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You’d think by that name that this was a mashup of this sci-fi film series with some 70s classic thriller, kind of like Terminator: 3 Days of the Condor (that would work actually). It doesn’t follow the same narrative as Terrence Malick’s Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek film from half a century ago that is shares its name with though. There a violent killer linked up with a younger woman and after an impetuously committed family murder, goes on the run where they have to survive in the wilderness, fighting off all of those that come for them.

Hang on! I take that back. That is exactly what this movie is. When this was first announced it was sold as an adventure from the point of view of a predator alien as he is on a mission to bring home his first big prey but as it turns out it is much more than that because key to this is the inclusion of Elle Fanning as a damaged humanoid robot he finds along the way. A robot that it is confirmed early on is one of those manufactured by the Weyland Yutani Corporation that keeps making all of those pesky androids in the Alien films, making this the fourth movie to make it clear that these two franchises play out in the same cinematic universe. 

The two Alien Vs Predator movies from 2004 and 2007 respectively, it has to be said, are not well loved. What this shows is that they linked up the wrong characters because this is essential a Synth vs Predator film (there are antagonistic synthetics here too) and it works a lot better. The most recent Alien instalments, Alien: Covenant, Alien: Romulus and TV’s Alien: Earth, actually seemed to realise themselves that the robots in that ongoing story are actually more interesting than the space monsters so it seems fitting that it is these that have made crossover this time rather than Giger’s famous psychotic beasties. 

The Alien lore in this movie is heavy too, possibly more so than the Predator stuff. Also, this would be very different and not a fraction of what it is without Fanning’s Thia. By the nature of things Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as the titular hunter is a lot more buttoned up, in character and under a rubber suit and a CG mask, so Fanning brings both the smarts and the heart. Her character also has a lot of wit.

This of course makes it a very different film to all the other Predator movies. It is also a 12A which is a first with all that have come before it being a certification or two above that; Alien or Predator. It is possible that die hard fans (small D) might think this all betrays the essence of the series but they’ve been doing the same thing with these movies for a long time and they’ve not really been very good (I have to admit to not loving the original either). Director Dan Trachtenberg starting mixing things up here when he made Prey three years ago (and then the animated Predator: Killer of Killers which dropped online in June) but this is different in tone to even his Predator films. It is, if we are honest, a bit silly. It’s not that any of these have ever been naturalistic but there is lots here that defies the rules of physics, biology and chemistry. Fortunately, and I’m not sure that there are any real rules for this anymore, it is a lot of fun. 

Apparently Trachtenberg has at least one more idea for a film about this iconic warrior/monster. Maybe we’ll get Predator: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Predator: Smokey & the Bandit but based on everything he has done so far, this included, I’m in.