I'm back, baby! How long will it take for the Ciao HQ cretins to invent another reason to ban me? Th...
I'm back, baby! How long will it take for the Ciao HQ cretins to invent another reason to ban me? The campaign for the return of the 'clava picture starts HERE!
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Ah, the 80's. That good old decade where everything was crap, right? At first glance, it would appear to be that way and if you think back to the 80's you're probably more likely to remember the crap things before you remember the good things.
A lot of people criticize the music from the 80's, but I think it was head and shoulders above the cinema of that decade which was incredibly poor. One thing that 80's cinema got right though was the brain dead action movie. Thanks to people like
Stallone and Schwarzenegger, and directors like James Cameron and John McTiernan we can look back on such quality movies as Rambo, Commando, Aliens, Terminator, Die Hard and of course, Predator.
Story: Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer and his group of super soldiers are called into an unnamed South American country to go on a rescue mission to save some high ranking officials from a helicopter crash in hostile territory. Joined by ex-team member Dillon, the group make their way into the jungle where certain discoveries are made which indicate that that Schaefer and his men have been misled by their own government.
This is the least of their worries when they discover that someone or something is also in the jungle hunting men like game, and this other entity is taking an interest in Schaefer and his men. After finding the enemy encampment, and eradicating their threat, Schaefer and his men must get out of the country alive, and with only one way out, through an enemy infested valley, things are going to get worse before they get better.
About the film: Let's start off with the acting because it will become immediately apparent that you're not watching a bunch of Oscar winners here. The majority of the cast are ex-bodybuilders or ex-wrestlers, and Carl Weathers
is really the only "proper" actor who gets any amount of lines to speak. It's not to say that the acting ruins the film, because it's primarily an action flick, and there are guns and explosions and special effects shots which are more than enough to keep anyone happy. In fairness, most people do a decent enough job, and I doubt anyone could have acted in this film well enough to win an award when most of the dialogue is some sort of one liner.
The script is the next thing to look at. I think the premise is brilliant, even if it did start off as a joke ("The only person Rocky hasn't fought is E.T."). There are certain weaknesses to it, like a few obvious plot holes and the character of Anna who seems to serve no purpose at all except explain that when the summers are hot, the men who go into the jungle die mysteriously, and are usually skinned. However, in the hands of John McTiernan (Die Hard, Rollerball etc.) the story flows well, and doesn't stop long enough to let you worry about these failings.
One part of the script that many will probably class as a failing, but I love, is the dialogue. It's cheesier than a cheese pizza with double extra cheese, and I always end up giggling to myself when watching this. A friend of mine and me used to quote lines from the film in the pub when out with my girlfriend of the time who used to think we were quite mad until she finally saw the film, and ended up joining in. Her Arnie impression was atrocious though. But, as I've said before in defence of this movie, it's a no brain action flick, not Shakespeare. One liners and dodgy dialogue are fine here if you're prepared to suspend your belief for the required time.
Despite being one of his first full features, McTiernan shows elements of why he is widely regarded as one of the finest directors of action movies today with some skilful pace changes and a grounding in logic, despite the incredible premise of the film.
Overall, even though it's 15 years old now, I still rate this movie quite highly. It's a fun movie with lots of violence, and only a touch of blood, and is well worth a few hours of anyone's time for some mindless entertainment. Apart from one or two special effects shots, the film hasn't dated at all badly and looks as good now as it's original release in 1987.
About the DVD: Sound The sound is crisp and clear, and in Dolby 5.1 the sound really comes to life as the men make their way through the jungle, you really feel as if you're there with them. The sound effects are astounding, especially those of the weapons and of the Predator itself.
Visuals I don't know if any work was done on the film before it was transferred to DVD, but the visuals are very clear, and it's only the opening shot of the 20th Century Fox logo that appears dodgy. (McTiernan explains in his commentary that it's because 20th Century Fox refused to let him use a Widescreen version, so he had to stretch a "normal" version).
Director's Commentary While offering up lots of interesting pieces of information, I found the commentary to be a little 'dry'. It is interesting to hear how McTiernan went about making this, his first full feature, with all the troubles that were associated with working in Mexico, but he says himself that he hasn't watched the movie in a long time, and only speaks up when he remembers something. It would have been nice if he'd done a bit of homework, or at least sounded enthusiastic about the commentary.
Eric Lichtenfeld's text commentary Despite being in a text only, subtitle format, this was incredibly interesting. He interviews many of the people behind the film, mainly sound and special effects guys and their enthusiasm for the film becomes apparent quite quickly. From this, you gain an awful lot of info into how the film was made and how hard it was to make the film (after all, most of it was shot on location in jungle in Mexico!).
If it bleeds, we can kill it A 30 minute long, "Making of?" documentary with interviews with Arnie himself and the other actors as well as behind the scenes footage and interviews with McTiernan.
Featurettes Classified Action - 5 minutes about the gun fight at the enemy camp. The Unseen Arnold - 5 minutes of the cast telling us how fab Arnie is. Old Painless - 4 minute feature on the Gatling Gun used by Jesse Ventura. The Life Inside - A tribute to Kevin Peter Hall. Camouflage - A small feature on make up. Welcome To The Jungle - Making the film in the jungle. Character Design - what went into making the characters who they were.
Predator Effects Some of the footage used to produce the Predator camouflage effects used in the move, including footage of the red suit which was used to separate the actor from the surrounding jungle.
Outtakes and Deleted Scenes Four different snippets - one deleted scene and three outtakes.
Predator Profile A small photo gallery dealing with the final design of the Predator giving little snippets of information into the weaponry and technology used by the Predator in both of the movies.
Photo Gallery 50 still photographs of various cast members.
Cast list: Arnold Schwarzenegger - Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer Carl Weathers - Dillon Elpidia Carrillo - Anna Bill Duke - Sergeant Mac Eliot Jesse Ventura - Blain Sonny Landham - Billy Sole Richard Chaves - Poncho Ramirez R.G. Armstrong - Major General Phillips Shane Black - Hawkins Kevin Peter Hall - The Predator/Helicopter Pilot
DVD Extras Disc 1 Audio commentary with director John McTiernan. Text commentary with film historian. Scene access. DVD Rom Game (Alien Vs Predator). Disc 2 Documentary: 'If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It'. Inside The Predator (7 featurettes):
Character Design. Outtakes. Deleted scenes and outtakes. Special effects segments. Predator camouflage tests. Photo gallery. Predator profile.
Languages: DTS Surround: English Dolby Digital 5.1: EnglishDVD Specifications: Certificate: 18 Duration: 106 minutes Format: DVD Single Sided/Dual Layer Region: 2 Presentation: Widescreen Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Widescreen / 1.85 Widescreen Sound: DTS Surround Subtitles: Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, English for the hearing impaired, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish
Overall: A great film is backed up by a decent selection of added extras. Well worth the investment if you like this type of movie, or if you're a Schwarzenegger fan.
Film: * * * * * DVD: * * * * *
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 2007 - Action/Adventure - Director: Paul Greengrass - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, Edgar Ramirez, David Strathairn, Paddy Considine, Albert Finney
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Advantages: great, fun movie, excellent C.G effects and loads of extras!!!!! Disadvantages: a little tame on the gore and violence factor compared to the previous films!
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (97%):
