Here’s ten reasons why Predator is one of the greatest movies of the 1980s…
Released on this day in 1987, Predator remains a timeless classic. Its lithe simplicity and iconic imagery have given it a lasting legacy. The film launched a franchise which has never come close to matching its expert delivery and tense thrills, delivering a genuine masterwork of the sci-fi action genre. Here are ten reasons why it’s so exceptional…
Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Austrian Oak had well and truly launched himself as one of the major players in 80s action cinema. In the middle of the decade, he was catching up with Sylvester Stallone, who was already blessed with two iconic characters and box office smashes with the Rocky and Rambo series. By the end of it, he had blown Sly out of the water. Not merely in terms of box office power, but his ability to pick dynamite projects.
Between 1982 and 1992, Arnold rarely misfired, except where he found himself contractually obliged to pop up in something (Conan the Destroyer). He had a masterpiece genre blending action, horror, and sci-fi with The Terminator. Blending elements so perfectly and sticking the landing worked so well, that he continued to choose similar projects like Total Recall, and of course, Predator.
Though Schwarzenegger’s reputation was built on indestructible, infallible characters, Predator marked something different. As Dutch, he’s the best of the best but suddenly finds himself up against an unknown force from out of this world. Arnold is vulnerable here and his team are obliterated around him by the deadly creature. It has what you would expect from Arnold in the 80s. He’s physically imposing, and magnetic, chewing on his dialogue through his iconic accent and delivering cheesy one-liners with aplomb. However, it’s the stoic humility shown that really stands out as one of his best performances as a human character.
Schwarzenegger could easily have repeated John Matrix from Commando here but Dutch has some added layers and must dig deep within his primal side to win against a physically and technologically superior opponent.
The Cast
A rag-tag group of mercs can often come across as uninteresting or interchangeable, but Arnold’s support here is phenomenal. Predator is unapologetically masculine. The overblown action theatrics of the opening third have those classic hallmarks of one-liners and high-octane explosive carnage you expect. Every male character is somehow uniquely badass (or you have the comical one, with Shane Black taking a role in the cast).
Jesse Ventura chews tobacco and calls himself a “sexual tyrannosaurus,” Bill Duke is steely menace, the late Carl Weathers is duplicitous and in over his head, but regains the heroic edge he lost since taking up a desk, and Sonny Landham as the spiritual Billy is the deep thinker and observant one of the group. Elpidia Carillo, as the only female in the film, is mostly silent but conveys the fear well, but she’s also, like Billy, someone who notices things and is not driven by the military training which preoccupied the responses of the group when under threat.
John McTiernan
Arguably the greatest action director of the decade. A double strike of Predator and Die Hard is difficult to top. McTiernan’s attention to detail and shot compositions really elevate the B movie simplicity of the idea. Films this lithe and simple must be delivered with faultless precision, and McTiernan does this. Great use of long takes, handheld, great establishers and more, help to bring the setting to life. It’s hard to maintain visual interest in what is a single setting. The jungle never becomes dull, always retaining the menace of what could be hidden within.
Aside from McTiernan, the film is well aided by great photography, and an opening ambush set piece where Dutch and the team ambush an enemy base, is impeccably put together by Craig R. Baxley, a stunt man turned excellent action director in his own right. McTiernan’s ability to step aside for the benefit of the film shows great leadership too, and Baxley gamely delivered a pyrotechnic masterclass of classic 80’s style action. Looking in retrospect too, in an era where sequences like this will usually be predominantly CGI, it’s almost tearfully nostalgic to see such brilliant explosion-filled carnage and stunts.
The Setting
Green. Green everywhere. All wood, leaves, mud, trees and the occasional waterfall and stream to break things up. The sweaty, gorgeous but threatening setting is used as a major strength here. The jungle almost becomes another character in itself, and even if the antagonist of the film is from another world, it still feels inherently more like home to him.
The Predator’s cloaking allows him to pass almost invisibly through the trees adds to the threat. This feels unconquerably huge, but at the same time, crushingly claustrophobic. Man vs elements vs alien. Additionally, from the persistent sweat to the debris in action, to Arnold caked in mud, we are always made to feel the elements in a film stacked with texture.
