John Mctiernan's Predator
 

There's something out there waiting for us, and it ain't no man. We're all gonna die.

Action Mystery
The Story is simple a Special Unit takes a mission to recover people that went down with a helicopter somewhere in the jungle. Once dropped off there's no turning back. they find the place were the helicopter was shot down certain things don't add up, for one a heatseeker was used to nock down the helicopter which doesn't make sense considering the weaponry the gurrilla's are suppost to have. another thing there's no tracks from any men telling of an ambush plus they find three men that have been skined to the flesh.

So they head off to were the captive men have been taken there they realize that there are no surviors so they proceed to blow-up & Destory the every loving ***** out of everything that moves or breaths. Knowing they have to get out they hit the bushes and this atlasted brings us to the Cat-a-Mouse game that slowly dissolves the number in the Unit while there trying to work out who could be doing it.

Blain: Bunch of slack-jawed ******s around here! This stuff will make you a g** damnned sexual Tyrannosaurus, just like me!

Aside from the obvious fact that the Predator is one of the greatest action movie every made it's just as much apart of the Sci-Fi Genre as it is the Action Genre. Some of the extreme lenghts it goes to make the audience turn away at the gore it make you more wanting to look and find out what this think is that's going around hunting man in the thick forest of the jungle.

The Dancing Helicopters

The helicopter ride into the depths of the jungle acts as a plot device and character set-up. The Plot device part of it is were you know that some of these guys are not coming out of this thing alive, the character set-up part shows you the inner workings of the team and what type of men your dealing with wacko's ,crazies ,loose canons and many other words could be used to discribe these men.

The Team

Dutch - You realize fast that he is the most serious of the unit. He has no time for fooling around once givin is mission and objectives it all straight faced do the job right. He's the oil in the engine without it it ain't movin nowheres.

Dillion - The outsider which makes his character the hardest to like. Goes through most of the movie being the most unliked but just when you start to feel comfortable with his placing in the unit it's too late. Most of the time he's either trying to show-up the other or trying to convince them that he's as good or better for Dutch's team.

Blain - The grizzly bear tobaco crew hard-@ss of the men that doesn't have time to bleed amoungst mean other think such as making friends or liking people in general. He only has one friend true friend which is Mac.

Mac - You can see him working out everything in his head Situations, Looks, Words, Reactions everything But these things soon strat to dissolve into madness and his failure to interact with the group for the simplest thing becomes evident.

Billy - Tuff man to talk too, communication skills are the pits. but I also consider him to be one of the smartest in the team his tracking is great and his sense of his surroundings is phenomenal. Billy seems to have more than a few things going around in his mind but never seems to share them with the rest. Sometimes he's the most sane at times other times I think he the most insane of them.

Hawkins - The joker, that takes the most serious of thing lightly once he realizes something is quite wrong it's all too late for him. I dig his jokes and he was the comic relief for the movie and he was used to good use.

Puncho - always adding a few words of wisdom trying to fit some where within the team in some scenes he comes in at the end other times in the middle of what's going on. He's the pefect middle man you could say.

Director - Mctiernan has greatly improved the genre with such greats as The Predator, The Hunt for the Red October and Die Hard he has also done stuff that didn't effect it one bit. He brings a unconventional editing style and seems to have his shoot struture to a tee he also keeps the level of humdity & claustropbia at a high stand point throught-out.

Crew - Alan Silvestri has his score down with some very entusastic parts espically the Jungle Trak, Preparations, The Chase and the main title all are great & inspirational to listen too. Doland McAlpine really did a nice job. Great use of the slow pan to set-up three shot in one with no edits and it just amazing considering what this guy did in the type of extremes he was dealing with. The Editing was one of the most intresting things about the movie that owes a lot to Mctiernan way of filming.

nobodies got anything to say about this sweet @ss flick come on MoFo's give me some feed back you Dirty Rats

Just saw you replying to this so I thought I would add in a little. I just bought this on DVD the other day and actually watched it for the first time that same day. I had seen parts of it before, and somewhat knew the basic premis to it.

