The Cutprice Guignol

Hello, and welcome to a new series on No But Listen! In this series, we’ll be looking at entries into long-running franchises from two points of view – one from that of a newbie to the series, and one from an expert. Our inaugural entry into the series is a look at Shane Black’s The Predator, the latest entry into the Predator cinematic series. To the reivew(s), you son of a bitch!

Expert

On paper it seemed like Shane Black was the perfect choice to helm a new Predator movie. The Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys director has history with the franchise, with his role in the first movie as cannon fodder for the titular predator onscreen, and as a script polisher offscreen. It’s safe to say that this guy knows what makes a great Predator movie, and for two thirds of The Predator, that promise is…

(small spoilers ahead)

So, I think it’s fair to say that I’m a big fan of Leigh Whannel. His iconic movie Saw, which he starred in and wrote alongside long-time collaborator and star in his own right James Wan, was really my introduction to the kind of horror I love: pretensions of cerebrality, but at it’s heart, dense, entertaining, twisty-turny character-driven screeching panic. Beyond that, he’s gone on to have a killer career in some of the best-recieved and most-watched horror franchises of the last ten years, including Insidious (the third movie of which was his directorial debut). He’s a dedicated purveyor of horror, gleefully dedicated to the genre and all the toys he can play with within it.

Is Whannel the finest writer or director out there? Certainly not – his work has a blunt edge to it that doesn’t work for everyone, and he clearly subscribes to a…