If ever there was a director to elevate the action genre to the level of high art that would have to be John Mctiernan. Of course he is best known today for directing the 1988 film die hard (a film that was frequently imitated throughout the 1990’s but never bettered) and also unfortunately known for spending 10 months in a federal prison camp between 2013 and 2014 after being convicted for lying to the FBI about hiring a private investigator to illegally wiretap the producer of that godawful rollerball remake that he directed.
However his big break came in 1987 with predator which for me still remains one of the greatest action/sci-fi movies of the 1980’s. With hands down the manliest cast ever put into a film Predator tells the story of an elite special forces team led by Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who are sent to rescue hostages from guerrilla territory deep in the Central American jungle however they quickly realise they are dealing with a much deadlier enemy. An alien life form that is technologically advanced and is able to camouflage around it’s settings. He also just happens to be on safari and has chosen humans as his main target. Soon the group find themselves outnumbered and fighting for survival.
While it’s easy at first to dismiss predator as a typical cheesy 80’s action film that merges Rambo with Alien with tons of one-liner’s, tons of gunfire and tons of testosterone I think the film is much better than that. The film clearly takes a lot of it’s inspiration from the classic Richard Connell story The Most Dangerous Game as well as westerns such as The Magnificent Seven and The Wild Bunch as it really is an ensemble piece with a ragtag team of characters and not just Schwarzenegger’s story. The movie also seems to be inspired by John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing as both films open with a similar shot of a spaceship coming towards earth. Even though screenwriters Jim and John Thomas have never mentioned it in interviews it wouldn’t surprise me.
The film also takes time to develop it’s characters. It’s roughly about half an hour into the movie before any shots are fired and there is some very funny banter between them, particularly from fan favourite character Blaine played by Jesse Ventura the former navy seal turned pro wrester turned Minnesota governor turned conspiracy theorist (he certainly gets around). One of my personal favourite scenes in the movie is when the characters are being dropped into the jungle. Blaine offers them a shot of whiskey which no one seems to want which leads to him uttering the immortal line. “Bunch of slack-jawed faggots around here. This stuff will make you a god damned sexual Tyrannosaurus just like me.”
Then of course there is the predator itself designed by the late great Stan Winston. The creature has a unique look to it from it’s dreadlocks to it’s mandibles (suggested by Terminator and Aliens director James Cameron as he had always wanted to see a creature in a film that had them) originally Jean-Claude Van Damme had been originally suggested to portray the predator but then the studio realised that a more physically imposing man should portray to appear threatening to someone like Schwarzenegger. Along then came Kevin Peter Hall who had previously appeared as Harry in Harry and the Hendersons (he was basically the Doug Jones of his day).
On top of some superb action terrific one-liner’s, stellar direction and cinematography entertaining characters and of course that incredible Alan Silvestri score (one of my personal favourite film scores) Predator is still one insanely fun ride 30 years on. It’s a shame what happened with John Mctiernan’s career but I think with Predator, Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October he will always remain a purveyor of how to make a solid action film.
Added bonus trivia the predator is voiced by Optimus prime himself Peter Cullen.
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