80s Classic

Rating: 9/10 (13 November 2018)

I'm surprised that I haven't actually reviewed this movie yet, despite there being a time, back when I was unemployed, where I simply watched this movie over and over again. Okay, it wasn't the movie I watched the most during that time, that honour goes to Terminator II, but this movie, and its sequal, is certainly up there with it.
There is probably not all that much that I can actually say about this film because pretty much everybody is probably quite familiar with them. Dutch, played by Arnie, heads up a group of special forces, though they only do rescue missions, not assassinations. However, it appears that a politician has been kidnapped by some Latin American rebels, so they have to storm the base and rescue them. Well, it turns out that this is not actually what is going on, namely because the government has been, well, lying to them.
Actually, the whole raid on the rebel base is really just a pretext to get them into the jungle, because it turns out that there happens to be somebody else in the jungle, somebody that isn't quite human, and it has been picking off Dutch's men one by one. As we all know, this happens to be the predator, and it all boils down to a one on one contest between them at the end, where not surprisingly Dutch manages to win, but then again Arnie always seems to win in his movies.
It is interesting watching this film back in the 80s, especially with this whole government and the military. There is this obvious distrust of the government, especially the beauracracy that makes it up. They aren't really having a go at the military - they are soldiers, but I do get the impression that while the soldiers are the good guys, the government forces that issue the orders aren't necessarily so. Oh, and the phrase about Afghanistan really has a different meaning down than it did back when the film was released.
Then of course there is Jessie Ventura running around with his man portable minigun. Seriously, while it might look cool and all that, there is absolutely no way that even Jesse Ventura (or should I say especially Jesse Ventura) could seriously carry, let alone fire, such a weapon. The recoil would not only result in both of his arms being blown off, but everybody within a certain radius being gunned down as well.
Still, it is all a bit of fun, and with this being an 80s movie, we really can't take it too seriously. Sure, it is rather unrealistic, but then again we are talking about an alien coming to Earth to hunt soldiers, and then throwing a hissy fit at the end because he lost, and detonating a thermo-nuclear device (which some how Arnie manages to escape from - then again, 80s movie).
However, at least in my mind, Predator will always be one of those classic movies, and if you haven't seen it, then I highly recommend that you do.