PREDATOR

1987 / Director. John McTiernan.

PREDATOR was ahead of its time. When it was released it received a negative reception from critics, who mostly dismissed it as simplistic and dull. Schwarzenegger was at the height of his success and I guess people saw PREDATOR as another vehicle for him... but to dismiss it as poppycock is unfair. Fortunately this is an example of the average viewer rendering the critic's opinion as redundant. We fans understand the movie and we wholeheartedly embrace it. I probably don't need to explain the plot details to you... if you're on this site then you've probably seen it... and if you haven't seen it then you SHOULD! To give you a brief run-down, Arnie leads his elite team of mercenaries on a rescue mission into the jungles of central America. An alien also prowls the jungles and hunts the humans for game. Hollywood heavyweight producers Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon seized upon the success of both Alien and Rambo and combined the genres to create this strangely original and action packed horror movie. The script is stuffed with fantastic lines, most of which come from Arnie's mouth. "If it bleeds we can kill it" and "Get to the chopper" are now iconic. Combine these cheesy gems with sweaty, testosterone injected beefcake and a shit load of machine guns and you end up with a cult classic. The predator design by Stan Winston is incredible and there hasn't been movie-creature like it since. The film exploits some great concepts including thermal imaging for the predator's POV and a brilliant reflective camouflage that grants the creature practical invisibility. To label PREDATOR as simplistic and dull is unfair and frankly - ignorant. It's a perfectly constructed movie that pulses from opening credits to the closing credits at a breakneck pace. Never dull. The fat has been trimmed and what we see on screen is only what is necessary to keep it moving. Time has been kind to the movie and it feels are relevant now as it did back in the 80s. I watched it last night with my 12 year old son. He is the same age I was when I first saw it and his reaction was familiar... that being an exhilarated "HELL YEAH!"   Classic!

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