 2, but set prior to the events of the 2010 film Predators. He also mentioned that he looked for plot details set up in the previous Predator movies that he could retrospectively link back to with the new film. To that end, Jake Busey was cast as Sean Keyes, the son of Peter Keyes (a character who was portrayed by Busey's father Gary Busey in Predator 2). In February 2016, the studio revealed a teaser image of the film, confirming the title The Predator.

Martin Whist served as the film's production designer, while effects house Amalgamated Dynamics provided the creature effects for The Predator, having done so previously for the first two Alien vs. Predator films.

Chief-executive-officer of 20th Century Fox Stacey Snider shared her thoughts on The Predator and Shane Black and Fred Dekker’s script: We’ve got a Predator film coming out that is unexpected and utterly fresh. I just imagined that it would take 500 hours to read the script — that it would be interior jungle, exterior more jungle and then fighting happens, but Emma [Watts] went out and recruited Shane Black. From the first page, it didn’t read like a Predator film. It’s set in suburbia. There’s a little boy and his dad at the center of the action.

Casting
Arnold Schwarzenegger discussed with Black about returning to the film as his character after the first Predator film. Rapper 50 Cent also spoke of the possibility of being involved in the film but ended up dropping out. By September 2016, Benicio del Toro had signed on to star in the film. The following month, Boyd Holbrook replaced del Toro, who departed due to scheduling issues. In November 2016, Olivia Munn joined the cast. In January 2017, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Sterling K. Brown, Thomas Jane and Jacob Tremblay joined the cast. In February, Alfie Allen and Yvonne Strahovski were added to the cast. In March, the last main role was filled by Augusto Aguilera while Jake Busey was also cast in a supporting role.

In March 2017, Edward James Olmos had been cast as Sanchez, a military general. In August 2018, Olmos announced that his role had been cut from the final film, to reduce the film's long running time, as his character wasn't integral to the plot.

A month before the film's release, Olivia Munn discovered one of the actors, Steve Wilder, was a registered sex offender and informed Fox, leading to Wilder's scenes being cut. He originally played a small role of a jogger who repeatedly hits on Munn's character. Although Fox did not know of the actor's background, Black had known for some years. Black defended the casting choice, saying he "personally chose to help a friend." Black would later apologize, stating, "I believe strongly in giving people second chances – but sometimes you discover that chance is not as warranted as you may have hoped."

Filming
Filming was scheduled to begin in February 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia. On November 21, 2016, Larry Fong was confirmed to be hired as cinematographer for the film. Black announced that filming began on February 20, 2017. Filming wrapped on June 2, 2017. Additional photography in Vancouver took place in March 2018. On July 6, 2018, it was revealed the film's third act was entirely re-shot due to test screenings.

Music
Henry Jackman is set to provide the music score for the film.

Release
The Predator was originally slated by 20th Century Fox for a March 2, 2018, release date, before the date was pushed forward to February 9, 2018. It was then pushed back to August 3, 2018. In February 2018, the released date was pushed back to September 14, 2018. The film will also be released in IMAX theatres. On May 10, 2018, the first trailer was released. A television spot was released on June 9, while second full trailer was released on June 26, 2018. The third and final theatrical trailer was released on August 31, 2018. The film held its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2018 at the Ryerson Theatre.

Box office
In the United States and Canada, The Predator will be released alongside White Boy Rick, A Simple Favor and Unbroken: Path to Redemption, and is projected to gross $25–32 million from 3,900 theaters in its opening weekend.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 36% based on 118 reviews, and an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Predator has violence and quips to spare, but its chaotically hollow action adds up to another missed opportunity for a franchise increasingly defined by disappointment." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Mintzer called the film "bigger, meaner, gorier, funnier" than previous installments, writing "Whether the world actually needs [a sequel], and whether this reboot was necessary at all, is probably a question worth raising, but at least Black's take on it is to never take it too seriously while keeping us duly entertained." Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com praised the ensemble, pacing and Black's direction, writing "Black is assisted greatly by an incredibly charismatic cast, and he knows how to use them to amplify their strengths." A.A. Dowd of The A.V. Club wrote "The Predator, which Black penned with Monster Squad cowriter and director Fred Dekker, makes a few concessions to modern blockbuster filmmaking, including an overabundance of CGI, a blatantly franchise-thirsty ending, and some winking references to the original. But the movie’s values are more 1988 than 2018, and that’s what it makes it fun, at least in spurts: Black has captured the spirit of that bygone era of adrenaline-junkie junk without getting all retro-fussy about it." and graded the film a B-.

In a negative review, Dennis Harvey of Variety called it "an exhaustingly energetic mess in which a coherent plot and credible characters aren't even on the cluttered menu." Writing for Nerdist, Katie Walsh called the film "messy, chaotic, and convoluted", continuing with "comedy and action are at war with each other. Characters spew rat-a-tat quips, while tussling with Predators and their pets, essentially neutralizing the effect of both the humor and the action." Jonathan Barkan writing for Dread Central gave the film two out of five stars saying "Poor story choices and strange, if not outright silly, character decisions result in an experience that will ultimately leave audiences feeling a great amount of 'meh'." Jim Vejvoda of IGN gave the film a 6.5 out of 10, saying "The Predator does a lot right to reinvigorate the 31-year-old series. But everything crashes down during its frenzied, messy final act, a disappointing conclusion to what had largely been a fun romp up until that point."

Controversy
Olivia Munn got a scene cut from the film after finding out that it featured a registered sex offender. Munn took up the issue with Fox executives and had gotten the scene cut. She later came forward publicly regarding the involvement. Fox later released a statement stating that they were unaware of the the person's status as a registered sex offender. Munn expressed that she felt she had been "iced-out" by Fox and her cast members for speaking out.

Director Shane Black had recruited the person who has been identified as his friend Steven Wilder Striegel, who spent 6 months in prison in 2010 when he plead guilty after he was accused of trying to lure a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship online. Sterling Brown her co-star tweeted in her support. However her other co-stars did not respond initially, but with mounting public pressure have released statements regarding the issue.

Possible sequels
The producer, John Davis, says that The Predator will set up two sequels that he hopes Shane Black will return to direct. About this, Black said: "I would love to say we've been planning a trilogy, but I take one day at a time, in motion-picture terms that's one movie at a time."