Written by Michael Clawson
90/100
“Get to de choppa!!” That’s always been my go-to line when trying to do Arnold’s voice, and I didn’t even realize until now that it’s from Predator. Having never seen it in its entirety, I must have picked that up from the bits and pieces of the movie I saw on TV as a kid. What a joy to watch it from start to finish now.
If I had to (unnecessarily) choose between Alien and Predator on the basis of creature design alone, I’d pick Predator every time. Its occasional near invisibility, fangs, and bizarre facial structure feel other-worldly, but its mechanical gear, rasta dreads, bipedality, and seemingly human eyes are such disconcertingly familiar traits and ones that baffle by raising questions about the species.
Where exactly did the predator come from? Why is on it earth? McTiernan’s answer is the one that genre filmmakers seem increasingly less willing to give us: IT DOESN’T MATTER! He entirely nixes expository dialogue and delivers a lean survival narrative with perfectly scaled and paced action sequences. There’s as little fat on the movie as there is on Arnold, who not only succeeds in carrying the film, but who could have done so with his pinky alone.
Predator Trailer
Predator is currently streaming on Prime Video and also available to purchase and rent on VOD platforms.
