The music!

Compared to the original it was pretty bad. My beefs (aside from the music):

i. The idea of the autistic/ genius kid who quickly figures out what the adults can't. Introducing kids has been done in movies such as Aliens and The Shining, but it requires an adept scriptwriter to resist the tendency to make them too 'cute' or too 'foul-mouthed'. Here the movie goes for 'plucky and fearless'... I think any kid dealing with this situation would react more fearfully, especially a kid who reacts badly to noise and stress.

ii. The pacing... There's no substantial reason given for The Loonies to suddenly throw their lot in with McKenna -- whom they've just met -- and decide to take on the Predator. The autistic-but-secretly-genius kid who figures out all the alien tech in days and hours... at times he's simply there to act as a Greek chorus and explain what's happening for the benefit of the audience. Sterling K. Brown's blink-and-you'll-miss-it death...

iii. The alien dog who just wants to play fetch... ugh.

iv. The inconsistent weaknesses and techniques of the big-ass Predator. He efficiently kills red shirts left and right, but when it comes to our hero he tosses him around instead. A pistol turns his skull to putty, but he seemed to take shots from more powerful weapons with little effect earlier.

v. The female scientist who goes from cowering in fear in a shower to stone-cold soldier in the space of hours with no explanation of where her skills in firearms -- and parkour! -- come from.

I did like the action scenes and some of the periodic humour, but on the whole it was pretty lazily scripted for me.