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

"Everything crashes down during its frenzied, messy final act, a disappointing conclusion to what had largely been a fun romp up until that point... The last half-hour is not only choppily executed at a breakneck pace, it just looks bad to boot... and the climactic showdown is too easily resolved given all the buildup. Even worse, the big payoff scene at the very end comes across as cheesy and unintentionally campy rather than exciting." - IGN

"The Predator loses steam by the time it gets to its climax. Some of the final scenes are messy in terms of editing, especially when compared to what came before." - RogerEbert.com

"My only issue here is that the ending doesn’t feel on par with the rest of the film and seems like it might have been reconfigured at some point." - JoBlo

Despite carrying a snappy 107 minute runtime, The Predator is apparently unable to sustain a thrilling, cohesive pace for its entire duration, reportedly falling apart in the last 30 minutes or so.

Not to excuse the movie of this flaw, but there is a reason for this. A few months ago, actor Keegan-Michael Key told CinemaBlend that the film's reshoots reworked "three-quarters of the third act".

So, to hear that this is the weakest section of the film doesn't come as a surprise. It seems like Black and his team were unable to properly gel this new material with stuff they'd already written and shot, and the evidence is up onscreen.