There are always movies that everybody seems to have seen, except for yourself. For me Predator is one of those movies. When it came out I wasn’t allowed to watch these type of movies yet, but lot of my friends did see it. So I missed out on being able to talk about it then. Over the years I really didn’t really think about it watching it, but I was always interested in seeing it. So did this turn out as disappointment or was it as fun as I imagined?
The setup for this movie is very simple. A group of people needs to be extracted just across the border. The commando team that will do this mission is led by Dutch (Schwarzenegger). It doesn’t take long though before they find out that something is weird about this mission as they have the feeling that they are followed by something invisible.
This movie has had a lot of sequels (of which I did see Predators, which was ok) and it is understandable why. The atmosphere of this small group walking through dense jungle not knowing what is happening around them is something that will have you on the edge of your seat. As a viewer you sometimes see what this predator sees and as people slowly start disappearing you can’t wait to find out who or what is responsible.
Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast and the final standoff between him and the predator is just fun to watch and I loved him screaming:
Come on… Come on! Do it! Do it! Come on. Come on! Kill me! I’m here! Kill me! I’m here! Kill me! Come on! Kill me! I’m here! Come on! Do it now! Kill me!
Nope, this isn’t the high art you might be expecting from movies, but a really entertaining action movie which is mandatory watching for any Schwarzenegger/action movie fan.
Score: 7
This is one of my favourite monster movies. Greta action, great characters and a great bad guy. I don’t think the sequels are as good but Predator 2 doesn’t get the recognition it deserves (the sequence on the underground train in Predator 2 is phenomenal).
Read up about 2 yesterday and I will check that one out as well…my favorite monster movies are The Thing and The Fly although they are a bit different from this one. Alien is comparable which I like a bit more than this one.
I recall loving the hell out of this about 3 years ago! Should definitely rewatch it sometime.
Funny reading through the comments that a lot of people saw this in the last couple of years. Of course this can also mean that I’m just really old and some people weren’t around yet at the time 😉
It is a pretty impressive movie for 1987. One of those films that don’t rely very heavily on their plot, yet score well due to their execution.
It’s really a movie that manages to create a tense atmosphere which it milks almost till the end.
Glad you enjoyed it, I think it’s great. All the characters are great and the Predator is fab.
Completely agree!
I was like that, too. I’d seen Alien vs Predator and Requiem but never Predator, or Alien for that matter. I watched Predator, Predator 2 and the Alien quadrilogy a few months back and loved them. Out of Alien and Predator characters, I’d go for Predator – it’s a great character!
Have you seen this by the way? I love it! http://youtu.be/qlicWUDf5MM
Claire that video is genius! This is what the web was made for! I’m glad you liked the original Predator and Alien films having only seen the AVPs. The first three Alien films are phenomenal. Mmmmm I can see I’ll be singing “If it bleeds we can kill it” for the rest of the week now!
That video was very funny idea, really enjoyed it, thanks for that!
My work here is done 😀 It certainly is a very, very catchy tune..!
I enjoyed the Alien films a lot. Alien did live up to my expectations, which I was pleased about. It’s one of those films that everyone seems to have an opinion on.
I saw this for the first time at a midnight showing last year, and I loved it. Probably my favorite Schwarzenegger movie. Still haven’t seen the sequels though.
I’ve seen quite a lot of his movies, but still have to see some of the early ones like Red Heat etc…
I ain’t got time to bleed.
Yeah, got time to duck?
Such an awesome film, the perfect “Man Movie” if ever there was one. Pity the franchise went downhill from there (what on Earth was Danny Glover thinking?) – ahh, I so wish Arnie would do a follow up to this movie…. oh wait, he did. I think they called it Kindergarten Cop or something, right?
Hahaha, yeah it’s a perfect Man Movie as you say, but then again most of those eighties action movies were! I love Kindergarten Cop for his “It’s not a tumor” line…
Great 80’s action flick the way they were supposed to be. Damn, this only makes me hate the 2010 remake even more.
I saw Predators before I saw this and must say that I didn’t think it was that bad (although forgettable), enjoyed watching that. Of course this one was a lot better! 🙂
Mandatory for action fans is absolutely correct. Gotta love the old-school Arnie. Where’s “Conan the King” already? The new remake bombed hard enough to scare away any sequels to that abomination.
Welcome to My Filmviews! Yeah, absolutely love the old-school Arnie. Was watching some memorable quotes video on Youtube which really made me want to revisit all his old movies!
“I can see you…..”
OMG I love this film….It was one film I watched TOO much growing up. Predator 2 was AS cool but for a different reason. This one was amazing, Arnie and crew were great too,
Brill
So you can probably quote this movie endlessly 😉 If you say that it was AS cool I will make sure to get my hands on this as soon as I can!
Watched it the other day while in the gym. Throughout watching it I thought was how cool would it be going for this movie for the very first time, not knowing much about the story or the monster. Nowadays movies are announced later, pictures and details of the monster come out first 🙁
Yeah, it’s a shame you already know what it looks like. The first time must have been amazing as you say!
Predator was a B-movie that made itself an A-movie through execution. No small feat to introduce such a memorable movie creature. Stan Winston deserves a lot of credit.
Very nicely worded and you are completely right. So would this mean any B-movie could potentially be great if the right people would have worked on it?