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PREDATOR
(directed by John McTiernan, 1987)
Bill Duke (Mac) sweating profusely in Predator is beautiful in high definition. I thought he was Forest Whitaker, though.
Predator is the 1987 smash hit film from the soon to be director of Die Hard, John McTiernan. It is not as good as Die Hard, in my opinion, and although I found Predator stunning to watch, I'm also somewhat disappointed. I liked Commando more. Yet, this film ain't too bad -- but it feels like a low grade Alien movie for men -- while the Alien films are somewhat more women oriented since Sigourney Weaver is the lead star. Predator is a romp in the jungle with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the guys, including Jesse Ventura as a g*ddamned sexual Tyrannosaurus.
Is there any kind of subtext to Predator that you could read into? I thought I was picking up on some stuff at first, but nothing really panned out for me. I thought it was interesting how during the first half hour of the movie, the guys are all killing and fighting off a bunch of human beings, and then suddenly they're facing off against the Predator. As if there's a message to mankind here -- Don't hurt your own species! You need each other to fight against aliens from other planets!
And why had the Predator not killed all of those people in his jungle yet?
Also, what was the Predator doing there? He was just dropped off by a spaceship, wasn't he? I saw Alien Vs. Predator and I remember the Predators were ritually fighting against the aliens, I think. Was going into the jungle and killing human beings part of another ritual? Was the Predator just some kind of alien hunter looking for trophies? Much is left unexplained in this first Predator movie. The Predator also seems to give up too easily, in the end -- which was another disappointment.
It's strange that Arnold Schwarzenegger did this movie, yet it also adds a lot. Yet I also wonder if the movie could have been better with someone else -- someone not so much a bodybuilder.
There's not much to Predator other than a lot of badass violence (much stronger even than Commando), a lot of gun action and explosions, a freaky looking murderous alien, some mesmerizing visuals, hot muscular guys in military fatigues, and a standard story in which practically all of the main characters are killed by the villain, leaving a few who are rescued and carted off and then, POOF, the movie's over. Predator probably has good replay value (ask The Rodent for more information about this) -- you could watch it more than once. But what are you really getting out of it?
This is a war movie with an alien. If you want a war movie with an alien, Predator is your movie.
Also -- the WORST part of the movie -- THE END CREDITS. It's a bunch of clips of each actor in the movie, showing their real name and character name, and they're filmed SMILING. All of them except Arnold Schwarzenegger do this fake, stupid smile. I couldn't believe it - it was ludicrous. One of the dorkiest end credits sequences ever. It just felt wrong. Yeah, they have a lot to smile about -- they all died!
Also, with Carl Weathers and Schwarzenegger in the film, it sort of feels like Rocky in Space, without Rocky and without space. And I absolutely loved the Native American guy, Sonny Landham. If he's Native American, that is.
(directed by John McTiernan, 1987)
Bill Duke (Mac) sweating profusely in Predator is beautiful in high definition. I thought he was Forest Whitaker, though.
Predator is the 1987 smash hit film from the soon to be director of Die Hard, John McTiernan. It is not as good as Die Hard, in my opinion, and although I found Predator stunning to watch, I'm also somewhat disappointed. I liked Commando more. Yet, this film ain't too bad -- but it feels like a low grade Alien movie for men -- while the Alien films are somewhat more women oriented since Sigourney Weaver is the lead star. Predator is a romp in the jungle with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the guys, including Jesse Ventura as a g*ddamned sexual Tyrannosaurus.
Is there any kind of subtext to Predator that you could read into? I thought I was picking up on some stuff at first, but nothing really panned out for me. I thought it was interesting how during the first half hour of the movie, the guys are all killing and fighting off a bunch of human beings, and then suddenly they're facing off against the Predator. As if there's a message to mankind here -- Don't hurt your own species! You need each other to fight against aliens from other planets!
And why had the Predator not killed all of those people in his jungle yet?
Also, what was the Predator doing there? He was just dropped off by a spaceship, wasn't he? I saw Alien Vs. Predator and I remember the Predators were ritually fighting against the aliens, I think. Was going into the jungle and killing human beings part of another ritual? Was the Predator just some kind of alien hunter looking for trophies? Much is left unexplained in this first Predator movie. The Predator also seems to give up too easily, in the end -- which was another disappointment.
It's strange that Arnold Schwarzenegger did this movie, yet it also adds a lot. Yet I also wonder if the movie could have been better with someone else -- someone not so much a bodybuilder.
There's not much to Predator other than a lot of badass violence (much stronger even than Commando), a lot of gun action and explosions, a freaky looking murderous alien, some mesmerizing visuals, hot muscular guys in military fatigues, and a standard story in which practically all of the main characters are killed by the villain, leaving a few who are rescued and carted off and then, POOF, the movie's over. Predator probably has good replay value (ask The Rodent for more information about this) -- you could watch it more than once. But what are you really getting out of it?
This is a war movie with an alien. If you want a war movie with an alien, Predator is your movie.
Also -- the WORST part of the movie -- THE END CREDITS. It's a bunch of clips of each actor in the movie, showing their real name and character name, and they're filmed SMILING. All of them except Arnold Schwarzenegger do this fake, stupid smile. I couldn't believe it - it was ludicrous. One of the dorkiest end credits sequences ever. It just felt wrong. Yeah, they have a lot to smile about -- they all died!
Also, with Carl Weathers and Schwarzenegger in the film, it sort of feels like Rocky in Space, without Rocky and without space. And I absolutely loved the Native American guy, Sonny Landham. If he's Native American, that is.