Shane Black’s The Predator: 10 Critical Reactions You Need To See

by Danny Meegan

1. It's The Best Since The Original

Predator Yautja
Fox
"Inevitable nods to the ’87 movie (and ’91 sequel) are both kept to a discreet minimum and handled with crowd-pleasing care, and there’s a slyly dismissive attitude to the AVP movies. Yes, this is superior to those, and 2010’s direct threequel." - GamesRadar

Across the board, the general consensus seems to be that The Predator is the best movie in the series since the 1987 original, but that doesn't instantly make it great. Predator 2, Predators, and the AVP movies are pretty underwhelming, so besting them was hardly a gargantuan task.

What's clear is that Black's movie is efficient, fun, and heavy on gore and laughs. If you're in the mood for an easily-enjoyable action movie that doesn't ask much of you, then The Predator is just what you're looking for.

Fans expecting something similar in tone to the original's horror approach, however, will be disappointed.

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Has the critical reaction to The Predator affected your anticipation of the film? Let us know in the comments section!

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!