Movie Review - Predator

It is rare when a movie can be viewed 20 years after it was made and not appear dated. It is a special kind of movie.

And while it might sound kind of strange to put Predator in this category, the truth is pretty undeniable. If you put this movie up against movies with the benefit of far advanced special effects available, AVP and AVP:R for example, Predator is far away a more enjoyable experience.

The movie is a showcase of what made Arnold Schwarzenegger such a strong action actor. He is imposing physically, slightly brooding, and completely realistic as someone who can carry fully-automatic guns and create havoc in a jungle.

Schwarzenegger was just one of a handful of brilliant casting choices in the movie. Carl Weathers plays the stock 'warrior turned ripped deskie that has an alterior agenda but finds redemption' character. Former governor Jesse Ventura plays Blain, the stock 'MTV t-shirt wearing, large gun brandishing badass' character. And Kevin Peter Hall (Harry from Harry and the Hendersons) pulls off a daunting task of playing a character (the Predator) that has to impose a presence with nearly no lines of dialogue.

The movie could be split into two parts, the first half of the movie in which Schwarzenegger's band of merry men aren't aware they are being hunted, and the second half in which that becomes a very grim reality. What makes the movie memerable to me is something often overlooked in movies of this ilk: character development.

This movie gives you small, but extremely effective glimpses, into characters that could have been easily brushed off because they were simply fodder. Instead, you felt the loss of each character.

What I find interesting about the predator species is the code they live by. At its most simple definition, it is about honor. The pursuit of honor is akin to a holy journey and the weak are not regarded as worthy of the predator's time. He will not kill unless someone is armed with a weapon or has attacked him.

The predator is primal, Schwarzenneger is reduced to making most of his weapons and to me, the movie has a bit of a brutal hand-to-hand feel to it. There aren't a ton of high-tech weapons in this movie, basically it amounts to two species slugging it out in the middle of a jungle. It kind of toes the line of over-the-top alpha, but in the case of the protagonist and antagonist, both have their strengths exploited and both species have to use cunning and intellect, not just brute braun. That made it more enjoyable for me. It wasn't about who had the biggest gun. It was about who used the available resources, who found something that could push himself that little bit further, who clung to life harder.

I don't know of too many big bang movies that can be pealed apart like this one. If you want to kill a Saturday in January, watch the four movies that deal with the Predator franchise. If you watch Predator first, it will likely stand out as the most polished of the four, the one you will want to watch again and again.

5 stars out of 5.