Predator (1987) (Movie Review)

  Okay, time to pay tribute to one of the greatest monsters in all of Science Fiction cinema … the Predator. From his first appearance in 1987, and continuing to make appearances all these years later, the Predator is one of those rare creature themed franchises that has lasted through the ages, and has gone on to be a cultural icon amongst Sci-Fi, horror and action fans. So, I wanted to take a moment to look back on the classic that started it all … the 1987 movie “Predator”. The 1980’s in general was the great golden age of Sci-Fi, Action, and horror movies, and “Predator” had a special distinction of fitting into each category, and dishing out all the best of what the decade had to offer.  

  Our venture begins with a special team of combat solders, who are deceived into rescuing hostages from an enemy camp out in the jungles of Central America. However, it’s all a ploy to get this rescue team to attack and assassinate everyone in the camp, and stop an invasion. This set-up alone is outstanding, and could have been its own film … but we’re just getting started. Soon, the team discover they’re the targets of a mysterious and savage alien hunter, who’s targeting the best warriors on the planet, and defeat them in combat. Thus, it’s a battle of both brains and brawns, for the commandos to escape the jungle, and defeat their lethal opponent. After several intense encounters, the team’s leader named Dutch proves himself to be just the warrior to challenge the hunter in a deadly battle for supremacy.

  On the surface, it’s a fairly simple premise … but executed so well! Director John McTiernan was at the top of his craft, and infuses this film with a sense of energy, tension and forward momentum that feels above average for this film’s basic formula. Even when it’s not an action scene, there’s still this winning sense of excitement that keeps me hooked. Of course, when the action comes around … it pops with pure adrenaline. From the opening battle at the enemy camp, to the encounters with our alien hunter, this film easily thrills, without ever overstaying it’s welcome. McTiernan would continue his winning streak with both “Die Hard” and “The Hunt for Red October” after this film, and you can really feel his stamp of quality here in “Predator”. He also has an eye for keeping details of the Jungle in every frame, so that the audience feels just as confined as the characters. Also, composer Alan Silvestri, who was still ridding the high of his music score for “Back to the Future”, brings so much character and excitement to “Predator”. For my money, any monster movie worth its salt needs a special musical score to give it a distinct personality separate from other creature features.   

  Of course, the real strength of this film is it’s cast of characters, who are all memorable, with distinct personalities, and individual screen appeals. Typically for slasher films of this sort, the ensemble has one function … to be horribly killed by the masked killer. However, this film goes out it’s way to make every one of these characters special, even though none of them are exactly layered. 

Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Bill Duke, Shane Black, and so forth all add this infectious group dynamic, where they not only feel like real friends, but I could also watch a movie all about these guys without any monster, and be just as content. There are so many great little moments with these guys, like this one scene when one of the solders dies, and his best friend looks down upon his fallen comrade, there’s no tears, no over dramatic speech, but so much emotion and drama is felt in his simple expression, mannerism and subtle background music. Elpidia Carrillo also adds some needed warmth as the young lady Anna, who’s an enemy insurgent turned comrade. Of course, they all have their quotable lines, which are corny, but still give this group so much flavor ... “If it bleeds, we can kill it”, “This shit is something...makes Cambodia look like Kansas”, “Stick Around!”, “I aint got time to bleed”, “That’s a real nasty habit you got there”, “Payback Time!”, and the always classic “Your one ugly mother ***ker!”.        

  Leading this awesome team of solders is Dutch, who’s played by none other than one of my personal favorite action movie stars … Arnold Schwarzenegger! Before I’d seen any of the “Terminator” movies, this was my first real movie introduction to Schwarzenegger, and I became an immediate fan of his. While he’s still the macho soldier with all the witty one-liners, this is honestly one of Schwarzeneggers stronger performances, as he brings a lot of passion and drive to this role. We all like to reference his famous “Get to the Chopper” line, but it really is one of his most sincere and dramatic moments. Also, one little coincidence everyone loves to bring up is that two of the film’s stars Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura would go on to become governors.

  At last, we have the main event … the Predator itself, and honestly, one of the coolest creatures of all time. In the costume is Kevin Peter Hall, and he does a great job bringing this creature to life, as everything from his body poster, to his hand movements are all very sinister and help give this creature a very evil personality with his movement. 

The creatures spectacular design came from Stan Winston, who’s the same talent that designed the Terminator, and I really love the esthetics for the creature. I especially love how it has mandibles as opposed to just a mouth full of teeth. The idea for the mandibles was actually suggested to Stan from “Aliens” director James Cameron, and it’s cool to think he played a small part in bringing this iconic creature to life. Predator also comes complete with a slick looking mask, an energy cannon, a dual bladed gauntlet, a clocking device, a voice recorder to confuse his prey, and even a nuclear bomb. Needless to say, he’s got all the coolest details, but like the best of any monster movie, the film doesn’t show him off too much. While he’s kept off-screen till the ending, we still feel his presence through his clocked silhouette, and through his unique heat-vision perspective. One last element that makes this creature so great is its mystique, as the best kind of monster is one shrouded in mystery, and hiding in the shadows waiting to strike. We’re only given a brief clue that it’s an alien, and we’re given simple ideas as to what it is, and its motivations are without fully analyzing it. 

  If I had any reservations with this film, it would be that our main characters are picked-off a little too quickly near the end, and there mainly empty deaths, without accomplishing anything meaningful as they met their demise. 

The film did such a good job setting up these characters, I wish some of them could have had more heroic or meaningful deaths then what they got. Still, there’s plenty momentum and intrigue of the Predator that keeps building and building to a thrilling cat and mouse climax. For me, the highlight of the whole film is when Dutch stops running, and chooses to stand and fight against his more lethal adversary. The final battle starts off very well, as Schwarzenegger utilizes stealth and clever sneak tactics against the Predator. Once his cover is blown, the predator challenges Arnold to a one-on-one duel to the death, and for once, Schwarzenegger is the underdog, and outmatched, making for a genuinely intense show-down. The final cherry on this cake is when the Predator triggers his nuclear bomb, and gives the biggest evil laugh as he parishes … it’s very theatrical, but very satisfying.

  Overall, “Predator” is a B-Monster movie that comes off as an A+ masterpiece by its genera standards. The characters are great, the tension is riveting, the action pops, and naturally, the monster itself has earned its place in the monster movie hall of fame. If you haven’t seen this film in a while, I suggest giving it another watch, because I think it holds-up better then the majority of disposable Sci-Fi and monster movies that come out now days. If you haven’t seen the film at all, and are a fan of either Arnold Schwarzenegger action flicks or classic creature features, then “Predator” is plain and simply required viewing.

Thanks for reading my review of the 1987 Sci-Fi classic “Preator” … and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!

Stay tuned, a review for “Predator 2” is up next.   

      To Be Continued.......