*Originally written August 29th, 2018*
With Shane Black's The Predator out in a couple of weeks, I thought I'd go through the original Predator trilogy again. Timing worked out that they were just released on 4K and I just my new TV, so everything worked out okay. I will not being watching the AVP films though. I watched them both last year, and I have no desire to go back to them for a long time.
Predator is a film of its time, a macho cheese fest of one liners and '80s action. They really don't make them like this anymore, and I miss that. It's the simplest of stories, a group of special forces soldiers are hunted in the jungle by an alien, and that's that. There's so overbearing subplots or anything overstretched. It runs with that story for a lean and mean 100 minutes.
The Predator itself is a fine creation, the ultimate hunting machine that uses thermal vision (But, there are little hints it has more special visions that we see in later films). I always liked how nasty the Predator is, he decimates people, skins them and hangs them up. Making for some really gruesome imagery. While some of the CGI doesn't hold up, all of the practical stuff is awesome and the Predator's array of weaponry is cool and still iconic today.
It also features the manliest handshake ever committed to film. Arnie and Carl Weather's open bro-shake is now deeply rooted in memes, but it is still a sight to see. I was surprised at how much smaller Arnie looks compared to Commando which came out the year before, but I read online he lost a lot of weight to appear more like a real soldier, but he is still truly a gorgeous specimen of a man. I know Arnie isn't the best of actors, but he carries the film purely on his charisma and build.
The rest of soldiers are fine too. They all play their part and have good chemistry with each other. Something the upcoming Predator film is clearly trying to recreate based on the trailers, but it all works. They're a variety of archetypes and clear inventions of the '80s. I'd argue that I never felt anything for any of them as they're slaughtered by The Predator, but it doesn't make it any less fun.
The biggest investment is easily in Arnie's character Dutch, who has sadly yet to resurface for any of the sequels. All the strongest stuff is towards the end, where it is just Dutch vs The Predator. There's some really cool and creative moments, especially the scene where Arnie covers his gorgeous body in cold mud to hide from The Predator's thermal vision. The Predator's laugh at the end is a bit weird and off, but you gotta give some leeway for an intergalactic alien that has a fucked up mouth and goes from planet to planet hunting their most dangerous species.
The previous releases of Predator have suffered serious transfer issues. The Blu-ray I own has the awful DNR effect that makes everything look like they're made of wax, but thankfully in this 4K transfer, Predator has never looked better. It suffers some issues in the nighttime scenes, but the day scenes are vibrant, colourful and loaded with detail. This is the first back catalogue 4K I've seen and it's great to see they're doing a wonderful job with remastering their releases.
Predator is by far the best of the franchise so far, a perfectly entertaining '80s action slasher that displays Arnie's charisma and action chops while delivering practical and extremely entertaining action. God, I wish they still made films like this.
8/10 Dans
Predator is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD now in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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