Director: John McTiernan
Writers: Jim Thomas, John
Thomas
Starring: Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura,
Sonny Landham, Richard Chaves, Shane Black, R.G. Armstrong, Kevin Peter Hall
I’m of two minds on the
whole “Predator” phenomenon. I don’t think it’s a good movie. I don’t think it’s
well made. I’m not sure that John McTiernan only had one good movie in him.
That would’ve been “Die Hard”. Well, he put out a few other worthwhile outings,
but in terms of artistry, “Predator” is at the bottom of his canon. It’s down
there with “Medicine Man” and “Rollerball”. Yet, somehow it’s actually kind of
fun and infinitely more entertaining than those two losers.
If James Cameron raised the
bar for this genre of sci-fi action with “Aliens” in 1986, McTiernan made sure
that bar was lowered back down to the status quo in 1987 with “Predator”. It
was only fair to the less talented directors in Hollywood. He reinstated all
the standards. Gather a group of muscle-bound men who communicate through
grunts and bad puns, females are attractive and inconsequential. Look for any
excuse you can to have them remove their shirts and grease them up with sweat.
The hot jungle setting of “Predator” worked well for that. This movie is made
for heterosexual males? Correct?
Anyway, one of the clever
ideas of the script by Jim Thomas and John Thomas was the misdirection of the
plot. Instead of gathering a bunch of commandos to fight an alien threat, these
guys are brought together for another reason entirely and they just happen to
become the prey of the alien hunter. That gives these guys something to do
other than flex their muscles. They have to actually figure out what’s going on
first.
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