Prey For Predator!

Man what a robust movie this is. I have vivid memories of going to see Predator in the theater, and loving his wild romp from the get-go. I like the sequel too, but there's no overcoming the exquisite storytelling that makes this first one go.

Arnold as the leader of this ultra-macho strike force is in perfect form. Sonny Landham, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Shane Black, Richard Chaves, Carl Weathers, and the rest are vividly portrayed, distinctive and all worthy of the ends the meet at the hands of the ultimate hunter. That's the key to a movie like this, making you give a darn about the prey, and this movie does that magnificently.

These men aren't victims, drawn in and helpless. These are soliders, men trained to wage war and more than capable of defending themselves. They are worthy prey in the mind of the Predator come from the stars to fulfill his desires for sport, and they are men we can root for and have some expectation they will overcome. No mewling teenagers in this romp, just full-blooded men confronting a most dangerous game and coming to terms with it in different ways at different times. These are men who expect to die in the field and unfortunately, but not tragically, do so.

That gives Predator a snap that other such flicks lack. It's a war movie, through and through, but then with click turns into a science ficion action movie. There's just enough sci-fi to keep it spicy, but it doesn't bog down in techno-babble, and the isolation of the setting only makes this more and more dramatic until the final sequence achieves nigh mythic scale. The ultimate soldier battling the ultimate hunter for ultimate survival. It doesn't get more basic than that. This might be the only movie in which I really think Arnold's character is the underdog. But he's an underdog with a ferocious bite, and the Predator comes to understand.


Much is made of Arnold's character "Dutch" being an on-screen version of DC's Sgt.Rock. There's even a cameo of the comic book in the movie, so if you didn't find the comparison yourself, they make it for you. I like that, as it grounds the war-movie aspect of the film even tighter. Clearly this movie is a genre-blender of the first order, and like all movies that aspire to do that must fully commit to all its genres. This one does, succeeding as an all-out action war flick and later as a compelling sci-fi show.

Predator has mustered several sequels. And as I've indicated I like them, but you cannot ever unlock the door twice, and this movie was the first visit and will always be special for that.

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