The Perfect B Movie

Rating: 7/10 (30 August 2018)

Predator is B-Rated, action nonsense at its unadulterated finest. It's just about everything you could possibly hope for in a maniacally crafted, action blowout. From my perspective I can respectably understand both the majority of Predator fans' opinions and the majority of critics' opinions (which tend to be negative) towards this film. In the long-run, Predator isn't necessarily my cup of tea, but I fully respect the hype and admiration surrounding the picture, as it does make for a solid, kick-back watch. However, that doesn't take a way the fact that I had some faults and issues with the flick. Despite the movie containing some of the all-time most rad, cheesy, badass one-liners, it's screenplay/dialogue is quite mediocre for the most part. Additionally, the actors'/actresses' performances, at least for me, don't hold up superbly well-(I hate saying this) even Schwarzenegger sometimes feels unconvincing in parts. It's also pretty shoddy that it becomes troublesome to care for any of the characters in this movie, considering we are provided little to no information on just about any of them, making the deaths and kills feel more gore-porn directed rather than emotionally draining. I understand that this movie isn't necessarily trying to be super subversive, deep, nor meaningful/compelling-it's just simply trying to be a mindless, action phenomena-but regardless, it doesn't change the fact that some character development would've made for a better movie. Also, the emphasis on "action/violence over-kill" didn't fit well with the more intense atmospherical presences. There's certain points where a sequence will carry on with an ongoing series of explosions, or an ongoing series of random gun-firing, and it'll be pretty wicked for a while, and then exceed it's welcome for way too long, and sooner or later, become pretty comical and goofy. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm nit-picking apart this film to death (and it's defintely seems like it cause I probably am) but conclusively, at the end of the day, I enjoyed rewatching Predator, its just that I didn't feel like I took a whole lot out of it despite its creative aspect/gimmick with the Predator villain. It essentially, didn't seem disaparate enough nor equally or close to as impressive as some of the more classic slasher/sci-fi thrillers. The most interesting aspect about this movie though, well, was the character of the Predator, who is BEYOND dreadfully stunning. Every time you get to glance through the perspective of the Predator, it makes for a bone-chilling sensation. He's almost up there with the Xenomorph for me, and additionally, I'll also give him the benefit of the doubt by saying that he would totally kick a Xenomorph's ass if they went head to head (this being from the perspective of a person who has not yet seen the AVP movies). Predator may be a semi-gutless, creature feature, but it's also a semi-kick-ass, action extravaganza. Verdict Change: (B+ -> B)