The atmosphere generally is bland and doesn't evoke enough scares, not enough to bite the nails anyhow. There is lots of chaos and noise on the surface but no brains or soul underneath, while there is very little tension, suspense or surprises, relying on the action to make the film watchable which it marginally does. On top of that, the story, as well as being slight and at times sluggish, is far too complicated and busy which makes some of the film very hard to follow and at worst incoherent. There is effort to develop them, but through very clumsily written, superficially soap-operatic and blatant exposition that doesn't always feel necessary, adding nothing to the story or characters and failing to intrigue. The characters are sketchy in development, are very difficult to get behind and their credibility is zero. The character chemistry is not very natural and excepting perhaps Jacob Tremblay the acting doesn't seem very engaged or at ease. However, Shane Black's direction is constantly wayward and fails to generate much momentum, personality or clarity of storytelling.
When it comes to the predator, it is scary and imposing enough, as are the other creatures and their methods, and the gore does disturb and doesn't feel too gratuitous.
The film also begins promisingly, zippy in pace and quite thrilling. At times, the action is fun and edge of your seat, contributing to the occasional glimpses of tension and excitement lacking elsewhere, with cohesive choreography and spectacular stunts. It looks good, very slick and atmospheric with some of the effects being great and imposing. Before getting on to the faults, 'The Predator' has good points. As a Predator film 'The Predator' is a disgrace, but as a standalone film judged on its own terms it also doesn't work. It's not a good film, hugely disappointing in fact, and has a lot of issues. Although towards the weaker end ranking films from 2018 seen, it is not one of the worst, being better than 'The First Purge' and 'Slender Man'. Didn't think it was that bad and it had its moments and decent assets, a 1-star film 'The Predator' isn't. Can totally see why many were disappointed and share a lot of the criticisms directed against it. Just to make that clear in answer to the condescending accusations made by those defending the film without taking into account that those who didn't did see the film and simply didn't like it legitimately. Was actually really intrigued into seeing 'The Predator', despite hearing numerous bad things about it, and saw it anyway with an open mind. The 'Predator' film series is a mixed bag, with the best being the 1987 film (a great film on its own) and its follow-up, the only great ones from personal opinion.
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