Corrected entry: The small predator could not know that thumbs up signals OK to humans.
The Predator (2018)
1 corrected entry
Directed by: Shane Black
Starring: Thomas Jane, Olivia Munn, Jacob Tremblay, Boyd Holbrook, Yvonne Strahovski
Plot hole: As the evolved Predator's ship takes off it leaves Casey Bracket alone in hilly forest terrain. The ship then flies a long distance before crashing and the Predator and McKenna start fighting, just for Bracket to show up and help out of nowhere. Impossible for her to cover that distance that fast in hilly forest terrain.
Casey Bracket: Do you have a plan? Ex-sniper with ptsd and a team that's mental? You're insane, right?
Coyle: Yeah.
Trivia: The spears shown in the lab are from Predator 2 and Alien vs Predator.
Question: Why would the main character send the obviously dangerous and unstable alien tech to his house? I could see no other reason then to just simply get the plot to move along but it's obvious he doesn't have a consistent stable relationship with his son and wife - why send the tech there? And on top of that with no explanation to them as to what it is? On top of that he seemed like he was a respected member of the military - there was no reason for him to go against that and hide this information.
Answer: McKenna states that he assumed his estranged wife would just put the box with the rest of his stuff and leave it alone. He doesn't trust sending it to anyone else because they might open the box and have questions. As you suggest, it is indeed quite an egregious plot contrivance because why would his wife be any less prone to open his mail than anyone else? And in fact, Rory does open the box so the plan didn't even work. McKenna hides the tech from the military because he wants the credit for discovering alien life, and he also fears the government will try to cover up the discovery, which of course they do.
Correction: Says who? The Predator species has been visiting Earth and observing and hunting humans for centuries. Part of their methods for hunting and baiting humans shown in other films includes mimicry. The Predator in question also understands English, given that the driver asked if everything was okay, prompting him to fool the driver by using the severed arm to give a thumbs up. If the Predator can understand English, there's no reason why he can't also be familiar with hand gestures used by English-speaking people.
Phaneron ★