Review of Predator (1987) by Tyler M — 31 Mar 2012

This is one of those films that's just fun to watch because it's so easy to make fun of... Seriously where else can you find extremely overblown action like this?

The Story: A group of commandos are terrorized by an alien creature while on a mission in the jungle. It's got a lot of explosive action, blood and guts, and a whole lot of Arnold. The cinematography isn't too bad, running through the jungles in the late 80's actually looks pretty good. Also, it's special effects and make up are outstanding for its time, it's no wonder it was nominated for an Oscar back in the day. The biggest problem here though is that it's too damned long! It could have been a good thirty minutes shorter, and should have been a good forty minutes shorter. How long do you really need to see death in the jungle?

The Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger... Arnold Schwarzenegger is Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaeffer, the action hero in the jungle, trying to keep his men alive and safe from whatever it is that's killing them all. What kind of performance do you expect from him? Chances are whatever you expect is what you're getting. In other words, it's not great, but that's not why we love Arnold anyway. We love him because he's a tough guys guy. A mans man to the umpteenth degree. He's standard here and doesn't give a breathtaking performance, but damn it, he gets the job done.

One to Five Scale: 3.

Run through the jungle, get killed, run through the jungle, get killed... Rinse and repeat. Watch it for the action, watch it to feel manly, watch it for it's old school yet impressive visuals, watch it for the senseless violence... If you're a fan of action movies and a fan of science fiction, you'll be a fan of this.

Tyler.