COMMENTARY: PREDATOR

And here we go, my first scene-by-scene written fan commentary.

PREDATOR was released on June 12th, 1987. And while unpopular with critics at the time was a big success with audiences.

PREDATOR.

OPENING; Space cold open pretty similar to Carpenters THE THING. That ship design was always nice, but its there and gone.

ARRIVAL; How do you know a piece of music is iconic, when you hear it you think of your favorite parts of the movie and hum to yourself. Alan Silvestri's music on PREDATOR is fantastic. First time seeing the team in the movie, Dutch smoking the cigar. The movie really starts out giving the feeling of most action movies you've seen.

BRIEFING; Continuing the action movie feel. Dillon and Dutch arm wrestling and calling back to the 'good ol' days'. Your first hints that this mission is not going to be like the usual job, as the briefing continues.

FLYING IN; Some Little Richard is always welcome. This is a great scene, setting up each of the team one by one. Of course its owned by Jesse Ventura, taking the Alpha Male type to new levels. And its all fun until the drop off, where you see the personalities switch to fight mode.

INTO THE JUNGLE; The drum music fading in and out, a staple of the PREDATOR movies. Adding just a little bit of the mysterious. They find the downed chopper and the drums come back. Right out of the gate the mission is going to hell, and you can see the team knows it. The CIA subplot is a nice bit, slowly working against them. Dutch bringing back the action movie feel, pushing everyone forward. Billy finding the skinned bodies, the beginning of the subversive element in this movie. Right up until now it's been just another action movie, but here it starts the turn into something else. One of the strengths of PREDATOR is that it takes the action movie and both lives up to and completely destroys what is expected of them. This was the moment when I think many people would've started to wonder what they were seeing. This is also our first time seeing the Predators vision. Now we're taking the hard turn into unknown territory, I really would've loved to see this movie with an audience back when it first came out. As the team pushes on we get to know the team even more and more. Its not all smiles with these guys. And we get hints of the darker realms that they'll be heading into.

THE CAMP; The first action set piece of the movie pulls back into action movie territory in a huge way. The team spreads out to take down the camp. Classic action movies here, complete with massive explosions and one liners that have been quoted ever since. Blain's mini-gun has been on every holiday wish list ever since PREDATOR was released. I know Dutch and Blain take this scene, but the other guys get some great bits of action too. The whole team is great here. Also our first introduction to Anna, I fully admit to a crush on Elpidia Carrillo. CIA subplot blows up in this scene. In a average action movie this bit might've been closer to the end of the movie, but its right up front here. Dutch showing that not only is he not an idiot, but also an honorable figure. "Anytime" is not only an often quoted piece of dialogue but over the years has also become the nickname of the hunter seen in this movie. Billy's laugh is fantastic. Predator vision, scorpion in the clawed hand with the playback of the voices, just a really terrific setup for the hunter.

MOVING OUT; I love that the team is looking up into the trees as they move out, its a little thing, but its cool considering how the hunter gets around. The jungle they're in is in Mexico while the film is set in Central America. Billy really is this other element in the movie, yes he's a big action character but he functions as this midpoint between the audience and the team. We know there's something after these guys, and so does Billy. But while we know what it is, he doesn't. As Anna tries to escape we get our first major death in the movie. Also our first view of the hunters camouflage. Really solid effect done with camera tricks. Hawkins death, really his complete disappearance, followed almost immediately by the death of Blain, is the start of the teams downward spiral. And the leveling of the jungle by gunfire is essentially the beginning of the end of the action movie. You saw how well they did their job in the camp, but now they're powerless. They hit nothing.

THE NIGHT; The team sets up for the night, the lonely music fading in is the first piece of humanity we really get in the movie. Its really moving. And now we get our first look at the hunter as he decloaks and begins dealing with his injuries. I like this bit, it gives some humanity to the hunter as well, he's mortal and he feels pain. Slowly but surely the team is twisting, and its given form by Mac, Bill Duke is absolutely amazing in this role. And Billy just destroys the hope left in the team. Using the pig as a distraction was pretty brilliant on the hunters part, but I dare anyone to actually name the species of pig Mac takes out. I dare you. The hunter takes Blain's body during the chaos. The next morning, Dutch starts putting the pieces of the larger mystery together. He is not an idiot, this might be Schwarzenegger's smartest role.

