Predator

Predator (1987)

Director: John McTiernan

Writer: Jim Thomas, John Thomas

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall, Elipidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, Richard Chaves, Shane Black

Synopsis:

A team of special forces ops., led by Major "Dutch" Schaefer (Schwarzenegger), are ordered to assist CIA agent Al Dillon (Weathers) on a mission to rescue potential survivors of a helicopter crash deep in the jungles of South America. Shortly after finding the chopper, Dutch discovers that he and his team were sent on the mission under false pretenses and are forced to deal with a group of well-armed rebels. However, the deception turns out to be the least of their problems, as they soon discover they are being hunted by an unknown entity. Violence ensues. 

First Impressions:

I missed this one in theaters because I was still a bit young when this film was released. However, I was able to catch it shortly afterward on home video at a friend's house. It's not a stretch to say that I quite liked this movie. It had the bombastic 80s-style action that I loved, and a fair amount of Sci-Fi tossed in for good measure. Despite the numerous (and regrettable) sequels and spinoffs inspired by this film, I think it's one of the more underrated action flicks of the era and certainly tends to get passed over when discussing the best that decade had to offer. It's been a while since I watched this, but I'm super excited to watch it again. 

Story/Direction:

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

I love the way this movie is set up, just love it. The opening scene treats us to a long shot of some sort of spacecraft speeding towards the earth. Then it cuts to the opening credits over the backdrop of Dutch and his team landing at some unknown military base in the jungle. From there, the film proceeds to layout like an average military-type action movie. For someone coming to this movie fresh (like most were in 1987), this would seem a bit confusing as the spacecraft seems to have no bearing on what's currently happening on the screen. However, John McTiernan manages to tie the two seemingly disparate components together by giving us POV shots of someone, or something, watching Dutch's crew as they traipse through the jungle. Just...watching for more than half the movie, that's all this mysterious entity does. Of course, we're shown instances of something unusual happing in the area, but McTiernan keeps his cards close to his chest, waiting for the payoff. In my mind, this works wonders in building tension. The story has a patience to it that modern movies often lack, though that's probably due to the instant gratification needs of the audience. 

But I digress; it's not until the last half of the movie where the entity's purpose comes to light. He isn't watching the soldiers; he's hunting them. Over the last part of the movie, we're treated to Dutch's team getting wiped out one by one, all while barely catching a glimpse of the thing that's killing them. Talk about less is more. We often deride older movies nowadays for their iffy SFX and such. Still, I think (as I've mentioned before) that the lesser technology forced filmmakers to actually put thought into their story, which generally made for more appealing viewing. It's probably why the films from this decade have such an enduring appeal. McTiernan waits until the last 30 minutes or so of the movie to give us an actual look at the film's antagonist, and it's a build-up that works to perfection (thanks in no small part to the great Sam Winston, but more on that below). 

The story itself isn't really groundbreaking, and at this point in history, it was treading over a path already cleared by the likes of Alien, Aliens and The Terminator, to name but a few. Still, it's a great action film and really reinforced how awful subsequent movies in the series actually were. I think this is one of those films, like the Pirates of the Caribbean or Rambo series, that would have been better served by just enjoying a surprise hit rather than needlessly build a franchise out of them. But money is money, I guess.

Acting/Characters:

At this point in my blog career, I've done four or five Schwarzenegger movies, so I've kind of talked about Arnold's acting ability (or lack thereof) already. Let's face it, he's not exactly giving us a lot of different looks out there. So, I'd like to focus on a couple other actors in the film. The first of those is the great Carl Weathers. He was probably most well known for his role as Apollo Creed in the Rocky series at this point in his career. In Predator, he switches from co-starring with one of the biggest action stars of the time to co-starring with THE biggest. It's a tough assignment, but Weather does a good job. He's always been a great actor, and he plays Dillon as suitably conniving and detached as any good CIA agent from the 80s would be. A great performance.

Of course, I gotta talk about the great Bill Duke as well. I love Bill Duke, and I'm sad that I don't have many movies that he's in. He just has a truckload of charisma, and he's one of the few characters in the film that have any sort of arc. But, you believe his grief when his buddy gets killed by the alien hunter and subsequent obsession with getting revenge, while a bit tropey, is also believable—great performance from a great actor.

Also want to give a shout-out to the late Kevin Peter Hall, who did yeoman's work under a ton of prosthetics as the alien hunter. People tend to forget actors like him and Doug Jones, whose faces are rarely seen on camera, but it's a difficult task to act when no one can see your face. However, Hall gives the film's antagonist a definite personality through body language, and he deserves kudos for it.

Visual/Special Effects:

This is an Arnold Schwarzenegger film, so, of course, there are lots of explosions, and that's fine. There's nothing really new or outstanding on that front. The film's visuals really shine in the makeup and prosthetic work, much of which was done by the great Stan Winston. I cannot stress how important Mr. Winston's contribution to cinema has been, particularly for those who enjoy genre films. His work on this film may be his best as the final reveal of the predator's face (which could very well be the best reveal in cinema) does not disappoint. The thing is equal parts terrifying and fascinating. How they managed to do it is beyond me, but I'd hold it up against any modern CGI, and it'd likely look 10 times better. Other visual effects included early CGI to create the alien's cloaking effect and the thermal vision shots from the alien's point of view. All were done pretty well for the time and don't really date the movie all that much.

Score/Soundtrack:

Alan Silvestri composed the music for this film, and, again, I think it may be a bit underrated. I'm not sure why I like it as much as I do because I don't really know music, but it fits the movie style and helps rachet up the tension when needed. Also, I found myself absently humming it this past week, so I know it's good. 

Action:

For an 80s-era Schwarzenegger film, Predator doesn't have as much action as I remember. There's a ton of violence and gore, but as far as standard action movie action goes, there are only a few scenes. The rest is really just snippets of soldiers getting brutally murdered until the final showdown between the alien and you-know-who. I honestly think this was the best way to handle the movie's violence as it builds tension and eases the film more into sci-fi horror or thriller than flat-out action. 

Final Verdict:

Holy crap, is this movie ever good. I don't know why I'm surprised. I mean, I've seen it dozens of times, but I guess I picked up a lot more things that I liked while viewing it with a critical eye. Anyways, Schwarzenegger fans or action fans, in general, need to check this film out. You'll thank me.