I've always been a bigger fan of the Alien movies (the good ones, anyway), more than the Predator movies, but in recent years, I feel like the latter has been getting better.
I liked Predators, which starred Adrien Brody quite a bit more than most. It was had highly tactical action sequences that were fitting for a intelligent being like Predators, and it required a high degree of cooperation and execution. It truly felt like there was an earned victory in that film, especially considering the story was basically about the Predator's version of Hunger Games, which frames it all as a sport to them.
My biggest qualm with the recent movies is how disconnected they all seem. We've had the AvP movies, but those mostly have turned into isolated incidents/run-ins with their species while they just so happen to be taking care of business on our planet. It's like we're just spectators. And that's okay. But there's very little in the way of connecting threads that bring it all into one bigger picture, which is what I think the series needs. We did get that one post-credit (or was it mid-credit?) scene in an AvP movie (I think AvP 2) where we saw that a baby alien-predator hybrid was created.
This year's The Predator certainly didn't do anything to bring the franchise to a more prominent state, which was the biggest disappointment for me. But this one, more than any other recent Alien or Predator film, has the potential to lead somewhere. The story was mediocre and the action was good, but predictable (the chase scene in the forest is as good as the action got). The band of misfit characters certainly was entertaining, but mostly just at a primitive level. Yet, for all its rough edges, The Predator is greater than the sums of its parts, and it's probably because there are just enough hidden nuggets that make me think there can be a cohesiveness to the franchise again.
The movie had plenty of government cover-up conspiracy stuff going for it (which I'll always find enjoyable til the day I die). And there were some hints at discoveries regarding the Predator race and mythos that served as great callbacks to previous movies. There even were a few Alien references, especially at the end, which served almost as a Marvel-like post-credit scene that suggests there is at work behind the scenes. If nothing else, The Predator may serve as an adequate jumping-off point for a better-connected, universe.
I'd be okay with that. The writing gave just enough context and depth to some of the characters to make them interesting enough to bring back. The highlights for me included the loony military cast-off Coyle (fittingly played by Keegan-Michael Key) and Casey, the scientist who also kicks major butt (played quite well by Olivia Munn). There was even a little kid who had some form of autism named Rory (Jacob Tremblay) who was this movie's version of the kid in Iron Man 3 (both movies are directed by Shane Black, so there's that).
Overall, I don't feel like the movie focused on what it should have, yet this movie more than its predecessors makes me believe there's great potential for better quality outings for this series. Of course, we could see a totally different, unconnected version yet again in the next installment. Who knows.