Predator from 1987!
No doubt, you are already familiar with this film; given it’s popularity and pop culture community – so let’s start with the most classic line of all and get it out of the way…
which got made into this hilarious gif… anyway…
Predator is an late 80’s action film starring none other than Arnie himself! These are the films I grew up on; with brothers, what did you expect? I have to admit I never really paid attention to action movies when I was younger, they just didn’t interest me.
Now that I’m an adult, I find action movies more entertaining. Predator described on IMDB as ‘A team of commandos on a mission in a Central American jungle find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.’ This pretty much sums up the movie if you haven’t seen it. Check out the trailer!
Directed by John McTiernan, Predator is a not-really-scary war-type movie. I wouldn’t show it to kids as it’s rated R, which is understandable – there is quite a bit of gore… you’ll get some awesome Arnold Schwarzenegger body shots as well as some other burly men.
Unless you speak Spanish, you are going to want subtitles to get all the dialogue. I also think the movie accurately represents “Hollywood’s” idea of a common military SOP – sending a team into an area where they aren’t told why they are there only to have the commander killed trying to ‘save’ the people he lied or betrayed to. It’s seen time and time again in books and movies, which to me, makes the government in that country look utterly stupid – it makes me wonder if it’s factually correct or just a Hollywood film stereotype.
In addition to the action, any gun lover will enjoy the plethora of weapons shown in this film. There is a weird stereotypical “Native American” character, often found in old movies, who is connected with nature beyond any human. The film takes important note of a friendship between a black and a white character, although I never actually noticed they were friends until the white guy died. I thought they were military buddies, yes – but they didn’t really have any significant early dialogue that eluded to the importance of the friendship. Perhaps that’s something for the rewatch!
I would not show this to your kids, although level-headed mature teens who understand movie violence vs real violence may enjoy the film’s thrilling cat-and-mouse nature. The movie is technically rated R, but again this was in 1989; so keep that in mind when making decisions for you or your family. The movie isn’t long, an hour and 47 minutes so watching it with your partner after the kids are in bed is a possibility. I would like to re-iterate though – if your partner doesn’t enjoy action movies, gore, thrillers or war type violence then this is probably not going to impress them as your choice for the night….
People who have seen it typically love it, so if you’ve got a boy’s weekend coming up and want to watch a movie with your mates, I’d recommend this. A BBQ and some friends makes for some good conversations around the film. or a lazy Saturday afternoon on the couch.
Want to know more?
There is a crazy amount of trivia you can find out about Predator but I’ll share a few pieces with you just so you can impress your friends next trivia night!
Can you imagine being told that you had to wear something non-authentic just so that the director could ‘get the style’ he was going for?
Well, that’s exactly what happened to Shane Black. Black hated the glasses he was given to wear as Hawkins. He wanted to wear authentic military-issue ballistic glasses, worn by actual troops in the field, but John McTiernan wanted him to look as geeky as possible.
Want to know something interesting about a limited edition DVD Collectors Box Set?
A limited edition DVD collector’s box set of Predator including both Predator movies was released in the UK in June 2001. For this UK DVD releases, Fox used the same master as the heavily censored German version. Ironically, it was released uncut in Germany. The scene where Dutch throws a knife at the soldier and saying “Stick around” was removed. The scene where Dillon loses his arm was shortened. However, the UK video is completely uncut.
Amazing.
Did you know that Arnie played a prank on one of his co-stars?
While I’m sure it was all in fun, Jesse Ventura was tricked into thinking he was more of a hunk than Schwarzenegger. Jesse Ventura was delighted to find out from the wardrobe department that his arms were one inch bigger than Arnold Schwarzenegger’s. He’s suggested to Schwarzenegger that they measure arms, with the winner getting a bottle of champagne. Ventura actually lost, because Schwarzenegger had told the wardrobe department to tell Ventura that his arms were bigger.
Want to know how Schwarzenegger apparently got drunk on set?
As you can imagine the film provided a variety of hardships for the actors, such as leeches, snakes, stifling humidity, heat, and rough terrain. All of the night scenes were filmed during freezing cold temperatures, which was especially hard on Arnold Schwarzenegger during the latter half of the film, when the mud he had to wear (actually pottery clay) became cold and wet. He was warned it would take his body temperature down a few degrees, and he shivered non-stop, even when they tried to heat him with lamps (it just made the clay dry out). He tried drinking jagertee, a schnapps mixture, to warm him, but that just got him drunk.
Honestly there are so many other trivia pieces – I could be here all day!
The movie is meant to be a non-stop action movie and it definitely delivers! There aren’t many hard-core war movies that don’t have a very serious emotional tie-in, at least that’s what I’ve found these days.
If you want more Predator Actor action, why not check out The Running Man?
Four actors from the Predator film franchise appear in The Running Man. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura and Sven-Ole Thorsen all appear in the original feature film Predator, 1987, while Maria Conchita Alonso appears in the sequel Predator 2, 1990.
I like movies…
Till next time.