The Predator is a science fiction action film directed by Shane Black and written by Black and Fred Dekker. It is the fourth installment in the Predator film series (the sixth counting the two Alien vs. Predator films), following Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1990), and Predators (2010). Black had a supporting role in the original film, while John Davis returns as producer from the first three installments. The Predator follows a group of PTSD-afflicted soldiers who’s mission is to destroy a pair of alien Predators. This is not a film I wanted to see but after sitting through it, I decided it was pretty entertaining and even exciting.
** SLIGHT SPOILERS **
A Predator ship crash-lands on Earth. Army Ranger and Sniper, Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) and his team are attacked by a Predator while on a hostage retrieval mission. Quinn incapacitates the Predator (Brian A. Prince) and has its armor mailed to his estranged wife, Emily McKinna (Yvonne Strahovski) and son, Rory McKenna (Jacob Tremblay). At the behest of government agent Will Traeger (Sterling K. Brown), Quinn is captured and interrogated while Traeger sends the captured Predator to a lab for experimentation and observation. Evolutionary biologist Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn) is tasked by Traeger to study the captive alien. As Casey was conducting test, the Predator awakens, breaks out of its bonds, kills the lab workers, but spares Bracket before leaving. Meanwhile, Quinn, along with a group of other government captives, including ex-Marine Gaylord “Nebraska” Williams (Trevante Rhodes), a military veteran named Coyle (Keegan-Michael Key), a military veteran from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder named Baxley (Thomas Jane), a helicopter pilot named Nettles (Augusto Aguilera), and Lynch (Alfie Allen), another ex-Marine is bussed out to the military base where the Predator is held captive. As the bus arrives, they witness the Predator escaping from the lab, thus proving his existence to all. Instinctively, Quinn and the rest of the crew take over the bus and commence fighting off the Predator. Taking Bracket with them, they head over to Quinn’s estranged wife, Emily, where he expects to find the Predator’s armor he mailed. However, Quinn’s autistic son Rory has gone trick-or-treating while wearing this armor, in hopes of avoiding detection from bullies.
Of course The Predator gets more and more interesting. There are Predator Dogs, big Predators and small Predators, just to name a few of the surprise scenarios. I thought this was one of the better Predator films given where we are technically and scientifically. The acting was brilliant and the adventure had lots of little twist. The plot made as much sense as it could, considering the fact that this is a science fiction movie — they can make up anything they desire, but it has to be believable to us. I’m not sure about this one, you’ll have to see it for yourself to determine whether or not the story is believable. the story. I liked it, so I recommend it — check it out!
X-Men: Apocalypse may very well be the best of the X-men series I’ve seen. What made it so good was the clear, simple story that was still full of action, adventure and special effects galore. I loved that the story wasn’t over the top, full of a million sub plots and tons of flash backs that you couldn’t put together until the end. Instead, the story flowed and was kept simple and focused mostly on the current issues. Of course that makes the film a little more predictable but you won’t have a king size headache when you leave the theater. The plot is nothing I haven’t heard before. Between Heroes (the TV series) and Marvel’s, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV series) it seems the “Mutants” are in the same boat all over the universe. They’re considered dangerous and a threat to society, so they must be stopped by any means necessary. In Apocalypse, the plan is to take control of them and use them to help rule the new world, headed up by an ancient “god” named En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) who was resurrected in 1983 after being entombed by worshipers who betrayed him in 3600 BC. Claiming to be the first all powerful and immortal mutant born in ancient times, this god is able to give and take powers from other mutants at random. Some of his powers include telekinesis, telepathy, technopathy, superhuman strength, and size-control. His philosophy is to kill off backward civilizations. In other words, if you’re not modern, you’re history. He feels the world has lost its way without his leadership and wants to rebuild after destroying the present one. Apocalypse meets, recruits and upgrades the power of a pickpocket named Ororo Munroe / Storm (Alexandra Shipp – who can control the weather) as one of his 4 lieutenants. In the meanwhile, Raven Darkhölme / Mystique, (Jennifer Lawrence – a shape-shifter) who is on her own, helping rescue mutants who are oppressed or enslaved, investigates an underground fight club and discovers Warren Worthington III / Angel / Archangel (Ben Hardy – A mutant with bird-like feathered wings on his back and is a champion fighter) and Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee – a teleporting mutant). Raven rescues Kurt and employs the services of Caliban (Tómas Lemarquis – a black marketeer and transporter) to safely transport him to the United States. En Sabah Nur discovers Elizabeth Braddock / Psylocke, (Olivia Munn – Caliban’s enforcer who is a mutant with telepathic and telekinetic abilities). He recruits her as the second of Apocalypse’s horsemen, known as Pestilence. She leads him to Angel who he also recruits, upgrading his wings to metal. He now needs one more recruit to complete his 4 horsemen. He encounters a disgruntled Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (Michael Fassbender – a mutant with the ability to control magnetic fields and manipulate metal, who becomes the last of Apocalypse’s horsemen, known as War.)
A semi-quasi slap stick comedy from Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, who play Detective James Payton and Officer Ben Barber, respectively . I’m still not fond of slap stick however, Ride Along 2 was a little more tolerable than most. I found it had a descent story line, although it was totally unbelievable on some level. Today there are so many corrupt politicians, it’s hard to say what officials would or wouldn’t do. I don’t have a lot to say about this movie that hasn’t been said already. Most of it stayed the same as the first film, Ride Along. Officer Barber is a new, rookie cop who is trying very hard to win Detective Payton’s favor and respect. To make matters worse, Payton is also about to become Barber’s brother-in-law because Barber is marrying his sister, Angela Payton-Barber (Tika Sumpter). James is not happy about this union since he’s considers Ben to be a total dork but goes along with most of his crap because of his sister. Ride-Along-2 has James and Ben go to Miami to solve a crime that leads them to a corrupt war lord, Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt), his hacker A.J. (Ken Jeong) and his band of thugs and a love interest, Detective Maya Cruz, (Olivia Munn) for ice Cube. The usual wreckage happens along with Miami Captain Hernandez (Carlos Gomez) asking that the two of them leave his town.
CAROL's WORLDS 