Go Back to the Future of the original Alien Hunter

Rating: 5/10 (10 July 2010)

Men hiding in the bushes. Check. Much younger girl captured and tied. Check. Girl afraid for her life. Check.
Okay, fine, it's not that kind of Predator movie. Not even close, but I doubt this would be the title if released today. (Yep, Predators opens 7/9/10, but that's only after the established 1987 name was given.) Is this not one of the epitome of a Guy's Movie? Shallow plot, explosions, girl in distress, gun/knife battles, rippling muscles, aliens and Schwarzenegger. No wonder most call this a classic, though I would add: it's a DUDE's classic.
The reason I don't call it a "real" classic, is because, I simply can't get past the incredibly paper-thin storyline. That's not to say it has an interesting concept about an out-of-this-world hunter, hunter-turned-prey, prey-turned-hero, etc. It did have some good graphics, and I admit when they wanted to put huge guys to be the best of the best in a jungle warfare setting fighting 3 enemies – man, themselves and, of course, an alien, they succeeded in spades.
If you're looking for a deeper Schwarzenegger classic, with just as much action, but with storyline and originality, you could do much better: The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Total Recall and True Lies, to name a few.
Wow, let's now tackle the incredibly deep plot: The elite group of soldiers are dropped behind enemy lines in the jungle on a search-and-rescue mission. Right off the bat, they realize they're in over their head when the targets are hanging, skinless and bloody, literally over their heads.
Blaming nearby guerillas gives the film crew an excuse to have an extensive action scene and for Schwarzenegger say some "funny" but out of place one-liners. Wait, it might not be the newly slaughtered men. Could it be the entity that landed in a space ship shown in shot one? Duh, but we're not there yet. First they have to have the fight-amongst-themselves scenes, a hostage and the realizations as they're picked off one-by-one.
Once all that's through, I believe, is where the movie gets better. Schwarzenegger calms his signature only-in-the-movies lines, and does battle with both brawn and brains, though the "setting the traps" does go on a little too long.
Then again, despite the spin-offs and sequels, who better to really take on the Predator than Schwarzenegger? When the movie opened, and during the credits, I saw the name Alan Silvestri attached to the score and remembered that name. Without a second thought, or time, I was immediately reminded who he is and if you're as familiar or a fan of the Back to the Future trilogy as I am, you'll recognize his technique/style throughout the entire movie. From beginning to end. Every second.
Unfortunately, that was tough getting through. Just like Danny Elfman is enormously recognizable with his music, so was Silvestri here. I like originality when it comes to composers, such as John Williams who envisions the project at hand and brings them to life with perfection and never duplicating.
That didn't lower my overall rating, but it didn't help. (Much like Titanic's composer, James Horner, who barely lifted a muscle to change his Titanic score when "creating" the Avatar music.) I would recommend it, but it's definitely a leave-your-brain-at-the-door film. It won't change the world, but it did introduce a great character, The Predator, (with rules – I did like that) to see more in films in the future (of 1987, that is.)