39 Years Later, This 10/10 Sci-Fi Action Masterpiece Is Officially a Streaming Sensation
Shawn Van Horn is a Senior Author for Collider. He's watched way too many slasher movies over the decades, which makes him an aficionado on all things Halloween and Friday the 13th. Don't ask him to choose between Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees because he can't do it. He grew up in the 90s, when Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and TGIF were his life, and still watches them religiously to this day. Larry David is his spirit animal. His love for entertainment spreads to the written word as well. He has written two novels and is neck deep in the querying trenches. He is also a short story maker upper and poet with a dozen publishing credits to his name. He lives in small town Ohio, where he likes to watch professional wrestling and movies.
In the 1980s, there was no bigger action star in Hollywood than Arnold Schwarzenegger. The former Mr. Olympia, with muscles that seemed to have their own muscles, was not just physically imposing; as the decade went on, his acting resume continued to get more impressive. Despite his thick Austrian accent, Schwarzenegger found film stardom in America with movies like Conan the Barbarian and an icon-making role in The Terminator. Then, in 1987, came an action masterpiece which seamlessly blended high-octane thrills with sci-fi horror. Nearly four decades later, we still can't get enough — the film is one of the top 10 most popular rental films on Vudu.
'Predator' Delivers One of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Best Characters
By the mid 1980s, Arnold Schwarzenegger was already an action movie giant. After the wild success of The Terminator came over-the-top shoot-em-ups like Red Sonja and Commando. They may have been silly, yet fans loved them. And then, Arnold landed the lead role in John McTiernan's Predator. On paper, it could have been more of the same, with Schwarzenegger as a muscle-bound, gun-toting badass who spews one-liners as he takes down the bad guys. Predator, however, took the familiar and went off in a different direction.
Predator is, at first, about a military team hunting down stereotypical baddies deep in the jungle. You've seen this movie before. But then the real villain shows up when a hulking alien lands on Earth to hunt humans for sport. Suddenly, the best fighters in the world are no match for one singular force.
In movies, especially action, a hero is only as good as the opposing villain and vice versa. In Die Hard, McTiernan's follow-up to Predator, who would John McClane (Bruce Willis) and Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) be without each other? The same can be said for Predator. The creature (which we'll get to momentarily) is unforgettable. It wouldn't matter, though, if there was no compelling hero beyond the premise and special effects. Schwarzenegger's Dutch is the epitome of manly '80s cool. He's fearless, but never selfish. He'll risk his life for his friends over and over again. And these friends are nearly as interesting as he is.
A Great Supporting Cast Makes 'Predator' More Thrilling
Many action movies go off the rails by not building up the supporting characters. They're content with the big-name lead, maybe even a convincing villain, but add sidekicks who offer nothing more than an ability to play off the hero or be fodder for the antagonist. Predator is not that movie. While nearly every one of the supporting cast members will die at the hands of the alien hunter, it won't be easy, and the audience will feel it when it happens because the script does a flawless job of getting us to care. This, in turn, makes the monster that much scarier.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is the star, yet he's not afraid to let the others have their moments. Carl Weathers' Al Dillon is introduced in the memorable scene where he and Dutch are reunited in a hyper-masculine hand grab, their biceps bursting through their sleeves. Al could have been the paint-by-numbers best friend. But rather than going that route, he's a complicated man seeking redemption before all is said and done. Jesse Ventura's Blain Cooper, who fears nothing, could have been the last man standing in any other movie, and his "I ain't got time to bleed" is arguably the movie's most famous line.
Bill Duke, Sonny Landham, Richard Chaves, and Shane Black all get their time to shine too, as commandos fearless in the face of death. Then there's the lone female character, Anna Gonsalves (Elpidia Carrillo). It can be hard to watch how '80s action flicks portray women, who are often there to have sex with the hero and little else. Predator doesn't do this. Although this is exactly what a producer originally wanted, Schwarzenegger put a stop to the nonsensical idea that characters would have time to fool around when being chased by an alien. This results in Anna having her own strength, while also conveying that Dutch wants to save her because she's her own person, not his sexual conquest.
'Predator's Creature Design Created an Unforgettable Villain
That brings us back to Predator's antagonist. Nothing matters if this bad guy doesn't work. In the 1980s, in an era before CGI took over, a creature feature worked or failed based on the design of the monster. As great as the writing and acting in The Thing are, it implodes without Rob Bottin's jaw-dropping practical effects. The same can be said for Predator. Originally, the beast was to be played by Jean-Claude Van Damme in a horribly designed suit. When that didn't work out, Stan Winston's redesigned suit was wrapped around the seven-foot-frame of Kevin Peter Hall. The alien killer suddenly went from being a silly ninja in a rubber costume to a terrifying hulk with a mandible jaw and razor-sharp teeth. When that helmet comes off and we get our first look at him, we're not seeing a design. The effect is fully believable, the actor having fully disappeared.
Predator is a classic due to the work of everyone involved. Writing, directing, acting, effects, along with top-notch cinematography and an energetic score combined to create something like never seen before. The hold it had on the audience resulted in a franchise which still endures today. Now, there are rumors that Arnold Schwarzenegger could return as Dutch in some form in the future. If he does, great. If it never happens, that's okay too. Predator stands on its own, its rewatchability making it feel like every viewing, no matter how many times you've seen it, is the very first.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.