Sound
The sound in this film is superb. It’s well mixed, well designed and beautifully rich. Predator is loud when it needs to be, with suitably punchy gun sound effects, but it’s never silent. Even those eerie moments of silence are broken up by the near-inaudible sounds of the jungle. Trees crack, twigs snap, and wind hums through leaves which also crunch underfoot.
Most brilliantly, is the sound design and mixing for the titular creature itself. For much of the opening half of the movie we don’t really see what is stalking these soldiers, but we occasionally hear. The Predator’s almost bird-like clicks and cracks add a foreboding presence.
The Score
Alan Silvestri delivers a score that’s got menace throughout and is bombastic when the action kicks in. They know when to pull back on the music to raise quiet tension too and the music never overwhelms what is on screen. It perfectly manoeuvres through horror-esque dread, evocative sci-fi mystery and pulse-pounding action tracks. Silverstri’s use of strings, brass and percussion is particularly good with some of said percussion work intentionally mimicking the sounds of the predator.
Genre Blending
Blending genres together can be difficult to pull off or occasionally lack focus. Some have tried fusing different elements and only stuck the landing on one genre. How many comedy horrors for example don’t quite nail the horror, or vice-versa? Predator begins as a mercenary action film with a military rescue mission. It then skews into something else entirely and once the team find themselves being picked off one by one, it ventures into horror.
The way the once assured personas of this best of the best outfit fragment is really interesting as for the most part, they find themselves in resignation. There’s a mysterious enemy none of them can figure out. As Billy puts it, “there’s something out there, and it ain’t no man.” That survival horror shifts further still once we drift into a night-set one-on-one between Arnold and the Predator.
The Script
Written by Jim and John Thomas, Predator is an example of elevating a simple concept with perfect delivery. It’s a great concept in any case and of course the kind of concept which is only as good as the delivery. There’s a knowing wink to some of the machismo dialogue of the opening act. In the script, we have some apparent dialogue touch-ups from Shane Black and it perfectly adheres to the Schwarzenegger action sensibility.
The machismo with no shortage of ironic gaze is skewered by the sheer ruthlessness of the creature. For all Jesse Ventura’s bluster, he’s blown apart savagely. Most importantly though, we are made to care. We root for characters and every death has an impact. That’s hard to pull off.
Set Pieces
Whether you’re action or horror, you’re only as good as your set pieces. There’s a nice variety here. The aforementioned base ambush is awe-inspiring. Every set piece with the Predator itself is also great. We have some very tense sequences and times where the creature merely watches and observes his prey. The increased desperation as they try to outthink the unseen enemy helps ramp up the tension.
Those moments too, when the mercs think they have it sussed, are also brilliantly put together. Arnold and his team lay traps for their enemy in a set piece where their assured confidence even makes the audience think they could pull it off. The dual between Arnold and the Predator works very well, particularly once Dutch has almost run out of ideas and pulls a last desperate play to win.
The Predator
He’s one ugly mother… it could have been so different though. The titular character’s original designs were thoroughly unspectacular and goofier than menacing. At one stage we had Jean-Claude Van Damme prancing around in a creature suit, but it became increasingly apparent the creature effects weren’t up to par. Thankfully they were replaced with the design which has since become iconic. It’s one of the greatest movie creature designs ever made.
Another key element is the cloaking ability and the Predator’s point of view shots. We see a Predator’s eye view before we see him, as his vision is based on tracking the body heat of the humans. The near invisible way it can glide through the jungle is a great concept too, as is the luminous green blood which once spilt gives the crew hope “if it bleeds, we can kill it.” Then there’s the height of the man in the suit, Kevin Peter Hall. He was huge (7ft 2), easily towering over a cast largely made up of musclebound behemoths. Perhaps for the first time in his career, Arnold came up against a foe that we didn’t fancy his odds against.
What are your thoughts on Predator? What other reasons for its awesomeness have we missed? Let us know on our social pages @FlickeringMyth…
