• Director: Dan Trachtenberg
• Screenplay: Patrick Aison
• Cast: Elle Fanning, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi
• Cinematography: Jeff Cutter
• Editing: Stefan Grube, David Trachtenberg
• Score: Sarah Schachner, Benjamin Wallfisch
• Genre: Science fiction action
• Runtime: 107 minutes

Making an iconic antagonist the hero of the tale is a risky move. It’s presumably been done to invigorate the decades-old franchise; after the initial few ‘group of soldiers vs. invisible hunter’ movies, the audience grows weary. Dan Trachtenberg is responsible for taking the ‘Predator‘ series in bold directions – first with ‘Prey‘, which pitted a young Comanche woman against the creature, and more recently, ‘Predator: Killer of Killers‘, an animated anthology film.

This new move does the inverse of what he’d hoped. The species, named the Yautja, are known for their bloodthirsty trophy hunting. An exploration of their personal history and lore would indeed be refreshing yet this choice to make one of their own the protagonist feels strange. Dek, the runt of the litter, heads to the deadly planet of Genna on a mission to slay the gargantuan Kalisk to win the approval of his father and join the clan. He’s almost too humanoid if that was possible. Still grotesque facially but less threatening. And his personality: unflinching at the start of his quest which softens as the story progresses.

I’m not saying the Yautja are emotionless creatures, they’re just not meant to be overly sentimental – they kill for the fun of it for heaven’s sake. Dek is the standard example of a Disneyfied character – sympathetic beyond the point of belief. The Yautja are friends to none and predators to all. So why does Dek team up with the synthetic Thia (Elle Fanning)?

Writing aside, the backdrop of the homeworld Yautja Prime at the beginning is stellar and the red laser swords are striking. Setting further ‘Predator‘ stories in outer space, away from the denizens of Earth allows for future run-ins with the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.

My rating: 5 / 10