Arnie Classic!

Rating: 9/10 (11 November 2001)

I'm not a big Schwarzenegger fan, he is not a great actor, he knows no martial arts, he's not pretty (not that that matters to me but for the ladies) but he has been the no 1 action star since he first uttered the line "i'll be back". He now has competition from younger stars such as Vin Diesel and Mark Dacascos people like that and even Brendan Fraser and Tom Cruise all of whom have acting ability, looks and a certain charisma he lacks and with the rising standard now needed in action films he is looking like its game over for his action crown. No longer is it acceptable to be purely beefcake in a mass destructive movie. I cannot really watch his 80's films besides this and the Terminator as I feel 80's action films are all about damage and violence instead of acting and plot. The Predator though is great, sure it has moments that are very overly macho and typicle of 80's action but Mctiernan also incorporates a tense and chilling atmosphere and adds to that Arns best performance bar End of Days. THe film is not to plot orientated but more about the situation, and there also features an amazingly destructive action scene when Arn and his troops infiltrate an enemy base, there must have been a lot spent on that because it was superb. Arn delivers his lines well in this and is given a character who is required to be fairly stoic without being given too many cheesy lines and it seems Mctiernan may have given him guidance as to what he wanted from the character which you feel lacks in films like commando and running man and if you have seen running man you will know that the Austrian Oak was terrible in that especially the Helicopter scene which made me want to vomit. Predator is a classic and the big man steals the show without having to rely purely on flexing his pecks and snapping necks.