My review of The Predator from back in September, while the film still plagued theaters, can be viewed here. The film is one of the year’s biggest disappointments. Shane Black has written Lethal Weapon 1 & 2 and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and The Nice Guys. The thought of him writing and directing a Predator film screams potential, but the end result is underwhelming, unfunny, and dull. This franchise has no idea what to do with itself. Here’s an excerpt from my review:
“This was one of my most anticipated of the year and it left me feeling lethargic and bored regarding where this franchise goes from here. It’s a sad day when you have to admit that a new Predator film is barely better than the AVP films, but The Predator rips the spinal column out of this franchise and chooses stupidity and redundancy over an actual evolution.”
The 4K Blu-ray release of the film has a little over an hour of extras including four featurettes and four deleted scenes. The deleted scenes total just under seven minutes and aren’t anything worthwhile or substantial.
Deleted Scenes:
- Traeger Meets McKenna: McKenna catches a soccer ball, which Traeger shoots a hole through before paying the kid it belonged to. Traeger says that he’s taking McKenna to either Six Flags or prison. McKenna says he doesn’t like roller coasters. Traeger chews gum and says, “A remote secure prison it is.”
- Lynch Goes Shopping: Lynch bounces a ball as a bald guy on a motorcycle revs his motor. The guy calls Lynch a fairy after Lynch tells him to keep it down. Lynch wows a woman with a card trick before a guy spitting chewing tobacco into a water bottle interrupts. He claims to have RBGs and other weaponry Lynch may find interesting. The two leave together.
- Surveying the House: McKenna and the five crazy prisoners he tags along with for the rest of the film sit outside McKenna’s house and watch his wife from outside as Traeger questions McKenna’s wife.
- Nettle’s Outtakes: Augusto Aguilera’s lame outtakes from trying to hit on Olivia Munn’s Dr. Casey Bracket character.
The four featurettes are what make up the majority of the disc’s content:
- A Touch of Black (10:28) highlights Shane Black’s involvement with the Predator franchise dating all the way back to the original film. The cast and crew attempted to stay true to the mythology of the franchise and gush over Shane Black’s work along with co-writer Fred Dekker. The cast views Black as being incredibly influential to films from the 80s. Also briefly covers the importance of the camaraderie between the core group and the chemistry between them carrying the film.
- Predator Evolution (20:11) is the most worthwhile bonus feature on this disc. It’s a 20-minute dive into the special effects regarding the look of the Predators in the film. They wanted to expand on the iconic original design by Stan Winston. The featurette takes you through the design process of The Predator beginning with the sketching stages, finishing the concept art in Photoshop, and fleshing out those designs as clay sculptures. The sculptures allowed them to add all the intricate details in the skin and sometimes took up to 4-5 weeks to complete. After that, they moved on to casting. Brian A. Prince, who is 6’10” and does parkour, portrays the main Predator. The Predator costume process included molding to Brian’s body, animatronics for moving mandibles, and updating the look of the dreadlocks. The costume is still miserable to wear that involves dedication and the ability to overcome possible claustrophobia. The end result is this breathing and seemingly organic alien organism that looks alive to everyone.
- The Takedown Team (16:14) goes through the strengths of each cast member who claims to be lucky to be a part of the film. Shane Black has a particular devotion to deadpan, one-liners, and improvisation and requires his cast to adjust on the fly on a day-to-day basis.
- Predator Catch-Up is a nine minute recap of Predator, Predator 2, and Predators.
Also included is an image gallery featuring 21 pieces of concept art, Theatrical Trailers for the film, and Sneak Peeks at Deadpool 2, Predator, and Alien: Covenant.
Final Verdict
The extras for The Predator are lacking and the disc has no commentary track whatsoever. Nothing on the disc is as interesting as the news that broke earlier this week that three alternate endings were shot for the film. Visual effects artist and puppeteer Yuri Everson posted on Instagram that each ending contained a different variation of the Predator Killer at the end of the film. According to Everson, Ellen Ripley from the Alien films was revealed in one ending with a different actress portraying the character (Breanna Watkins) rather than Sigourney Weaver. Everson says the sequence was removed due to the fingers and breathing mask being too facehugger-like. Considering that The Predator doesn’t reference anything in the Alien vs Predator films, this reveal is more interesting as a statistic rather than being an actual part of the film.
Like the film itself, the home release of The Predator is just as forgettable. The Predator failed to make back its production budget during its domestic run at the box office, but the film made a bigger profit overseas. However, if we could get a sequel to the far superior Predators from 2010 then that could be something fans should get behind.
