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Rating: 4 out of 5
Predator is one of those films that is full of action and is honestly a classic in monster movies. I am willing to say that it is in the Top 5 of the best films Arnold Schwarzenegger has ever starred in. The film might be a little cheesy with the one-liners, which are still excellent today, filled with more testosterone-filled action scenes and just overall badassness (I don’t know if that is even a word, but it is a word in this review). Let’s give this movie some props; it introduced one of the all-time best movie monsters in HISTORY! The dude doesn’t even have a name. We just simply call it the Predator.
Predator begins when an unidentified interstellar spacecraft flies by the Earth. While passing by, a pod is ejected from it and begins it decent to Earth. The movie starts when a cigar-smoking Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer (Schwarzenegger) and his elite military team land by helicopter near Central America’s jungles. The group’s mission is to locate and save a cabinet minister while eliminating the area’s scattered guerrilla pockets. While walking through the jungle, they find another elite team skinned and hanging dead. The routine rescue mission turns into a bloodbath with Dutch and his team learning that there was never a rescue mission, and they were hired to be a hit squad. They learn that a creature from out of this world is hunting them for sport as they try to escape. As Dutch’s men fall one by one, he soon realizes the only escape is to take down this Predator once and for all. Dutch must use all his skills to take down a beast with far more advanced weaponry and skills than himself.
The action is excellent in this film. When Dutch and his team strike the camp, you get it all, from explosions to a gunfight. The real action is when the Predator hunts down the group one by one. Like a tiger in the jungle, the beast is on the hunt. The group also shoots up a section of the jungle after two get killed. The special part is at the end when Arnold fights the beast. First, the Predator towers over Arnold like he is nothing, and secondly, he grabs Arnold by the throat and lifts him up like a rag doll with one hand. He was also whipping Arnold’s ass. When Arnold hit him in the faces, and the Predator sucked on his teeth. He looked like he was judging that hit and then laughed it off before whipping that ass some more.
Next, you want to know what makes this movie so AWESOME and GREAT! It is the cheesy and oh so entertaining one-liners. Movies like Casablanca might have some of the best movie quotes of all time, but Predator has some of the manliest one-liners known to man in a single film. The last quote listed is my personal favorite. Let’s review some, shall we:
- “If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It!”
- “Stick Around!”
- Knock, Knock”
- “Makes Cambodia Look Like Kansas”
- “That’s A Real Nasty Habit You Got There”
- “You are one ugly muthaf***a.”
- “Get To The Chopper!”
- “I Ain’t Got Time To Bleed!”
Let’s talk about the design and the introduction of the Predator. This is the main highlight of the whole film. Keeping the threat of the enemy unknown to viewers. If you listen closely, the Predator growls as the team first comes upon the dead bodies. It is really easy to miss. Yet, the real magic is showing the audience that the monster is stalking his prey. We get his POV when the screen goes blue, and we are looking at Dutch and his team through infrared vision. The monster is always watching and lurking in the trees while studying his prey. As the movie progresses, the Predator soon learns bits and pieces of the language and voices to use against the team. It is incredibly done to keep the intensity up. This even freaks out Billy, who just stares at the trees and wonders what is following them.
The design of the Predator is what makes this monster memorable. We get glimpses of him as he takes out Dutch’s team one by one. We see that he has camouflage as he attacks and has a freakin’ shoulder cannon that blows holes through the dude’s chest and head. The dude also has these extendable claws that are just top-notch. I don’t know what Billy was thinking? A nuclear bomb on his wrist. When we finally see him, the dude has Jamaican dreads with a mesh shirt. When he takes off his mask, Dutch said it best, he is “One UGLY muthasucka!”
The cast is just top-notch. Not with acting because there will be no Academy Awards for this group, but it still had an excellent cast. What movie can state that it had TWO governors in it? Not many can. First, there was Arnold. The badass dude he is. I have a question? Arnold, most of your men, died when they got shot by the shoulder cannon. How the hell did your character survive? He must’ve had pecs of iron. What about Mr. Apollo Creed himself, Carl Weathers as Dillon. Who cares that he was somewhat a jerk in the film! He and Arnold had the greatest manliest introduction to each other in film history. You see their biceps? Made me want to do some bicep curls for a while. Then there were others like Jesse “The Body” Ventura as Blain and his minigun, Bill Duke as Sergeant Mac and his no shaving cream self, and finally, Sonny Landham as Billy, who died probably a quick and very painful death.
Predator is a great movie to watch if you like action and a little bit of horror. Well, maybe not too much horror because this is just straight action with one of the best movie monsters in history. Watch Arnold do his thing as Dutch and try to get to the Chopper.
PS: Oh, if this movie doesn’t do it for you, how about watching this musical of the film by legolambs.
