An eighties action classic and one of my fave Schwarzenegger flicks, 1987's PREDATOR is a fast paced hit as enjoyable 30 years after its release as it was in theatres.
Mirroring the beginning of John Carpenter's "The Thing", we see an alien craft approach Earth and then meet the men that will face off against it.
Luckily (at least for awhile) they are led by Dutch (an impossibly young and tan Schwarzenegger at the height of his popularity) a special forces team leader.
Plunged into the jungle to recover a political target, Dutch and his boys soon realize there's something ELSE in the thick that's tracking them.
Carl Weathers (Rocky) is the man that's brought in the team, Jesse the Body Ventura is tobacco chewing, Gatling gun toting Blaine, Bill Duke (Commando) is terrific and Sonny Landham is Billy, the native American tracker who senses he's not the one doing the hunting.
From the moment our boys are dropped into the jungle, the film never stops. It's also that perfect 80's mix of HUGE action scenes, bloody violence, locker room humor and fun that's hard to replicate.
Director John McTiernan knows how to deliver a great action film. He followed this with 'Die Hard" and "The Hunt For Red October" as his next two films, that's a hell of a run.
There are scenes where you see through the alien creatures eyes/helmet as he follows the team. They are alien visual interpretations and thermographics that are almost identical to the "view" of the wolves in "Wolfen" that had been released six years earlier.
Classic scenes abound, including the single biggest expenditure of ammunition in film history by Dutch and his team in their first alien encounter.
The last twenty minutes are nearly dialogue free and excellent as Shwarzenegger and the Predator go head-to-head.
I love this movie. It's still a blast.
Of course, its now politically horribly incorrect and is sure to offend. Maybe that's another reason I enjoyed it so much.
Arnold and PREDATOR get an A.
Followed by an Arnold-free sequel PREDATOR 2 in 1990 and countless inferior attempts to milk the series over the next few decades.
Comments