The Predator 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Predator 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 19, 2018

The current season finale of television’s long running Survivor is about to air as this review is being written, and in at least a couple of ways, The Predator might be thought of as an analog to the show. After all, many of the characters in the film find themselves in an isolated jungle, and, as with the television show, one by one they get picked off, albeit by an intermittently invisible alien rather than one (or more) of their teammates. But one of the funniest analogs comes at the end of this occasionally exciting but awfully rote enterprise, after a bunch of characters have met their demise and the, well, survivors pay homage to them all, including by collecting little trinkets that belonged to them. It patently reminded me of a silly vignette that used to be part and parcel of Survivor, but which has thankfully (in my considered opinion) been dropped, where the last few survivors walk through a field littered with little altars honoring their “fallen” comrades, often with, yep, little trinkets associated with those folks part of the structure.

An alien spacecraft suddenly emerges from a wormhole where it promptly crashes into a communications satellite (hey, where’s my HBO? ), and then careens wildly through our atmosphere as a Predator ejects himself in an escape pod. Meanwhile, an Army Ranger sniper named Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) is getting ready to let loose on some hostage takers in an unspecified jungle when he suddenly sees the flaming wreckage of something passing awfully closely overhead, a UFO that crash lands nearby, setting off a huge conflagration and sending Quinn careening down a hill. He finds the remnants of the escape pod, including some alien hardware which he quickly confiscates, and then he rather unexpectedly has a little close encounter of the tech kind with an alien armpiece that actually helps him to bring down the shimmering, semi-visible Predator.

Quinn also discovers some transformational powers that a mysterious alien sphere provides, ultimately deciding to ingest the tiny globe to keep it out of prying hands. He mails the rest of his alien hoard back to the United States, where conveniently enough they end up in the hands of his autistic son Rory (Jacob Tremblay), in a plot point that plays suspiciously similarly to the “kid finds alien tech” aspect of Kin. Also unfolding as the “third leg” of this particular plotting stool is the work of Doctor Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn), who is accosted by those ubiquitous men in black and taken to a top secret lab to poke and prod the Predator who has been captured in the wake of Quinn’s battle.

Now, already co-writer and director (and original Predator featured player) Shane Black is treading on pretty precarious ground, with a trifurcated initial onslaught that is basically begging to be woven together. But things get even more wobbly once it’s revealed that Quinn has been taken into custody and is more or less being shipped off to a post traumatic stress disorder mental institution with a bunch of other troubled vets (all of whom of course get sucked into the story, therefore perhaps making this a quadra-furcated story). Except — wouldn’t the government, even the Black Ops types who lurk in the background of this tale, have been happy that Quinn’s little fracas actually allowed them to capture a Predator?

In a completely predictable plot point, the captive Predator escapes, and meanwhile little Rory has started “activating” various alien tech, which in turn draws the interest of other Predators who are the hunt for the devices, in yet another plot point that seems awfully like Kin (despite Kin’s ultimate reveal as to who the “aliens” actually were). Suffice it to say that Quinn, along with a ragtag band of potentially slightly crazy former vets, team with Bracket to take down the invaders, with Rory getting taken captive himself (again — predictable).

This is a somewhat raucous Predator outing, and its kind of shtick laden comedy may not sit that well with fans of the franchise, even given some of Ah-nold’s “comic” pronouncements in the first film (interestingly, Black is on hand in an interview stating he was initially hired to write jokes for the first film, but he felt they weren’t required, which is when he was ported over to the acting side of that particular equation). That said, perhaps surprisingly, there’s a decent amount of emotion underpinning the carnage. While Rory’s affliction is obviously played for some heartstring tugging moments, it’s some of the vets who actually end up creating the most potent emotional tether with the audience, something that perhaps makes their unavoidable demises more visceral.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf was considerably less pleased with this sequel than I was. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

The Predator 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080p Blu-ray.

The Predator is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with a 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. This release is another winner from Fox, with perhaps unexpectedly boosted detail levels and at least marginally better shadow detail in some of the darker (often jungle related) sequences. The uptick in detail levels is especially noticeable in some of the CGI, which I personally found a little lackluster looking in the 1080p version. While there's a certain inherent softness in some shots even in this 2160p rendering, there's an almost palpable quality to some of the effects work now, starting with the interstellar clouds that open the film. The "misting" of these clouds looks more organic and dimensional now, and that commendable increase in texture continues through any number of other CGI elements, including the spaceships and some of the digital "POV" effects. While the closing credits of the film tout Dolby Vision, my Oppo determined "only" HDR was utilized, but I have to say some of the grading changes here are quite winning as well. The opening jungle melee has a kind of orange tint now due to some of the flares and other lighting choices employed, and the long lab scene where Dr. Bracket first sees the Predator now has a slightly greenish tint noticeable even in the overall blue grading this sequence shows. Later, when Bracket awakens in the room with all of the soldiers, there's a really interesting new peach tone that is at least a little different from that seen in the 1080p version. Through it all, detail and fine detail levels are really remarkable. My only niggling complaints here are that while shadow detail is definitely improved, there were still some passing moments of murkiness where I couldn't quite make out things, and the CGI, notably toward the end of the film, still is a little wobbly looking in my personal estimation, something that the increased resolution of this presentation perhaps only tends to point out all the more.

The Predator 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The "flip side" of my admission to "cheating" on the audio score in our The Predator Blu-ray review is that the Dolby Atmos track on this release provides a glut of enjoyable activity, including clear engagement of the Atmos channels beginning with the calamitous (if brief) spaceship fight and then the crash on planet Earth that opens the film. I probably would have given the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track on the 1080p release a straight up 5.0 had it also been included on the 4K UHD disc, since it's completely excellent in all ways, but the Atmos track adds a considerable amount of dimensionality to the listening experience, not necessarily limited to the big action elements. As with the "standard" 7.1 track, the Atmos track delivers consistent immersion and smartly placed discrete channelization for isolated effects, while also providing a spread of sound for the score and washes of ambient environmental noise. LFE is forceful and dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout.

The Predator 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Fox has included no supplements on the 4K UHD disc. All of the supplements detailed in our The Predator Blu-ray review are of course available on the 1080p Blu-ray disc included with this release.

The Predator 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I mentioned in our recent Basic Instinct 2 Blu-ray review that it might have been better for all concerned had that film removed itself from being a sequel (perhaps by giving Sharon Stone's character a different name), and as ridiculous as it may sound, The Predator may have fared better with genre aficionados had it not linked itself to the similarly titled films that came before. The film may well be hit or miss for some, but it's kind of goofily enjoyable on its own terms, and this 4K UHD version certainly provides enjoyable upgrades in both the video and audio departments, for those considering a purchase.