Predator

How do I even start with this movie? It was definitely something. I feel that it was a lot more popular in 1987 than it would be today. Not to say it doesn't have merit but, well, not all of this film has aged too well at the same time.

The story focuses on a group of soldiers, led by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who embark on a rescue mission somewhere in Central America. Everything seems like a typical rough and tumble action film, minus the appearance of hanging and skinned human bodies, but things go into overdrive once one of the soldiers ends up getting killed by an unknown creature, a creature who is systematically hunting and killing every member of the party for sport.

As you can tell, despite the sci-fi bent, this is a military action film first and foremost, and with that comes a lot of testosterone, and a bit of toxic masculinity for good measure. Some of the jokes and comments that the characters say to each other definitely wouldn't fly in today's world, with a lot of them being downright misogynistic. Naturally, that rubbed me the wrong way, and if that is a deal-breaker for you, I suggest skipping this film.

Now, with the elephant in the room now addressed, I'll go with the positives. The titular predator is very, very cool. This movie is pure ultra-violence and action, and the predator gets some very intense and creative kills, which I'd say works to the film's advantage. But that isn't to say the human characters are completely outmatched, only...mostly outmatched. Arnold does end up getting a pretty creative final fight with the predator, and the intensity kept me glued to my seat the whole time. In fact, it was probably my favorite part of the film.

Overall, this movie was great when it was being just a big, ultra-violent action film with an alien hunter as the main villain. But on the other hand, the character development was just terrible sexist stereotypes that really didn't endear me to many of the characters. I'd definitely say that you have to look at this film as a product of its time, because a lot of its dialogue has not aged well. Despite this, "Get to the choppa!" will always be a classic Arnold line.

Next time, a police officer is attacked and brutally disfigured, causing a mega corporation to rebuild his body and essentially make him a cyborg. Keep an eye out for when I review Robocop.

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