Predator (1987) Review

"I ain't got time to bleed."

-Blain Cooper

Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is the leader of a elite, military rescue team, which is brought down to Central America to rescue a politician, who's helicopter crashed in the jungle and was captured by insurgents.  Dutch and his team are joined by an old friend of his, Al Dillon (Carl Weathers), who is now a CIA operative.  On their trek through the jungle, they discover human bodies skinned and strung up in the trees.  Dutch starts to suspect Dillon isn't telling him everything and to make matters worse, something is hunting the team...something not of this Earth.

What Works:

The highlight of this movie is the titular Predator.  The creature design is really f***ing cool.  It's got awesome weapons and armor, plus a really gnarly face.  These creatures are far more interesting than most sci-fi monsters because they have their own set of rules of engagement.  They don't attack the weak and unarmed.  If they respect you, they will challenge you to hand-to-hand combat.  They are awesome creatures on every level and have 100% earned their place in popular culture.

The 3rd act of this film really delivers.  The showdown between Schwarzenegger and the Predator is just as awesome as one could hope for.  It's really bizarre seeing Schwarzenegger take on an opponent who outmatches him in a physical capacity.  He has to rely on his wits to win the fight, which is really refreshing.  It's by far the best sequence of the film and a lot of fun.

The action is all around awesome in this film, although there isn't as much of it as you would expect, but what we do get is solid.  The various death scenes are all pretty cool and the raid on the insurgent camp is really well done.  I could follow what was going on, for the most part, amidst all the chaos.

Finally, I really liked the performances of Bill Duke as Mac and Sonny Landham as Billy.  After the death of his best friend, Mac starts to go a little nuts.  His descent into madness makes him the most interesting character in the film.  Landham doesn't get a ton to character wise, but it's interesting to see such a badass come up against something he's never seen before and it terrifies him.

What Sucks:

I can not overstate how much I hate the Predator's heat-vision.  I can't stand seeing it.  Whenever it's on screen it annoys me.  I know some people dig it, but I get irrationally irritated and angry whenever we have a shot of it.  Cut all of that out of the movie and I would be a happy man.

There are also a few too many scenes of the characters just wandering around in the jungle.  I get that it's to build tension, but that sort of tension-building doesn't work for me.  Instead, I find myself losing focus on the movie and my mind tends to wander.

Finally, apart from Mac and Dillon, we don't really get much in terms of character development.  All of the characters are badasses, but that's pretty much in for their characters.  That doesn't make me care about them and I felt nothing when they were killed off.  Even Dutch isn't very interesting and I've seen Schwarzenegger play solid characters before.  Total Recall anyone?

Verdict:

I like Predator, but I do think it's overrated.  The Predator itself is incredible, the action is awesome, the 3rd act delivers, and Mac and Billy are fun characters.  Plus having Jesse Ventura (my former governor) in a movie always makes my smile, but I hate the heat-vision, there are couple of boring parts, and most of the characters simply aren't interesting.  That said, Predator does have it going on.

 7/10: Good