Predator (R)

Reboots seem to have become the wave of the future. Last year alone saw such ’80s remakes such as “The Last House on the Left,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and “Friday the 13^th,” with monster movies such as “Godzilla,” and “King Kong” not far behind. 2010’s “Predators,” starring Adrien Brody and Topher Grace, brought back to life (although with a modern spin) the original 1987 blockbuster “Predator.” 

However prevalent remakes are nowadays, they have the tendency to highlight the best of these aged movies, reminding us why we watch these films again and again. And “Predator” is no exception to this rule.

“Predator” is an action movie. Make no mistake about it. Several scenes from the film are downright laughable, seeming to exist for the sole purpose of portraying a group of muscle-bound warriors exuding tons of testosterone. Do you remember those commercials back in the ’90s for late night entertainment billed as “Movies for Guys Who Like Movies?” Predator seems like was filmed with that audience in mind way in advance, although to say so does it an extreme disservice. While a “guy movie” on the surface, it does adhere to many strict tenants (which modern action movies have thrown out the door), and manages to make a real statement in its execution.

“Predator” features an all-star cast, starring Arnold Schwarzanegger, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, and Jesse “The Body” Ventura, as a group of commandos sent on a rescue mission deep in the Central American jungle. Schwarzenegger plays “Dutch,” in a thankful departure from a legion of “Johns,” he usually plays in his long action tenure. Settings and plot may change, but Schwarzenegger’s staple first name is often not one of them.

Weathers plays “Dillon,” who persuades Dutch and his team to take on the mission, appealing to his ego.“Because some damn fool accused you of being the best,” he answers when Dutch questions why his team and not regular army were chosen. We quickly see the camaraderie between these two men, which obviously goes farther back than the movie has time to portray. It’s too bad, because the acting in this movie is actually pretty decent, and it would have been nice to get a little more backstory along the way.

Before long the men are airborne, being dropped into the tepid jungles of Central America in search of a missing Cabinet Minister and his entourage.

A violent and crowd-pleasing encounter with the jungle army reveals that the Cabinet Minister is nowhere to be found, and it is here that the movie reveals its two secret hands in close proximity to one another: 1. The hostage rescue was a falsified story cooked up by Dillon to entice Dutch and his team to take out a secret army base and, 2. Something even fouler is afoot. While transporting a prisoner (Elpidia Carrillo) through the jungle, the team discovers they are being picked off one–by-one by an invisible, alien creature stalking them through the jungle.

From here the movie becomes what it was meant to be from its onset – a survival movie that borders on suspense-horror. The menace of the jungle as the commandos venture through it, as well as the havoc that the predator wreaks on the rough-and-tumble unit is supremely well done. You feel, just like the warriors themselves, that the creature could be anywhere and everywhere, as all their training and skill-sets fail to keep them alive. One scene in particular shows this remarkable well. One soldier is annihilated by the alien being and another fires insanely and irrationally into the bush long after the creature has fled. The scene shows the horror these men feel, and brings a sense of vulnerability to these otherwise impregnable giants.

I think a true analysis of “Predator” from this point on cannot be appreciated without referencing the 1927 short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. In that story, a shipwrecked sailor is let loose in the jungle and forced to play a cat-and-mouse survival game with the story’s sadistic antagonist. While predator doesn’t bear this plot premise in common, the survival techniques (such as booby traps and primitive weapons forged) link the two. As Dutch finds himself the last-man-standing, he and the predator engage in a no-holds-barred fight to the death.

While 26 years past, “Predator,” for those who may not have seen it, deserves to have its integrity maintained and not have the ending given away. However, suffice it to say that it is a very rewarding action movie that manages to make its point with a ambient soundtrack, great location, and substitutes good character development and atmosphere for gore and an over-reliance on special effects (although both the fight scenes and the predator itself are very well done). “Predator” puts you right in the jungle with these men, makes you feel it with them, and rewards you for the experience.

Unless you absolutely loathe action movies, “Predator” isn’t likely to let you down. It harkens back to a time when people made action movies because they were fun, and not because they were convenient or because they were a way to show off special effects. It also harkens back to a time when action movies weren’t considered throw-a-ways, and actually had good acting and story (think “Die Hard” vs. “The Scorpion King”). While being stalked through the jungle by a bloodthirsty alien who hunts for sport is no “Gone With The Wind,” its nice to look back on a time when movie magic was still possible, where movies weren’t so cookie-cutter, and the actors looked like they were actually having fun.

For now, we’ll have to settle for remastered re-releases of these forgotten gems and the special effect-laden remakes that bring us back to this simpler time.

 Trivia: Did you know that the predator was designed by Stan Winston, the visual effects designer for the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park?

– by Mark Ziobro