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Predator

(1987)

107 min. 20th Century Fox. Director: John McTiernan. Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura.

Arnold Schwarzengger scored a sizeable hit with Predator. As the cigar-chomping Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer, the Austrian Oak again shows off his biceps in a high-testosterone action pic laden with gunfire and explosions—in other words, an '80s action picture (produced—but of course—by Joel Silver). Written simply but effectively by Jim Thomas & John Thomas, the alien-themed Predator also launched a lurching franchise, though neither Schwarzenegger nor revered action director John McTiernan (Die Hard) ever returned to it.

As an actor, Arnold showed more confidence than ever before in the role of the skeptical head of a U.S. Army Special Forces unit. A general (R.G. Armstrong) orders Dutch and his team to accompany Dutch's old Army buddy George Dillon (Carl Weathers), now CIA, into Val Verde on a mission of rescue. Something is rotten in the state of Val Verde (the same made-up country from Commando): Dutch learns not only that he's been misled, but that a third party presents a mortal alien menace.

The predator of the title (7'2" actor Kevin Peter Hall) is a dreadlocked alien with oral pincers and a bad-ass laser gun. This green-blooded sport hunter also likes a good challenge, setting the stage for a showdown with Dutch. First, the alien must pick off most of Dutch's team, one by one, in a jungle described by Jesse Ventura's Blain as making "Cambodia look like Kansas...You lose it here, you're in a world of hurt." As such, it's a variation of sorts on The Most Dangerous Game, with an extra dose of macho ball-busting from a team made up by Bill Duke, Richard Chaves, and Shane Black, the enfant terrible author of Lethal Weapon (reportedly, Black was positioned as a studio spy to keep an eye on as-yet-untested director McTiernan).

It's a gruesome, traditionally manly action pic with jungle traps and iconic tough-as-nails dialogue. "If it bleeds, we can kill it," intones Arnie. Not to be outdone, Ventura snarls, "I ain't got time to bleed." Suffice it to say, a lot of bleeding ensues. Hall gets significant support from a costume modelled on a Stan Winston creature design, and the Oscar-nominated but twenty-year-old special effects likewise hold up well, especially the predator's memorable heat-seeking P.O.V. McTiernan wrings maximum tension from the material (getting extra juice from Alan Silvestri's score) and makes good use of locations in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and Chiapas, Mexico.

Under scrutiny, Predator quickly reveals itself to be a dumber version of the Alien franchise, but this initial picture works anyway, as an atmospheric exercise in pure, primal action with a science-fiction-y twist.