One Great Movie

Rating: 10/10 (26 July 2005)

"Predator" may be one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, science fiction movie ever made, and there have been some really great science fiction movies. The idea of an alien being hunting not just defenseless civilians, but heavily armed mercenaries, and hunting them for pure sport, is, to say the least, original. To the alien, these mercenaries are nothing more than playthings to be toyed with and then transformed into trophies. First the mercenaries are baffled, then nervous, and then outright terrified as they come to the realization that their weapons are useless and their bravado a waste of energy against an entity far more merciless and powerful then they could ever imagine. And when the alien finally reveals itself, it's appearance is as gruesome as it's behavior is lethal. Why the alien is there is never answered, nor does it have to be answered because it's entirely irrelevant to story. The fact is the alien has arrived and is wreaking havoc on a group of heavily armed men whose efforts to respond are repeatedly thwarted. It's not as if they are defenseless; to the contrary, they WANT to fight, but this time they are up against something that they can't figure out and that is not afraid of them. How they deal with this situation and it's ultimate resolution is what this movie is about. It's nonstop action from beginning to end, and you can't expect any more than that from a movie.