Predator

8,5 / 10

An action adventure classic which would have been accused of trying too hard to achieve classic status if it’s released today. The most testosterone-laden interpretation of Mobb Deep’s refrain “survival of the fit, only the strong survive” imaginable follows a mercenary squad with its uncompromising head and Vietnam veteran Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) inside a Latin American jungle to save a US secretary from Guerilla forces. The mission’s objective suspiciously changes as they storm the Guerilla camp, but a survival battle starts to unfold as the squad has to escape through a valley and are continuously observed by an unknown enemy with advanced equipment who marks the territory by skinning its preys.

Right from the start, it’s hard to judge whether Predator wants to be a parody of The A-Team or not with Alan Silvestri’s fantastic main theme – comprised of a seething bass resembling the extra-terrestrial force which lurks in the dark cosmos and unleashes one of its hunters on Planet Earth followed by an ominous orchestra and fast piano keys foreshadowing its dominant presence in the jungle – and the subsequent introduction of the squad with over-serious, muscle-packed men, a CIA agent, a Latin speaker and the usual, goofy sidekick to round off the dynamic package. Their chemistry is unmistakable, but the clichés of cigars, one-liners – in combination with Schwarzenegger’s thick accent – and the physical power practically oozing out of every frame nearly torpedo the curiosity for the serious, politically-driven mission.

With literal bits and pieces of victims being discovered by the mercenaries, the predator itself gets introduced fairly slowly with an Alien-like horror approach. It tracks the men with its thermal vision while hiding high up in the trees by using advanced camouflage. Meanwhile, Dutch’s crew plows its way through the Guerilla camp with automatic rifles and a minigun. With the objective being fulfilled, the encounter with the predator ensues. As the extra-terrestrial entity hunts down the team members, their frustration becomes visible by spraying and destroying the surrounding nature with every weapon they have. It’s a sign of their limited equipment, but their ultimate move makes an impact on their enemy, prompting Dutch to deliver his legendary line: “If it bleeds, we can kill it”. He continuously adapts to the environment and the predator’s behavior. He has no choice.

The survival battle enters its final stage which fascinatingly devolves Dutch’s technological arsenal from rifles and miniguns all the way back to wooden weapons and natural tactics in order to outsmart his futuristic opponent. It’s a very tense duel accompanied by a nerve-wracking soundtrack portraying the level-headed fight between both corners and they even start to act like gentlemen to a degree. With the total unpredictability of their next moves and Dutch dropping a withering comment on the predator as the fight comes to an end, the film achieves a brief moment of disgust, interest and respect all at once, akin of David Cronenberg’s The Fly. The predator eventually adapts itself to humanity, returning Dutch’s question about its identity with an evil laugh and reveals the trump card from its repertoire.

Many elements from John McTiernan’s Predator have great amount of replay value, be it the funny one-liners delivered by Schwarzenegger’s heavy accent and Sonny Landham’s ultra-deep voice or the brutal, gun-led action. Besides the bicep-filling frames, the director successfully converts the phrase “back to the roots” to the screen with the learning curve from his protagonist Dutch and a balance of strength to craft a very high tension. There are visual hiccups with the predator’s weapon, but the camouflage’s distorted, translucent look is very terrifying. In hindsight, the shots of bare-chested, heavily-armored men fighting for their lives pave the way for John McClane’s one-man rebellion in the classic Die Hard 1 and 3, both directed by McTiernan. His 1987 film not only establishes Arnold Schwarzenegger as the fearless strong guy with John Rambo vibes, but is also a great act of minimalism by reducing the mechanics of war to a survival battle for the human’s existence.