Predator (Special Edition) (DVD)

...rambling, the point is that Predator has finally been given a bit of respect. Quite simply, this is one of the finest action films of the Eighties: an awesome, pumping, powerhouse of a movie so singlemindedly brilliant it should be shown on national TV every Saturday night.
Unlike other action greats that are remembered for redefining the rules (The Terminator, The Matrix etc...), Predator's beauty lies in its simplicity. It's Alien in the ...
...and lurks in the shadows, Predator roars, stampedes and goes straight for the action-jugular. This time the creature's prey are not a bunch of unprepared, ill-equipped, deep space salvage workers but a highly trained, supremely well armed military rescue unit who are sent to the jungles of New Mexico to find a missing US cabinet minister. Which they do, except that when they find him he's hanging upside down from a tree with his skin flayed off. ... more

And about bloody well time too. This 1987 Schwarzenegger flick has been released on DVD no less than four times but it looks as though this time they've finally got it right. The first edition was the bog-standard region 1 disc, released in the States several years ago:
Picture - widescreen, letterboxed.
Sound - Dolby Digital.
Extra features - trailer.
In other words, a bit dull. Then, some time last year, the Americans were treated to a remastered version:
Picture - widescreen, enhanced (anamorphic).
Sound - Dolby Digital and DTS.
Extra features - trailer.
Hmm, slightly better but still not wonderful. Eventually, us Brits got a look in when a region 2 disc was released last Christmas. The picture was enhanced but we didn't get the DTS soundtrack and we still only had the trailer to watch after the film. But here's the worst part - some of Predator's juicier bits, including the rather splendid "Stick around" moment, were notably absent from this version. For once though, this wasn't down to some daft new BBFC legislation but simply because the British disc was transferred from the same master used for the rest of Europe. Censorship laws in some European countries are even more stringent than ours, meaning that we had to watch the same toned-down version as the Germans and the Greeks. Needless to say, nearly every single copy of this DVD was returned to Fox Home Entertainment within a week, most of them accompanied with an abusive letter.
Anyway, I'm rambling, the point is that they seem to have got the message and within six months the crappy original was withdrawn and this cracking 2-disc special edition took its place, complete with DTS sound, brand new animated menus, loads of extra goodies and, more importantly, all the blood 'n' snot in its full, uncut glory. Better still, this special edition is not yet available in America - Fox's way of apologising to the UK viewers for taking them for a mug the first time round. Hmm, apology accepted... just don't let it happen again, ok?

Anyway, I'm still rambling, the point is that Predator has finally been given a bit of respect. Quite simply, this is one of the finest action films of the Eighties: an awesome, pumping, powerhouse of a movie so singlemindedly brilliant it should be shown on national TV every Saturday night.
Unlike other action greats that are remembered for redefining the rules (The Terminator, The Matrix etc...), Predator's beauty lies in its simplicity. It's Alien in the jungle, it's Arnie versus a big monster, it's Arnie the Man-Mountain doing what he does best. Let's be honest, it's only Arnie that COULD take on a ferocious, other-worldly warrior and have a convincing chance of winning.
The plot doesn't matter, there isn't a plot: 'seven people get picked off one-by-one by an unfriendly alien creature until only one remains', just about sums it up but hey!.. the concept worked wonders for Alien and as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, while the basic storyline may closely resemble Ridley Scott's sci-fi shocker, the tone and look of the film definitely do not. Where Alien sneaks, creeps and lurks in the shadows, Predator roars, stampedes and goes straight for the action-jugular. This time the creature's prey are not a bunch of unprepared, ill-equipped, deep space salvage workers but a highly trained, supremely well armed military rescue unit who are sent to the jungles of New Mexico to find a missing US cabinet minister. Which they do, except that when they find him he's hanging upside down from a tree with his skin flayed off. Soon enough the culprit, a 7ft, heat-seeking, laser-wielding, partially invisible and seriously bad tempered alien starts dissecting Arnie's team for no other reason than the sheer thrill of the hunt.

Backup for the Big Man comes in the musclebound shapes of, among others, former wrestling star Jesse Ventura, bald headed bad boy Bill Duke, one time Rocky opponent Carl Weathers and the simply gigantic Sonny Landham. Okay, so Academy Awards may not be on the cards for any of these guys but, thankfully, director John McTiernan (Die Hard) seldom requires them to act, just run around looking hard, fire a really big machine gun and bleed horrifically at the right moment.
This was McTiernan's first mainstream Hollywood picture but the competence with which he assembles Predator's many action sequences would have you believe otherwise. He knows the limitations of the script and doesn't bother trying to inject it with any unwarranted political subtext or social commentary. There's no trendy, tongue-in-cheek humour (the bane of so many of Arnie's more recent flicks), you won't find any drippy romantic subplots and you certainly won't find a shady government conspirator who wants to capture the creature alive to study it. The point here is that this is a really bad, nasty, horrible alien and what we have to do is kill it. Period.
So, with none of these so-called 'plot devices' to get in the way, McTiernan is free to concentrate on the things that really matter in a 'popcorn' movie, namely thrills, suspense, excitement and, in this case, more firepower than you can shake an Uzi at. Indeed, weaponry fans the world over will reside in hog-heaven whenever Blaine (Ventura) unleashes 'Old Painless' - a supercool, deliriously noisy, six-barrelled gatling gun normally found on the front of an Apache helicopter.

