In short, I really enjoyed this movie. It goes for 90 minutes all up and while the first 30 are VERY slow and it's genuinely boring for that first half hour, the last 60 minutes are extremely entertaining.
I can't fault it for being a bit boring the first half hour though as I believe character setup is something that is missing from a lot of modern movies. I appreciated that, although it took a long time to start, that they did put that time in to establish where we were and who we were dealing with.
The film itself is beautifully shot. I loved the surroundings of forest and gorgeous water locations. I could just watch the shots of scenery alone for 90 minutes and be happy.
The Predator was powerful and brutal and I loved the way we saw him curiously moving up the food chain of predators until finally getting to the humans. There were slight inconsistencies in power level when you compare the hand to hand combat with the scenes of multiple guns being shot at him from a directions... Which didn't make too much sense. But it's a Predator movie and looking back, their power has often fluctuated to whatever the movie needs them to be at the time, so I can't be too picky about inconsistent power levels. Though, it definitely did seem odd that he was so easily able to survive THAT much gun fire coming at him in the middle of the film. I also felt the inclusion of the French bad guys didn't really work in the movie and personally I would have taken them out of it completely and the movie would have flowed and been a little better. They took me out of the world and the movie a bit. I would have liked it better if it purely focussed on the tribe and the Predator and then coming in half way through just felt a bit out of place. Only a minor gripe though.
I also want to say and address that the biggest question mark I think most people had coming into this movie was, how could this tiny girl beat a Predator? I personally think that although the hand to hand bits I did sometimes feel a bit like "really?" I also think they handled it really well. They emphasised that it wasn't her strength that matched him, but her speed and her wit. They showed her many times through the movie training, failing and fighting until she got it right, and I appreciated that. And while yes sometimes you do sit there and think there's no way he wouldn't just pick her up and rip her in half, I would bring up Danny Glover in Predator 2, who beats a Predator in hand to hand combat. Yes Danny Glover is more muscular than the woman in this movie, but compared to a Predators strength they're both ants. To be fair to this movie, if we are to believe that Danny Glover can beat a Predator in hand to hand combat, then we can believe that Naru could as well using her speed and wit, and not with her physical strength at all.
The only real gripe I had, without giving away any spoilers, is that I did feel the final fight was over way too quickly. I was really enjoying it, and then it kinda just ended. I would have liked just to see a little bit more of a challenge and a bit more ingenuity from the main characters, to beat the Predator. It all felt like it was over way too quickly, easily and a bit unrealistically. It was probably the movies biggest flaw, the rushed and 'too easy' ending. It ended up making the Predator look a bit of a fool walking ona rake and hitting himself in the face. That's the only real gripe I have of an otherwise flawed but highly beautiful and entertaining movie.
Overall though, besides the minor gripes, this movie was gorgeous, it was fun and I really enjoyed it. And I think that most of the criticisms against it, while having very MINOR points, are not really as bad as some make them out to be. Definitely watch it!
On a side note, I wanted to fairly address some complaints other reviewers have had about ultra feminist messages, or anti-white male messages that some claim of this movie. I think that while these themes were technically in there, that the film makers did a great job at having them there without being intrusive or coming at the cost of the story or movie itself. Yes, the movie is about female power and a woman wanting to be taken seriously and men not doing so, but to me it never felt intrusive or preachy or as if it was really putting people down, and it easily could have gone down thst path, but i never felt it did. Her brother is extraordinarily capable, and likeable, and Naru herself makes plenty of mistakes. She is no "Mary-Sue". In fact, almost everything she does in the movie is a mistake, over and over until she learns and finds her way. I appreciated this and feel like although there was a feminist message in the movie, it worked because it wasn't about her being perfect, or about putting down the men around her. She succeeds in her own right and through hard work and failure.
As for the 'anti-white male' message some people complain about, again, I feel like even if you felt it was there, this movie handles it in a way that makes sense and is not intrusive. Because the fact of the matter is, if you watch modern day Star Wars or Doctor Who, they are literally just sitting there trashing men for no reason whatsoever, and it's cringey. But in this movie and its setting, the white guys were the bad guys. They were doing horrendous things to the locals and to their wildlife. So while I've seen complaints about this, while I can agree that the shows and movies I've mentioned above, and many other modern shows do contain these elements of the overpowered female, and anti-white male messaging that I understand would put some peope off, without knowing the intentions of these film-makers, I can say from the outside that neither were intrusive in this movie, neither were in your face, and in no way to me did it come across as offensive or preachy or cringey. The bad guys really were the bad guys, and the main character is certainly not above failing and making mistakes.
I would recommend this movie. I think while it is miles away from the original in terms of the best Predator movie... MILES away... I do think it's easily the second best in the Franchise.
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