So here comes the latest entry in the franchise. Where does it sit within said franchise? How does it fit? It's complicated, but I believe this takes place after 'Alien3', and before 'Alien Resurrection'. Whether or not this is confirmed I don't know. Frankly, this franchise should be straightforward, but with the introduction of the Xenomorph in two failed 'AvP' flicks. Ridley Scott's 'Alien' prequels that disregard the 'AvP' flicks. A third Predator flick that went nowhere ('Predators'). Another Predator sequel that also failed ('The Predator'). And now an 'Alien' TV series (that also appears to have failed), these two franchises have become an entangled mess of epic proportions.
The plot is pretty simple enough, but told from the perspective of a Yautja, in their own language, with subs. So that's kinda cool, but being on the side of a Yautja is awkward in that it does wreck the mystery surrounding them. Double-edged sword situation really, neat idea, but it does wreck the Predator image going forward. Remember, the original movie was supposed to be an adult horror sci-fi, remember that? Yeah.
A weak Yautja (Dek) is to be executed (by his brother) for being useless on the orders of his extreme warrior father. The brother disobeys his father and helps Dek escape, but not before being executed himself by the father. Dek lands on another planet where he is to hunt the ultimate trophy in order to try and prove to his father he's a worthy Yautja. It just so happens that on this planet, there are also Weyland-Yutani synthetics that are also after the same trophy. Start the hunt!
Let's take this in steps. The Yautja home planet in this offering looks pretty good. It is well rendered, looks authentic, and it also looks similar to what we saw in 'AvP 2'. This could be another part of the planet for sure. Unfortunately the introduction we get to both Dek and his brother is entirely Marvel-esque in tone and very much like a videogame sequence. This did not fill me with much hope because right away you could tell this was not going to be a typical 'Predator' movie. I also didn't really like the alien species on offer. They couldn't come up with anything better than space elephants, space rhinos, and space monkeys? Really?
As for the main big bad trophy (a 'Kalisk'), well, that's a big space lion dragon hybrid, I guess. Oh, and it is virtually indestructible because it can regenerate its limbs, including its head! Yeah, take that as you will. I mentioned space monkeys, by that I refer to a specific cutesy little Snarf-like alien that gets called 'Bud'. This thing looks like it stepped off the set of a Lucas Star Wars prequel flick. Awful, truly awful. The plot twist with this thing is also obvious and doesn't make up for the turd design.
The Yautja, how do they look? Well, as you might expect, everything in this flick is CGI, so everything has that nasty plastic, glossy fake look to it. No matter how good CGI gets, the vast majority of it always has this same problem and is obvious to the Human eye, well mine at least. Dek is a mixed bag, much like the other Predators we see. His skin and features look okay, but obviously CGI. They got the deep, dark, gaunt yellow eyes correct, but the mouth/mandibles still don't look right. His dreads also look wrong, far too smooth and straight, almost snake-like. Dek's father suffers the same issues. Obvious CGI skin textures and facial growth, the mouth is off, and his dreads are too silky looking. Bottom line, the 1987 original movie (and 'Predator 2') STILL look better than this 2025 offering. That's kinda ridiculous frankly, kudos Stan Winston.
I should also point out that another problem with Dek were his body movements. One reason why Kevin Peter Hall was so damn fecking good as the Yautja in the original (superior) movies, was because he altered his body movements. He tried to move uniquely, trying to give the Yautja its own personality, so it didn't just look like a man in a rubber suit. The guy they motion captured for Dek just moves like a regular guy, like a Human. He clearly swaggers like a regular guy trying to look tough, it's obvious, and it looks lame.
As for the Weyland-Yutani side of things, meh, twas all very boring looking, no spark at all. The actors playing the synthetics offered nothing in terms of interest or engagement. I couldn't have cared less about these characters. The main synth Thia spent most of the movie only being a torso; which later gave us some cringe action sequences involving her apparent sentient legs. Everything involving this side of the plot was bland, boring, and sterile (although I get that is somewhat the point). When Dek fought the male synths it looked like he was fighting naff looking Terminators. And where was all the white synth blood and guts? Look what happened to Bishop in 'Aliens', none of that. I'm also not too sure why Thia, could speak Yautja and none of the others could. I did notice the newer Power Loaders, nope, didn't like them either. They went overboard as usual.
Naturally the finale gives us Yautja vs. Power Loader, because of course it does. A big orrible, weightless, CGI power loader stomping around like a manic Robocop 2 knock-off in yellow, sigh! Of course Dek gets smashed around all over the gaff, but suffers no injuries or broken bones or anything, because he's a flippin' superhero! Spoiler alert! The movie ends with Dek going back home to face his father, with the wrong trophy? Thinking everything will be cool? Huh? I dunno why he would bother, seeing as his dad killed his brother and wanted to kill him. But wait, Dek is a super Yautja now, he's beefed up and a top fighter hunter...apparently.
Okay so let's be brutally honest with the truth here. This isn't a bad movie. This is actually a reasonable sci-fi action adventure. BUT! This is not a 'Predator' movie. This felt like a rejected script from 'The Mandalorian'. This felt like a Star Wars project, potentially movie or TV series. This felt like a 'Guardians of the Galaxy' sequel, complete with goofy animal/alien sidekicks. This felt like it could easily be anything else if you removed the Yautja. Another heavily watered-down version of a 'Predator' movie with average CGI. Looking ahead, there is now a Yautja and a female synth Avengers team, complete with a huge tamed pet alien sidekick, running around in this franchise. Yep, this franchise has officially been Marvel-ified.
6/10
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