Predator
His collaborations with James Cameron aside, is it fair to say that Schwartzenegger’s best film (if not performance) is “Predator,” the 1987 thriller he made with “Die Hard” director John McTiernan? Except for his “Terminator” films (and probably the first “Conan” film, and his lone comedic success with “Twin”), it’s not hard to see this testosterone-fueled action film as the best thing he’s ever done onscreen. It’s certainly among my favorite action films of all-time (top 10 at least).
That admiration starts with the score. Though he’s best known for his collaborations with Robert Zemeckis, this effort rates as arguably my favorite score from Alan Silvestri. From the opening credits, where Arnie and his team of army-trained musclemen touch down in Central America, Silvestri’s rhythmic and unnerving theme grabs you. This isn’t going to be your typical muscle-bound action flick.
Lord knows it wants to be. One of the first things we see is Arnie’s Dutch and Carl Weathers’ CIA man Dillon locking arms in an arm wrestling handshake, which really is meant to serve their character’s history together, but more acts as a way of showing off their respectively-chiseled pecks. Dutch and co.- including characters played by Jesse Ventura (another future governor), Bill Duke, and action screenwriter Shane Black- are initially brought in to rescue a Cabinet minister that got shot down by Central American guerrillas.
I know, I don’t think it’s very interesting either. Don’t worry- it only takes up 30 minutes of the film’s tightly-paced 100 minutes. But even in that half an hour, McTiernan and screenwriters Jim and John Thomas are setting the larger trap, which will turn “Predator” into a thrilling version of the classic tale “The Most Dangerous Game,” with Arnold and co. as the ones being hunted.
It starts with a quick glimpse of the jungle- and one of Dutch’s men- through heat-reading vision. Once Dutch and co. get done with a thrillingly-staged firefight with the guerrillas (which reveals more covert motives than we initially learned for Dillon’s mission), that’s when we get a better idea of the predator…sort of. Like “Jaws,” McTiernan gets more mileage out of hinting at the monster than actually showing it- it’s 50-plus minutes in when we get our first real look at the Predator (played by the late Kevin Peter Hall), after he’s already taken out two of Arnie’s squad.
From there on out, it’s all suspense and exciting action scenes, brilliantly shot by Donald McAlpine (“Patriot Games”), leading up to a masterful sequence of cat-and-mouse blow-trading between the Predator (designed by Stan Winston, who came up with the ingenious and classic movie creature) and Arnold, driven by Silvestri’s music and including a build-up sequence that sets the geography, the traps that’ll come into play later, and sets the stage for one of the best action sequences ever filmed.
I was inspired to finally review “Predator” by watching the “Friday the 13th” remake last week. I felt that film succeeded because it worked on the same visceral and suspenseful level “Predator” did by portraying Jason as a tracker with some method instead of just a mindless sociopath, as he was in most of the sequels. Will he continue in that vein in the inevitable sequels? Well, the first batch wasn’t that kind to Jason save for 2003’s “Freddy vs. Jason.” Of course, after this classic and- quite frankly- great original, future installments (even the “Alien vs. Predator” spinoffs) weren’t too kind to the Predator. Maybe these type of franchises should quit while they’re ahead.
