Every Bad Predator Movie Makes The Same Mistake

So first things first, I’m not counting the Alien Vs. Predator movies here, because they aren’t canonical to either the Alien or Predator franchises.

What’s good and what’s bad is subjective, and if you disagree with me on which Predator movies I’m calling bad—and/or feel some of the ones I count as good really aren’t—what can I say? That’s valid.

The flicks I’m counting as the bad Predator movies are 1990’s Predator 2 and 2018’s The Predator. While I know what’s on Rotten Tomatoes or any other aggregate site is hardly enough to turn what is subjective into objective reality, I will point out that according to RT both critics and audiences tend to agree with my choices.

Out of the entire franchise, Predator 2 and The Predator score the lowest both with critics (34 percent The Predator, 30 percent Predator 2) and audiences (32 percent The Predator, 44 percent Predator 2).

Meanwhile out of the Predator movies I consider good, the only negative rating is the audience score (52 percent) for 2010’s Predators (which is criminal, that movie rocks).

When it comes to Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his special ops team in Predator, Royce (Adrien Brody) and the patched together group of killers he leads in Predators, and Naru (Amber Midthunder) and her faithful dog Sarii in Prey, they all share a number of common problems—one of them is that there is no break, no safe harbor, no oasis.

In Predator‘s unnamed jungle, in Predators‘ alien game preserve, and in Prey‘s Great Plains, the kills can come anywhere, any time.

Even when we think the heroes of Predators have found a safe zone when Noland (Laurence Fishburne) leads them to a crashed spaceship where he’s carved out a home, it turns out first that Noland himself wants to kill them, and eventually the Predators themselves come calling.

This is part of what makes a Predator movie so scary, and what gives the films a unique flavor. It builds tension and fosters conflict between the heroes—making them easier for the villain to slaughter.

That unique Predator movie flavor isn’t found in Predator 2 or The Predator, because there are too many safe zones for the heroes.

Could the hunter of Predator 2 attack while Lt. Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) is in a police precinct getting chewed out by his captain? Sure, but we know he won’t.

Could one of the hunters of The Predator attack Rory (Jacob Tremblay) at school when the other kids set off a fire alarm? Or could they attack Quinn (Boyd Holbrook) as he’s being escorted by a pair of soldiers out of a Veterans Affairs office? Again, yeah, but they won’t and we know it.

We get breaks in the tension and in a Predator movie, as soon as the hunt begins, you don’t want any breaks.

Both Predator 2 and The Predator are in more urban settings, so the question may naturally arise whether or not you could make a good franchise movie in an urban setting. I think you can—you just need to narrow things down.

For example, Predator 2 takes place in Los Angeles—the second largest city in the United States. That’s too big of an area. You need more focus.

An abandoned factory. The subway and/or sewer tunnels. These are settings where you could put a Predator movie. But you can’t just go with “Los Angeles.”

This subject does make me wonder about the next Predator movie—2025’s Badlands. All we know about it so far is that it will be directed by Dan Trachtenberg, written by Trachtenberg and Patrick Aison (both of whom brought us Prey), and Elle Fanning (The Great) has been cast.

Based entirely on the title, there has been speculation Badlands will bring the Predator into a Western setting. Regardless, we’ll have to wait and see if Trachtenberg sticks to one setting, or falls into the same trap as Predator 2 and The Predator.