The previous Predator movies were very suspenseful with innovative thrilling action sequences. Back in the first Predator movie Arnold Schwarzenneger was in his prime and the final dual between Arnold and the Predator was very memorable. This first movie also had a great setting (the jungle) and a suspensful soundtrack! In this installment of the Predator franchise a young boy accidentally triggers the "Predators" to return to earth. A crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled scientist must team up to defeat them. The cast includes: The super hot Olivia Munn as Casey Bracket (scientist), Jake Busey as Keyes, Yvonne Strahovski as Emily, Brian A. prince as Predator, Boyd Holbrook as Quinn McKenna, Trevante Rhodes as Nebraska Williams, Jacob Tremblay as Rory McKenna, the very funny Keegan-michael Key as Coyle, Sterling K. brown as Traeger, Thomas Jane as Baxley, Alfie Allen as Lynch, Augusto Aguilera as Nettles, Jake Busey as Keyes Yvonne Strahovski as Emily, Mike Dopud as Mike Dopud, Niall Matter as Sapir and Javier Lacroix as Cantina Bartender.
What a beginning! We have a view of Space, you see the stars. Then it cuts to two spaceships in an intense battle. Wow, great innovative CGI. This is quite different from the way the original Predator began. One of the alien crafts from the battle arrive on earth, they crash land. There are some soldiers who are inspecting a drug cartel exchange in the jungle. A soldier (Keyes) gets closer to the alien craft and inspects it.
Keys gets on radio. He sees their mask and an arm control device. One of the predators hangs a soldier from the trees. A soldier (Keyes McKenna played by Jake Busey) then fires at it and puts bullets into it. He defeats it and then flees. He grabs some of their technology including a ball device that makes your whole body invisible (the predators usually use it in previous movies, it's cool). He sends this tech in the mail to a friend. Dr Bracket a female scientist played by the irresistable Olivia Munn gets recruited from the authorities.
Dr Brekin is told that the predators are making more frequent visits to earth. Keyes gets interrogated by the government. They want to know whether he saw the aliens. The package got delivered to an address where Keyes Ex-wife lives (with her son). The child accidentaly activates one of the alien devices. You see a space 3D map. Keyes gets arrested and put on a bus full of other inmates.
The music and alien sounds are the same as the original. Dr Bracket gets introduced to a building that examines aliens. They tell her that the predator has some "human genetics" which is amazing. They put Keyes in a prisoner's van to take him to a jail. He says he's encarcerated because he had an encounter with a space alien hehe. The other inmates don't believe him and laugh. He gets to know the other prisoners, it's a funny scene.
Keyes son opens the package with the technology. He plays around with the device and it launches a 3D display of a galaxy in space (this is very cool) causing a signal. Predators in out of space get this signal from earth. A second craft arrives. The predator listens to the signal and awakens! He beats up the scientists. Intense action scenes here.
They shoot at the predator but he survives. The Predator doesn't hurt Dr Bracket. The predator runs away. Great suspensful soundtrack! It's what made the original special. The cast of prisoner soldiers is cool, they make a good team. The predator runs outside. Dr Brecket follows it. The prisoners escape and take charge of the van.
She fires her weapon and jumps on the van. She accidentally tranquilizes herself with a tranquilizer gun! The predator escapes. The soldiers and Dr Brecket go to a hotel. She wakes up and sees the soldier prisoners. She is scared and goes for a gun. Olivia Munn is a born action star. "It's called a predator" Dr Brekin says. Keyes goes to his son's house / ex-wife's house. He takes the soldiers with him.
Its funny, the soldiers raid the fridge and make jokes about the living room decorations hehehe. The son has taken the predator gear (mask and arm device) to a halloween party. He fires a weapon accidentally, it causes a blast which knocks an annoying man over on his balcony hehe.
The Predators also had attack dogs, they look quite unique with similar features to the predators. The dogs go for the boy. The soldiers shoot at the dogs, cool sequence. They defeat the dogs but the predator shows up. They fire at him.
Keyes gets grabbed by the Predator but is then let go when he gives him the arm device. Another bigger predator shows up! This is unexpected. He wants the device too. He kills the first predator and takes the device. He saves his son and the soldiers survive. The Predator dogs shows up. The soundtrack kicks in. One of the most exciting sountracks and sound design of the year. The government agents arrive.
Great performance by Olivia Munn, her actions scenes are impressive. The goverment agents want the devices. The agents take the son because he knows where the space ship is and he has the skills to open it. Dr Brekin escapes from the clutches of the government. The other soldiers arrive in a helicopter. They pick up Keyes and Dr Brecket and others and they travel to a site in the spaceship.
Keyes uses a device (from the Predators) that makes you transparent to go into the spaceship to get his son. The soldiers attack the government soldiers with guns. The big predator shows up and fires on anybody. It enters the spaceship. The predator sends a message to a computer of the soldiers. It reads "McKenna is the true warrior". He gives everybody a time advantage. He will go after McKenna. Finally the soldiers and government agents start working together.
They go into the woods to hide. The scenery is reminicent of the original Predator movie! This is what makes this movie worth it. Wow, it brings back memories. You can imagine that it's hard to spot things in the woods and there is an uncomfortable silence. The Predator kills one of the soldiers with his wrist weapon and hangs another. They set the Predator on fire.
One of the soldiers jumps on the Predator and knifes him. The Predator takes the kid into his own spaceship. But the soldiers jump on top of the spaceship while it's moving! This scene is special for me, exhilerating. The spaceship is about to leave earth!
One of the soldiers jumps into the engine and destroys it. The spaceship then crash lands in the woods. Now on land, Keyes shoots the Predator and he loses an arm. The Predator attacks Keyes and Dr Brekin. Keyes finds the Predators arm with the device and he fires on to the Predator defeating it.
After all this action subsides. Captain Keyes McKenna is invited to a laboratory. They have a pod there that was left by the big Predator. It is a device that if you put in on, you become a robotic predator with lasor senses. Quite innovative. An interesting way to end the movie.
This movie borrows a lot from the original and this is bound to work for the old fans. The Soundtrack and soundscapes were spot on.
"This installment of the Predator franchise still reminds me of an 80's style action movie where the soundtrack is used to create tension just before a climatic action sequence begins"I loved the ensemble cast, great acting, the team gelled well. Well done to Jake Busey as Keyes. Also, for me, Olivia Munn has now cemented herself as an action star. Enjoy this riveting action movie for the full 1hr 47min.