What a pile of...

Rating: 3/10 (1 April 2002)

First of all, Predator is NOT Ah-nuld's best film, not by a long stretch of the imagination. That honour belongs to Total Recall, one of the few Ah-nuld films that can be described as intelligent. In fact, Predator is one of Ah-nuld's most ordinary films, especially in light of the comparison between he and his co-stars' macho posing in this film and the real actors in the sequel.
There is one highlight of the acting in this film - Carl Weathers. His acting raises the bar above pantomime during the sequences he is in, but the story and character development don't give him a lot to work with. Granted, this is supposed to be an action film, but the best action films develop their characters to some extent during their running time. The recent X-Men feature is a great example of this.
What's even more appalling is that actors from this film are winning positions in America's government. I thought they learned the lesson from when Ronald Reagan became president - actors do not make good leaders. Macho posturing worked in the film industry of the 1980s, but it is not what I'd like to see in government at any era.
Unfortunately, as time goes on, it gets less and less kind to this film. Ah-nuld's track record has certainly gotten worse in the last ten years, with him obviously forgetting that people don't go the theatre in order to have some right-wing Fundie agenda pushed at them (eg End Of Days and The Sixth Day). None of the other actors have done anything memorable since, and it's probably just as well.
All in all, I'm giving Predator 3 out of 10. It's entertaining to watch once or twice, but that's about the extent of it.