In a review of the Predator franchise, we look at the best and the worst of the bunch.
This is a beloved franchise with a weak track record. It has some high, highs and some low, lows. However, I have enjoyed most the entries into this franchise. In fact, it could be argued that there are more bad movies than good movies in this franchise.
Starting with my least favorite, here we go.
7. Predator 2 (1990)
From top to bottom, this movie is a mess. While it has some solid acting from the likes of the late, great Bill Paxton, along with Danny Glover and Gary Busey, this is far from a good movie. Taking the predator and putting it in a big-city setting, seems like a great idea, but it just doesn’t work. Weak writing combined with wormholes in the plot, this movie is a predatory mess. Granted, it has moments that work well and the acting is fun – they are clearly doing the best with what they have, but the movie doesn’t amount to much within franchise.
6. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
What do you get when you mix a predator with an alien, you get a predalien. Really. By no stretch of the imagination is this a good movie, but it is a fun movie. This is the second incarnation of this franchise crossover. Mix a xenomorph with a predator and there are many ways this could be a great, standalone franchise, but those dreams never seem more than a money grab. However AVP: Requiem is an Oscar contender compared to the latest from Jurassic World: Dominion.
5. The Predator (2018)
This movie is another big swing and a miss. It has a lot going for it. It has a solid cast, entertaining action sequences, an “in-the-moment” comedic element similar to the original and a blockbuster budget. What it misses, is a cohesive story. The story is stretched then and tries so many different things that none of them fully work. What we have here are a lot of good ideas that just never come to fruition.
4. Alien vs. Predator (2004)
This seems to be a love it or hate it entry in the franchise. When all is said and done, this is not a particularly good movie, but it is a fun movie. Fans of the two franchises were clamoring for this for years, and it finally came to be. Grab your popcorn and watch the battle for supreme extra terrestrial dominance and just have fun.
3. Predators (2010)
This is a very entertaining movie and close to being a really good movie. It has arguably the best cast in terms of pure acting talent. Adrien Brody leads the way alongside Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne, Luis Ozawa, Clifton Collins Jr. Mahershala Ali, Danny Trejo, and Topher Grace. It has some great twists and turns, with wonderful character building in the first act and extreme tension building in the second act. However, the final third of the story falls apart and becomes progressively disappointing. So close, but not quite.
2. Predator (1987)
Right time. Right place. Right cast. This is a movie where everything just works. It screams 80s in everyway. It has non-stop one liners, even at the height of the action. It has violence that moves this from an action movie to something closer to a 80’s slasher. However, this movie has aged like an wine cooler left open in 1987. For as much as I loved this movie for decades, it now feels relatively stale and out of place. It feels like a time capsule forever lost in the 1980s.
1. Prey (2022)
I know, I know, this might be a controversial opinion (well, not really), but it is just my opinion. Yes, Predator (1987) is a great action/horror movie, but it is not a great movie overall. Prey doesn’t feel out of place or out of time. Its story is well-crafted and it tells its own story, not relying on a familiarly with anything else in the franchise, while simultaneously acknowledging the greatness of the franchise-lore.
