Predator
A group of mercenaries head into the deep jungle of Latin America to find a missing cabinet member – whose helicopter has gone missing.
After discovering the mission was a ruse, the team plan on a retreat – but something else is in the jungle. Something hunting them. Something… not human.
Direction
Directed by John McTiernan in his second film, he blends action/sci-fi with bouts of horror.
Considering this would later go on to live in the same cannon as the Alien franchise (did they have this in mind at the time?) – the action is just as sound as what came before it in the franchise.
Cast/Characters
Plenty of action hero stars with top billing going to Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dutch – the leader of the crew who head into the jungle, and find themselves being prayed upon one by one by ‘The Predator’
He is joined by;
Carl Weathers as Dillon, the CIA agent who is behind the fallacy mission.
Sonny Landham as Billy, the native American who is able to track missing men and the Predator
Jesse Ventura as Blain
Shane Black (director/writer of such amazing films like Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, Long Kiss Goodnight) plays Hawkins.
Bill Duke, plays Mac
Richard Chaves, plays Poncho
Elpidia Carrillo, plays Anna one of the residents of the jungle village that they initially attack.
Kevin Peter Hall plays the Predator – as he stood an empowering 7’2!
Breakdown
With a breath of fresh air in movies of the time, it starts with “its definitely an alien” – as The Predator crash lands in the jungle prior to the events of the film.
From there on, it is testosterone overboard, with literal muscle measurements between characters like Dutch and Dillon, great banter between the characters (especially in the helicopter on their way to the jungle) – and some dialogue that even the characters roll their eyes at (I ain’t got time to bleed).
Once the first death occurs, there are quite a few more in quick succession, with the ‘one by one they die’ trope done well. There are some great moments of the team v The Predator – like Blaine with his “old Painless” being a classic moment.
The unseen monster idea is done well too, with the first view through The Predator’s vision occurring at the 18m mark, and the first ‘non camouflaged’ view of it at the 50m mark. The entire time is full of great tension, similar to that we saw in Alien and Aliens where they are being hunted.
I just loved that Alan Silvestri score! Even as good as it is, there are plenty of moments where we only have the diegetic sound of the jungle which adds to the eeriness.
The final half an hour, which is almost entirely dialogue free – is the build up to Dutch taking on The Predator. Before this, the film had an almost ensemble feel to it.
The build up to the final epic showdown between them, is brilliant and is concluded by the epic firefight which is one of the best action packed explosive finales in cinema history… that Predator laugh is so creepy!!!
Overall
Like the other films within the “cannon franchise” prior to its release (Alien/Aliens) this is near faultless. A very strong recommend.
4.5/5
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