Review of Predator (1987) by Stuart K — 30 Dec 2012

Directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard (1988), The Hunt For Red October (1990) and Last Action Hero (1993)), this was originally pitched as a Rocky spoof, which would see a boxer up against an alien, but from there it evolved, although it did keep one reference to Rocky.

It got the top action star of the time, who helped fine tune the script with McTiernan to make it a taut suspense film with a sci-fi touch. It's still great fun. It begins with a spaceship crash landing in the jungle, and a team consisting of Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), George Dillon (Carl Weathers), Mac Eliot (Bill Duke), Blain Cooper (Jesse Ventura), Billy Sole (Sonny Landham), Jorge "Poncho" Ramirez (Richard Chaves) and Rick Hawkins (Shane Black).

They're flown into the jungle to hunt for whatever landed, and they find another downed helicopter before they meet local girl Anna (Elpidia Carrillo) who joins them. But whatever is out there is picking them off one by one, and it can go invisible and has thermal imaging sight.

It's a great suspense film, and it has some very memorable moments and some great moments of action, with Arnie showing tenacity and strength against this creature. It's setting keeps the action contained and even the special effects and creature (created by Stan Winston) are convincing for their day, and could still pass as groundbreaking now.