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<\/a><\/p>\n(“Don’t touch my milk!”)<\/address>\n\u00a0<\/address>\nAfter a brief scuffle McKenna uses the Predator\u2019s own weapon to knock him unconscious and escape with all the alien goodies he can carry, knowing that he will need proof. Although I\u2019m not sure why, because literally every person he meets either already knows about Predators or is fully prepared to believe him without any proof. Skip ahead a few days and McKenna is arrested and taken to a black site to be used as a scapegoat, again I\u2019m not sure why because he is the only survivor and there doesn\u2019t seem to be any witnesses. He is promptly designated unfit and stuffed on a bus full of other military prisoners or \u201cThe Loonies\u201d as they liked to be called. Well to go into the plot any further would lead us right into spoiler town, and we don\u2019t want that, so instead let\u2019s talk about whether or not it\u2019s good, it is but I assume you want more than that.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s talk about the characters for starters, specifically \u201cThe Loonies\u201d. Each of them were fun and engaging, with their own personalities, quirks and backstories but rather than bombarding the viewer with all of it at once the director (Shane Black) slowly parcels it out over the course of the movie. This gives the audience ample opportunity to get to know and invest in each of the characters, allowing them to become more than mere Predator fodder. While each character is great in their own right, the cast\u2019s chemistry elevates it to something truly magnificent. In particular the relationship between McKenna (Holbrook) and Nebraska (Trevante Rhodes), it was a classic 80\u2019s \u201cbuddy cop\u201d partnership ala Riggs and Murtaugh. But our heroes are only as good as their villain and they have a great one, no not the one from space, this one is much closer to home, the wonderfully villainous Will Traeger (Sterling K. Brown). Traeger is the agent who arrests McKenna, while barely containing his excitement at the possibility of fighting aliens. Traeger as the villain is one of my favourite things about the movie, but also my only source of criticism. Let me explain, he is a fantastic villain, is single minded, cut-throat, cruel and he goes out of his way to be an ass to everyone. But by deliberately antagonising people for no reason and always skipping straight to the most extreme measure, in some cases even when people are offering to help him makes him stupid, it actively works against his own interests. <\/p>\n I also want to say a big thank you to whoever made the decision to use both practical effects and C.G.I, I\u2019m sure there was more than one interfering bastard over at Fox that tried to get them to use only C.G.I to cut costs. There\u2019s no real way to say this without sounding like a \u201cthings were better back in my day\u201d wanker, but there is something to be said for great practical effects. And this movie has them, puppeteering, fake blood and controlled explosions; it gave the whole experience a wonderful sense of life.<\/p>\n But I think what I enjoyed most about this movie was that it was fun; it was filled with dark humour, stupid jokes and had a ridiculous premise. Most movies these days, particularly action movies tend to be a po faced, sombre affair about war or revenge. Hell, even the modern Predator movies have been a dark, edgy bore fest. Hollywood is so desperate to recreate the spark that made action movies so popular but fails to understand why they were so beloved. It\u2019s because while they are ostensibly action movies, they are at their core, funny. Take the original Lethal Weapon, it\u2019s about a suicidal war veteran who has lost his wife and all reason to live taking on drug dealers, but it still finds time for some humour.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n(“I’ve burned all my supplies, now no-one can take them from me!”)<\/address>\n