A classic 80's action movie that is still popular today.

Rating: 9/10 (27 February 2016)

Predator is one of those 80's action movies that still stands as a classic movie. It is also one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's best movies in his blockbusting career. This is pure alpha male testosterone at its finest. It's got it all: explosions, big guns, violent action, huge biceps, larger than life personalities, no nonsense story lines, and plenty of one-liners that still hold a special place amongst movie geeks. Director John Mc Tiernan has also struck gold with this classic gem of a movie and would later go on to establish himself as a reputable director with movies such as Die Hard (1988) and The Hunt for Red October (1990).
Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is the leader of a special ops rescue team sent in by a CIA taskforce led by General Phillips (R.G. Armstrong) to spearhead a rescue operation of political officials and military personnel held hostage by insurgents in an South American rebel camp situated in Val Verde following a helicopter crash. Dutch maintains that he is solely a rescue team, not assassins. Dutch's team includes Mac (Bill Duke, Commando), Billy (Sonny Landham, 48 Hrs), Blain (Jesse Ventura, The Running Man), Ramirez (Richard Chaves) and Hawkins (Shane Black, screenwriter of Lethal Weapon). Also assigned to the rescue operation is an old friend of Dutch's CIA agent Dillon (Carl Weathers, Rocky). Not long after insertion, they stumble across the horrifically skinned bodies of three soldiers believed to be at the hands of the rebels. Following the successful all out assault of the rebel camp in which the insurgents are successfully taken down, Dutch takes prisoner a female guerrilla named Anna (Elpidia Carrillo). Dutch also finds out that Dillon set up and used Dutch's team as expendable assets to take down the rebel camp in revenge for the deaths of the military personnel and its hostages. Unbeknownst to the rescue team, an extra-terrestrial alien with superhuman strength, advanced weaponry and thermal imagery has come from another planet and is hunting humans for sport. One by one the rescue team are being hunted down and picked off by this unknown predator which leads to an inevitable confrontation with Dutch.
While this is one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's best roles, it also feels like a who's who of the 80's tough guys with Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura and Sonny Landham who featured in numerous action movies throughout the 1980's and these men were a welcome addition to the cast of Predator. Shane Black was also notable for going on to establish himself for his work as a screenwriter with Lethal Weapon (1987) and The Last Boy Scout (1991) as well as a director with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) and Iron Man 3 (2013). Producer Joel Silver was well known force behind an assortment of many blockbusters such as 48 Hrs (1982), Commando (1985), Die Hard (1988) and Die Hard 2 (1990), the Lethal Weapon series, and The Matrix series.
Composer Alan Silvestri (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) always produces fantastic work and his orchestral score keeps Predator exciting to watch as well as the movie's ability for shock and awe.
With Arnold Schwarzenegger's quirky one liners, Predator is still a popular 80's action movie that is still well liked by many fans. Predator is one of those movies that they just do not make like that anymore. I believe that the sequels and the Aliens v Predator spinoffs do not hold a candle to the original Predator movie and this is THE movie that still never gets old 29 years later.
9/10.