Just thought I'd throw in my two cents.
This movie just ruins everything that comes before it retroactively. In addition, they completely erode the suspension of disbelief with about every other scene in this movie. The humor in this movie was so off-putting and outright inappropriate for what was going on at the time. In words of Gordon Ramsay, "fusion confusion" was the culprit here. The tones were beyond fudged up. The pacing was like the wine bottle scene from Pan's Labyrinth...
This movie retroactively changed the entire lore of the Predators, changing the reason they collect skulls. They aren't for trophies! (despite having a trophy wall in Predator 2*). Oh no! Now we're upgrading with DNA spinal juice to turn Yautja into a 10 foot tall CGI monstrosity. The Predator isn't a super big threat anymore...it's become a parody of itself. We are now legitimately breaking the 4th wall and calling the Predator a Predator. Making jokes about the creature in cringey marvel copycat style. Remember the good old days when you saw a Yautja and were absolutely up a creek without a paddle? Pepperidge Farm remembers! Dutch, Billy, Mac, Anna, and the rest of the team just stared in horror and awe as a being that makes trophies of man kills the team off one by one.
While AVP makes people foam at the mouth - the first movie shows these alien hunters as honor-bound, trophy collecting warrior hunters. The fact that they have been changed into DNA modifying space invaders (global warming subplot) has betrayed the source material to the highest order.
They didn't make this as being a small faction in the movie - they had the Assassin Predator (who was tracking/hunting Fugitive Predator) talk to the other Predators by saying he was hunting "the traitor." It is assumed that this is the new norm now with the movie.
Why would a Predator "betray" their race? I understand the concept of bad bloods, but this is much different. If Fugitive came to earth to help us - why the hell does he cut down every single human he comes in contact with for the majority of his screen time? Armed base troopers, unarmed scientists, etc. Nobody is safe except naked and unarmed Olivia Munn. At least they got that right. Christ.
The Predator. The fracking Predator. Kills a whole truck filled with MIB mercenary soldiers and cuts them to ribbons. He picks up a dismembered arm and poses the thumb into a "thumps up" gesture and pushes it into the driver cabin. The driver in turn buys it after hearing screams and wanton slaughter of his fellow soldiers. Again...somebody was paid to write this. I shit you not. You might think I'm joking. But I'm not. Why? Would the Predator bother? Did Jungle Hunter put Columbian militia uniforms to hunt Dutch and his team? No! Who. Wrote. This!?!
How does autism (ASD withstanding) count as a survival trait that Predators would want? The hell? Predators are already masters of technology - they have successfully folded space to travel giant distances in short periods of time, have plasma laser guns, and cloaking technology. Who wrote this?!
And the cringetastic "#^$* me with an aardvark!" every other scene. So now we're going to parody tourettes on top of autism.
Why does a nailgun shot to the head rewire how Predoggos work? Suddenly it's not hostile anymore? It's a derpy friendly gear-barfing carrying case? I don't understand. Why? Who wrote this?
And what the heck was with Olivia Munn's character? I know she was trying hard, but she was no Ripley. She went from an academic scholar of science to a grenade-launcher shooting 80's commando! Where the heck was all the years of military training that she had between the start and end of the movie? Firearms training takes a great deal of skill and practice to master to become effective with any of those weapons. Keep in mind - this is the same character from earlier in the movie, who shot herself in the foot with a tranquilizer gun and tried to shoot our heroes with a gun she believed to be loaded. Let that sink in. Somebody wrote this. Somebody was paid to write this.
And the "predator killer" - dafaq? This whole concept was terribad. Because Black did Iron Man 3, he couldn't think of anything else besides an iron man suit knockoff? The CGI in this movie looked like B-movie quality for the majority. Especially in the 3rd act. Bleh. Practical > CGI. This was written like a 12 year olds fan fiction.
This movie only works if you are drunk, have never seen a Predator movie, and enjoy "kitty cat" jokes every five seconds. If you are looking for anything of substance from the prior movies... avoid at all costs. This is an unmitigated disaster of untold proportions. The box office has reflected this flop domestically.
Edit: the final stats are in. It's not pretty.
Keep in mind with money-making as it comes to movies... I think it's something like 60% that goes to covering costs. After that, the rest goes to profit.
