Predator
Remembered today as one of the best pure action movies ever made as well as the most succinct fusion of that genre with sci-fi, this 1987 classic from director John (Die Hard) McTiernan of course brings front and center the undisputed king of 80s action in Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dutch, the leader of a group of paramilitary operatives brought in for a mission in the jungles of Central America. Their mission: locate some American government hostages, rescue them, then bring them out to a safe location. Of course, Arnold soon learns to his dismay that this is not the ACTUAL mission he was supposed to carry out, but after a spectacular and very thorough taking out of the enemy camp, it turns out that he and his men are about to encounter something much worse: an alien hunter from another planet with intentions of killing them each one by one using his advanced technology which includes a laser cannon, thermal vision, and a cloaking device which prevents him from being seen. And thus the fast paced carnage begins, with not a wasted moment from beginning to end and the real effect being able to watch these ultra macho, seen it all done it all badass mercenaries suddenly turn one at a time into frightened, paranoid, and in some cases completely mentally unbalanced targets for the creature, thus establishing an all pervasive atmosphere of doom and dread. They certainly supplied Arnie with a testosterone packed, alpha male, colorful supporting cast (just Jesse Ventura’s first spoken line of dialogue alone is worth the price of admission) that just ups the ante as The Predator picks them off: Carl (Apollo Creed) Weathers as the old friend of Arnold’s turned CIA operative who sets up the whole mission (and goes along as an observer) shows ample amounts of deceit and camaraderie as he joins the others going into the bowels of Hell; Ventura as Sgt. Blain moved himself permanently into the pop culture pantheon with his ample shit talking and wielding of an actual helicopter machine gun called Ol Painless; Bill Duke as the second in command finds himself growing increasingly obsessed with killing off the creature as revenge for his comrades; Sonny Landham (a former 70s porn star who was reputed to be such an unstable badass that the producers supplied him with an on set bodyguard to protect the cast and crew from HIM) is effective as the superstitious member of the team (and also the tracker) who becomes tragically convinced that the entire lot of them are going to die at the hands of the creature and ultimately loses hope; Richard Chaves is the wiseass of the team who gets badly wounded and doesn’t mouth off after that as the others make a futile effort to get him to safety; Elpidia Carrillo as the beautiful Latina hostage taken from the earlier raid grows more catatonic as the story goes on even as the creature leaves her alone for not carrying a weapon; and in the strangest bit of casting we have Lethal Weapon writer and Iron Man 3 director Shane Black (reportedly brought in so he could do on set rewrites as filming went on) as the geeky, diminutive, junior member of the team with a penchant for making bad jokes about the size of his girlfriend’s privates. And then of course there’s Kevin Peter Hall, all 7 foot 2 of him, as The Predator himself, an imposing, powerful presence, who would return in Predator 2 and seemed poised for a lucrative run in the role, until surgery after a bad car accident led to him receiving a transfusion of HIV infected blood, leading to his death mere months later and leaving behind a wife and child. This film stands as his legacy, and a majestic one it is, no matter if it’s the final one on one battle with Schwarzenegger or the various gory kills throughout the film, with this much intensity and hardcore attitude, it set a standard that was so high in its own right that few others could legitimately match it, and ultimately at some point, Hollywood chose not to try anymore, reducing most action films to dumbed down PG-13 piles of crap that were little more but faint shadows of the masterworks of the past with plenty of CGI-induced stunts but no heart or real violence. In the end, a film that’s recommended for those not afraid to follow its masculine stride…
10/10