The quintessential action movie. One of my favorite films of all time.

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2003)

Predator is the classic action film. What makes it so unique is that the story starts off as a simple but exhilarating rescue mission; but then it suddenly switches gears and becomes a fight for survival for everyone involved. The genius of that! The cast is wonderful; Arnold as Dutch was very convincing and commanding, yet humbled and low-key in his performance. The only way you would know that he's the star is that his face is on the cover, he's the leader of the group, and he survives at the end. He was 'one of the crew' instead of a one-man wrecking machine like in so many of his other films; that was very nice to see. Carl Weathers turns in a good performance as Dillon, as does Bill Duke as Mac, Jesse Ventura as Blain and Sonny Landham as Billy. The whole cast worked very well together.

The one thing that still astonishes me to this day, 16 years later, is indeed the Predator. The special effects in this film was very much ahead of its time, the camouflage was pure genius. I still can't believe my eyes when I see the camouflage effects; it blows me away that even now in 2003 it could sit alongside the FX seen in TODAY'S films with no shame. I'm waiting for Fox to put out a special edition DVD with behind the scenes footage explaining how the Predator was done; from the effects with its sight and the beautiful camouflage, to the suit. I caught a little snippet of a behind the scenes feature on AMC or Bravo, and ever since I've been anticipating its inclusion on a new DVD (WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?!??!)

Predator is evidence of how action films should be done. A great story and relentless action, all progressing the story along. A timeless classic, one of the best films of all time.
**** out of **** stars
P.S. The 'forest massacre' scene is one of the funniest scenes in movie history!!