Predator

Predator (1987)
20th Century Fox
Directed by John McTiernan
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Elpidia Carrillo

Powerhouse action star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, returns to familiar territory with John McTiernan’s Predator. Hot off the successes of Commando and The Terminator, Arnold is once again banking on mindless action, bulging biceps, and corny one-liners. Well, Predator delivers on all three aspects. Arnold stars as Dutch, the leader of a Delta Force task team sent into South America to rescue a presidential cabinet minister who has been kidnapped by guerrilla forces. Coming along for the trip is Dillon (Weathers), Dutch’s old friend who is now working for the CIA. They find the guerrilla camp and destroy it, but find no hostages. Dutch leans from Dillon that the extraction was a set-up in order to destroy the camp. Dutch and his team become infuriated with Dillon. The team sets out back towards the rendezvous location, and learns that they are not alone. The find skinned American soldiers and begin to panic. Some mysterious alien creature is hunting the team, and slaughtering them, one by one. Soon it’s just Dutch and the Predator, fighting for survival and dominance.

Predator features an all-star cast that helps to deliver the thrills and action of an 80’s action flick. Besides Arnold starring, the film also stars Carl Weathers and Jesse Ventura. Every member of the strike team has their own personality. And most of them are bodybuilders, which jacks up the machoism. The action is thrilling and nonstop. As soon as the team hits South America, the thrills just keep on coming. Predator is a very dark themed film. Unlike other Arnold action films, the entire film is a thriller based on fear of the unknown. Because of that nonstop fear, Predator succeeds as a better-than-average action thriller.

The Predator is a wonderful villain. He is a skilled killer, unhuman, and represents man’s fear of the unknown. The Predator has the ability to become invisible; he is unseen, mysterious, and feared. Predator uses this strong representation of the unknown and applies it towards the idea of racism. I say “idea of racism” because perhaps this is looking too far into the film, but there are some strong details that support it. First, the Predator is unknown to the team and cannot be seen, just like racism. Secondly, the Predator has dreadlocks. And lastly, the film makes the Predator into the ultimate villain and tries to make the audience hate him. Of course, this is just one theory behind the Predator, but it’s a sneaky way to broadcast racism.

Besides the awesome villain and action sequences, there are some flaws within Predator. The dialogue is absolutely horrible. Just as every other 80’s flick starring Arnold, Stallone, etc., the films are riddled with cheesy one-liners. Arnold movies are the worse. And there are some very cheesy lines here. Though not as bad as Commando was, Predator amps up the one-liners with such classics as, “Get to the choppa’!” and “I don’t have time to bleed.” The one-liners are sometimes humorous, but most of the time unnecessary and very corny. Besides the amazing dialogue is the wonderful acting by the team. Arnold is not known for his acting at all. But he can actually act. He is better than Steven Segal and Jean-Claude, so that is a plus. However, Predator does have some decent acting by Arnold, but the rest of the cast is just horrible. And this includes Carl Weathers, who I would have thought to be a better actor since starring in Rocky.

Overall, Predator is what we have come to expect from Arnold. But what makes this film better than his others is the science fiction twist with the immensely cool Predator. Even though he is an allegory for racism, he is still a huge threat to the team, and one of the better sci-fi villains, ranking up there with the Alien from Ridley Scott’s classic. Besides the cheesy dialogue and stiff acting, Predator is filled with adrenaline, testosterone, monsters, huge oily men, and Jesse Ventura with a giant machine gun. What else do you need or expect?

Rating: B+


July 11, 2010