I thought it was good for it's time period. Still not too bad of a movie...:)

I like this movie, I think it's a classy, slick action picture. It definitely has some badass moments. There's really not much else I can say, I don't think.

Second one sucked but the first was really good.

I really wish you were sitting in front of me rather than this monitor.

That way my currently extended arms and strenuously cupped hands would be situated around our neck.

I really liked the way this film was marketed. I saw it at the theatres when it first came out and there was almost no mention of an alien being. It was marketed as a sci/fi war film and I honestly had no idea when I went in what it was going to be like. I ended up loving the film. The cast was outstanding and the story was not at all standard fare.

The second film was almost as good. I like Glover's understated toughness in comparison to Ahnolds obviously overstated toughness. The mood of the film was somewhat more tense as well...

I'm a fan LBJ, I liked it.

This is definitely one of my favorite Arnie movies as well as being one of my favorite sci-fi/action flicks of all time. It has everything a great genre flick needs... Corny lines, check! Great story, check! Arnie, check! Apollo Creed, Check!

Unfortunately I only have this one on tape, but I do still watch it at least once a month... I'm a fanatic.

Another great Arnie 80's flick, Commando... now there's an often overlooked movie! I never did get the bad guy though... he seemed like a gumpy out of shape guy to me, why did he kick Arnie's ass for half the movie?!?!?

Commando was cool too... chock-full-o-errors but nonetheless cool. Watch the dents on the cars disappear in the scene where Matrix is chasing Sully...it's pretty funny. The bad guy was Vernon Wells... Mohawk from Mad Max... he looked cool in Mad Max but in commando he looked way overmatched.

True Arnie down the bone, this movie is absolutely Arnold and all that he can be. I quite an arnie fan (action not comedy) and this is by far he's greatest movie. And generally on of the greatest Sci-Fi/Action movies of our time, very hard to top!! But the second one bites what's the deal with that?

Yeah, I know! A sequel that sucks. What's the world coming to? ;D

I don't mind the sequel but it ain't Predator it always helps a heep when you like the main lead Danny Glover a ton.

I thought the Predator was one of the scariest creations born of movies. I was absolutely petrified the first time I saw it...I remember sliding down into the cushions of the couch and watching the final showdown between Predator and Arnold, through my fingers...:eek:

I remember going to my next door neighbor and looking at Predator threw the crack of the door and being freak out. I came over for a quite glance and some how I caught the part were MAC gets the back of head blow off and the blood spirts down the camera's lense really scar me. I also hide under pillows and even ran down the hallway while watching Arachnophobia with my parents brother and friends. :)

Don't get me started on Arachnophobia...that movie scared the piss outta me the first time I saw it. I became, essentially, a paranoid freak for the next few days afterwards. Always slipping my head down between my shoulders, in case any creepy spiders felt the need to spring on me from behind.

Scary. :eek:

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

for me what is so good about this film is first:
the setting
arnold s screen presence as an action badass star
the soundtrack it is just atmospheric as hell
last but not least: Get to the choppaaaaaa hhahhaa

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

It makes the camp sequence's stilted direction ultimately seem like a point in the film's favour since the rest of the film plays like a subversion of that kind of stock-standard '80s action movie - the squad can effortlessly kill a whole camp of soldiers but easily get picked off by the Predator.

I still think AvP gets a bit of a bad rap - a lot of it seems to be down to disappointed expectations more than anything, but I've managed to watch it twice now and I think it's solid (would be interesting to see a technical defence like the above video, though - will have to see if Anderson did a DVD commentary for it). It'd be a lot harder to defend its sequel, though.

Anderson did a commentary.
He goes on about how AvP is better than stuff like Apocalypse Now and other classics :laugh:

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

Heh, even I wouldn't go that far.

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

I have yet see an action film with the intensity, rewatchability, and atmosphere, the use of music is incredible, the soundtrack, as this down right classic scifi action, die hard most probably because of john mctiernan

What can we call properties that have so many badly received and unsuccessful sequels or reboots? "Zombie franchises" maybe?

Predator was great. Predator 2 at least tried to do something different by placing the action in a city but I think the subsequent sequels were too much in awe of the original film. I haven't seen The Predator.

