ALIEN HORROR SUMMER - NO. 3: PREDATOR (1987) MOVIE REVIEW
This seminal action horror spectacular is one of the most propulsive action movies ever made…and introduced one of the "holy two" alien horror species in cinema history.
by Nate Lemann
Many people don’t put enough credit on John McTiernan’s name: starting with “Predator”, the workman director delivered three straight iconic masterpieces with “Die Hard” and “The Hunt for Red October” his following next two films. It is a three picture run you can put against any director in film history and argue it is the most peak anyone has ever been. He was at the absolute height of his powers.
This film starts out as most would expect for an Arnold Schwarzenegger picture at this stage of his career; almost like a continuation of "Commando" with its over-the-top violence and quippy one-liners. Arnie is Dutch, a mercenary leading a hit squad in the South American jungles. His crew: Mac (Bill Duke), Blain (Jesse Ventura), Billy (Sonny Landham), Poncho (Richard Chaves), Hawkins (screenwriter and future franchise director Shane Black), and, tagging along, is former merc-turned-CIA spook Dillon (the late, great Carl Weathers). To say this is one of the most iconic horror ensembles is an understatement: only the original “Alien” contains a more vividly brought-to-life crew. It is also a crew that was notoriously wild offset (Sonny Landham required a bodyguard to travel with him during the shoot, but not to protect him…to protect others from him). You can almost feel the characters blowing cocaine through the screen by how insane some of the choices and scenes play out. That energy works amazingly well for this kind of film, though, heightening the action and drama to the nth-degree.
As Dillon has this crew set out on a rescue mission, we begin to hear the stalking sounds of the jungle, incorporating terrific sound design that adds a level of paranoia to the proceedings. After some glorious action set-pieces to show just how capable and deadly this force is, an invisible creature is seen to be stalking our heroes on their way to their extraction point. The heat vision sequences have an odd mesmerizing effect, at first feeling impossible to comprehend but slowly becomes a very intuitive interpretation of movement.
This creature begins to pick off the crew, one-by-one, demonstrating how outclassed this seeming murder's row of real action heroes are. At this point, the film veers from standard action movie fare into something fully elevated. The crew begins to devolve both mentally and literally, not used to this new role of being the "prey" that they are forced to play. McTiernan, his VFX team, and the actors stage some of the most iconic and brilliant death scenes ever captured on film. As the body count rises, we get more and more glimpses at this stalking predator: one of the famed Stan Winston’s most iconic creature designs, the Predator is a being of peak physical form with an arsenal of weaponry lightyears ahead of anything we had ever seen before. It’s late de-masking scenes along with Arnie’s iconic “you ugly son of a bitch” line readings is one of the most rewatchable moments in horror history.
The cast is pitch perfect, even in the crazier moments (looking at you Bill Duke, talking to the moon like a mad man). The line readings are iconic for a reason, with the quippy early dialogue giving way to some truly terrified screams in the second half. The back half of this picture may be the most rewatchable portion of film history, each and every second a must-watch moment.
The film just also knows to have fun: from the famed arm wrestle handshake (look up above) to the hilarious closing credits that look like a sitcom introduction, there is just so much to love and enjoy here. Maybe my favorite moment on this rewatch is when the now spooked crew here some sounds coming from the forest and proceed to fire off their weapons for a laughably long amount of time, virtually mowing down an entire section of rain forest with their fire power. There aren’t logic questions like “shouldn’t they conserve ammo?” because the film is just not operating on that wavelength. It knows what it is and plays to that exclusively.
This is a movie that gets more and more fun with each viewing, truly one of Hollywood’s most accomplished action/horror films of all-time.
FINAL RATING: 5/5 (Stone-cold action/horror masterpiece)
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