However, it's not just McTiernan that deserves credit for this film. No review of Predator would be complete without a mention of Alan Silvestri's magnificent music - powerful, thrilling and instantly memorable, it's one of the best soundtracks this side of Star Wars. The fact that the last 20 minutes of Predator features virtually no dialogue whatsoever is a testament to the power of Silvestri's score, further proof (if needed) that when it comes to big-sound movie music, the composers to rival him can be counted on the fingers of one finger (John Williams).
Of course, the verbal silence is broken when the creature finally reveals itself to Arnie and when it is, not only does it provide the best line in the whole film but easily one of the most crowd-pleasing moments in movie history. I clearly remember the audience at my first viewing of Predator exploding into whoops of sheer delight when Arnie muttered those immortal words. Sadly they can't be repeated here, this being a family website and all, but anyone with half a brain knows the ones I mean. Which brings me, rather neatly I thought, on to the creature itself...
Designed and crafted by Stan Winston (creator of the Aliens, the Terminator robots and the Jurassic Park dinosaurs), the predator is a truly terrifying beast, powerful, agile, relentless and like all the best movie monsters, largely unseen until the final reel. It makes for a formidable opponent and just goes to show that a man in a convincing, rubber suit can still be just as effective as all this digital CGI nonsense that seems to crop up these days.
And check this out trivia fans: The creature's slimy, facial mandibles were James Cameron's idea, just one of many curious snippets of info that can be found lurking among this DVD's bonus material.

Now then, most 'DVD-heads' have learnt to take the phrase 'digitally remastered' with a pinch of salt, as it often amounts to diddly squat in terms of actual improvement in presentation but this disc is different, this disc has been cleaned up to the extent that you can actually tell the difference. The picture quality really has been improved substantially and is noticeably brighter and clearer than all the previous editions. The soundtrack too has undergone quite a transformation, the rear speakers have a lot more to do and the soundfield in general seems to be a lot more active than before but hmmm... I dunno, it just sounds..... different. Predator's soundtrack has always been a thumping wall of sound that just gets better and better the louder you have it but jazzing it up with all sorts of digital surround-sound trickery seems to have taken away some of its raw power and reduced its impact. Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm that much of an anorak that after growing up with and never tiring of a movie for over 15 years, I just get offended when someone tampers with it. Aside from that, this film has never looked or sounded better.

The extra features are pretty good too. "If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It", is a new, 30 minute documentary on the making of the film and includes present-day interviews with all the major players (bar one, no prizes for guessing which), as well as on-set interviews from the time and some reasonably detailed analysis of how the stunts and special effects were done (quite interesting, no CGI in those days). It's also extremely funny in places (the first incarnation of the alien warrior, pre-Stan Winston, is hysterically bad - kind of like an orange Jar Jar Binks) and it contains just as much bad language as the film itself. Far better than the promotional fluff that comprises most behind-the-scenes features (Spotlight On Location, HBO First Look etc etc...).
You also get a further 7 featurettes of about 5 minutes each, (featurettes? Sounds like a 1950's female soul group) which cover various aspects of the shoot a little more specifically - 'Classified Action', 'The Unseen Arnold', 'Old Painless' etc.. plus a deleted scene, some outtakes, a profile of the predator and all its weaponry and a nice photo gallery, always worth a browse when you fancy a new screensaver for your desktop. Throw in a couple of hidden 'easter eggs' and what you have is a solid, if unremarkable, set of extra value material. What IS a disappointment is McTiernan's commentary - a gifted director he may be but his DVD commentaries are dull, dull, dull! Given Predator's track record and how well it served his career, McT' is surprisingly unenthusiastic about the whole thing, stating that he much prefers his more recent works to these early Joel Silver productions (Die Hard being the other one). Considering that these more recent flicks include The 13th Warrior and Rollerball, one can only assume that McTiernan has lost the plot somewhat. Wake up John, you've never bettered your work here. Come to think of it, no-one else has either.

There's simply no getting away from it, Predator is a modern classic. It's as rock hard, souped up and testosterone charged as an action film can be and, for my money at least, is Arnold's best. With all these extra goodies on the DVD, not to mention the vast improvement in presentation quality, you simply owe it to yourself to own a copy.... even if it is for the umpteenth time.

 

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