I'm just thinking about the Hulk as well. Two basically failed films and the character only survives on screen thanks to being part of the Avengers.

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

John-Connor, do you have a source on that actually happening?

Yes

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

Just seems like you've bumped a few threads with a copypasted "Disney Is Rebooting [20th Century Fox-owned property] Franchise" post without any sources so I naturally question the veracity of the claims beyond the seemingly obvious assumption that Disney will reboot whatever franchises it's acquired in the Fox takeover.

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

Why does everyone hate on Predator 2? I like the fact it's in a different jungle. Ok Glover isn't a physical presence like Arnie, but it's a good sequel for me, it adds to the mythology but not too much so there's still a mystery to their species. Maybe if the Alien skull wasn't on the wall then there'd be no AvP's....

Actually, yeah, f**# Predator 2 ;)

I like Predator 2, don't love it like Predator1 but it's not bad in my book.

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

It is quite scary how much Disney seem to own :p.

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

I think one of the reasons the sequels fail is the predators all look, dress, and act the same, even though they are all suppose to be different. With the Alien sequels it makes sense cause the Aliens are naked and suppose to be much more primitive and animal like, but these predators are suppose to have more distinct personalities, yet they all fall under the same stereotype of themselves, if that makes sense?

Predator 2 is more like a greatest hits of late 80's action supporting roles, Glover and Busey from Lethal Weapon, Paxton from Aliens, Conchita Alonso from The Running Man, Davi from Die Hard all playing character pretty similar to those films plus the Predator himself and a plot with hard ass cops dealing with south American druglords.

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

The concept of setting Predator 2 in a city isn't a bad one, it's more that the story it's trying to tell in that setting is kind of inert. Both the first two films a huge chunk of their running time before the main characters even realise they're dealing with a Predator, but the first film actually keeps it interesting by taking the time to develop its characters and also have a balls-out action setpiece. Predator 2 attempts something similar but not as well (plus it's already showing you scenes of the Predator killing gangs and such so there's no point in pretending there's any real mystery to the proceedings anyway) and as such you're kind of left waiting for the main characters to catch up. For comparison's sake, you have Predators where the characters are immediately launched into a mysterious situation (parachuting onto an alien planet with no memory of how they got there) or The Predator where the main character meets a Predator in the very first scene and has to figure out how to deal with it and the government agents trying to keep him silent.

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

You could argue the mystery in Predator 2 isn't really the existence of the monster but rather how he views Glovers character and indeed the government agents trying to capture him. Generally though I'd say its a film more concerned to thrills than it is building tension.

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

Perhaps. I've seen the movie at least twice and yet I can barely remember anything about it outside of a handful of moments. I think I prefer AvP - more of that sticks, at least.

Perhaps because so many elements of it feel like their lifted from other films of that era? not so much that's specifically memorable in the film itself, maybe the King Willie character, the Predator using the bladed frisbee like weapon and the Alien skull in the ship at the end?

I find its a film that's become more watchable in retrospect though, elements that seemed a bit clichéd and worn out at the time now feel like a nice alternative to modern action cinema.

You could say the same for Robocop 2 around the same time, neither film has as strong a sense of drama/focus as the first instalments and neither are massively original but they are both very dense in terms of characters/set pieces/design work(both feel like their made with a love for the action genre IMHO) and have a cynical anti authority edge to them.

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

I think calling the film Predator 2 is more to blame

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

Predator was really good and one of Arnold's best. Only saw Predator 2, for sequels, and AvP. They were both okay, but not very memorable, as I only bothered to watch them once.

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

I second this.

Am yet to see Predators. I saw the most recent one and liked it, though it can't touch the first one for me. Film is subjective, and we all have our tastes, but the first one will prob be always my favorite.

Predator 2 came in 1990

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

I still go by my opinion that what is so great about the first film is:
The mystery
The setting
The use of music, soundtrack is amazing
Arnie s charisma as an action hero

Re: John Mctiernan's Predator
 

Alan silvestry is a genius, i love his work on Judgement night aswell, brilliant composer