A STAND; The team sets a trap for the hunter using classic techniques. One of the things about PREDATOR is it almost takes us on a trip back down the developmental line of humanity. Slowly over the course of the movie, weapons and tactics begin to devolve from the modern for the time, automatic weapons and bombs, to nets and trip lines, to bows and arrows, than hand to hand. One of the great bits when the net is tripped as Dutch goes to head back to the team. You see nothing, and than bam. Now the whole thing goes to hell. Ponchos hurt, Mac takes off, the group splits. Dillon going after Mac and everyone else headed for the chopper. Carl Weathers is solid as Dillon, he doesn't get enough credit.

TWO ROADS; Dillon and Mac try to ambush the hunter, you know how its going to go. With Mac's death you realize just how good the hunter is. He knew, he knew the whole time. Dutch realizing that the hunter is in it for the sport, he let the unarmed Anna live, is one of the jumps where you really don't know where it comes from, you never see Dutch thinking about it, but it makes sense once you hear it and you move on. Dillon's death is one of those over the top moments that does stick with you a bit. Each of these characters gets a memorable death. Billy's last stand for example, you don't even see what happens. But the character has been such a presence through the whole movie, once he pulls out that knife and marks himself you know its over so you don't need to see anything. The most often quoted line of PREDATOR; "...get to the choppah!!!". When I say PREDATOR delivers on the expectations of an action movie, it really does, the one liners are a big part of that. Who would take the time to say something like "oh shit!" as you're sliding down a hill toward a cliff? Or "stick around" after you've impaled someone with a huge knife?

BATTLEFIELD; After going over a waterfall Dutch comes to one of the the most amazing locations i've seen. The massive tree is stunning. The hunter follows him and emerges from the water now decloaked after his camouflage shorts out. This is our first really clear look at the hunter. An amazing design, and suit, by Stan Winston. The mud covering his body heat bit is one of those leaps you have to make with the movie. If you can't than much of the finale won't work for you. Now we have our two characters essentially suiting up for the showdown. Dutch is setting up for his last stand, the ropes and weights didn't work before, but he'll try it again. The hunter is taking his trophies from the dead team. Bow and arrow created by Dutch, this is what I meant by the devolving of weapons and tactics. Dutch, out of options, is falling back to the most primitive states of man. The moment where he puts on the mud and raises the torch, he looks like a caveman. So you have a caveman fighting a futuristic hunter from another planet. And the geek boner begins.

THE LAST STAND; Dutch setting a massive fire to lure the hunter in. I love the bit with Dutch hiding on the tree, and the hunter moves past him. Its a point of transition between the two. As the hunter moves down to the fire seen easily by Dutch, Dutch moves around the tree tops unnoticed. Beautiful. The explosive arrow of course Dutch's version of the hunters shoulder cannon. And the hunter replies by shooting wildly into the trees, just as the team did after Blain's death. Now the hunter begins to fall back, first losing his camouflage. But he adapts, triangulating Dutch's position after he throws the rock. The beginning of the final battle really is a shorter version of what the hunter has been doing to the team, but from the other side. The two are now just trying to outsmart each other because its all either of them really has at this point. The hunter examining Dutch and letting him go to engage in a hand to hand battle is one of those turns that sets PREDATOR apart. Why would the hunter do that? Because that's who he is, its a terrific character moment. The reveal of the hunters face, is iconic in every sense of the word.

Stan Winston created something very special with him. And yes, James Cameron had a hand in it as well. The story goes that Winston has working on the design while on a flight, playing around with the dreadlock look, when Cameron, who was sitting next to him, said; "I've always wanted to see something with mandibles." The original hunter design was so completely different its actually quite funny. Before Winston came on it was a long necked, long armed, insect, with a cycloptic dog skull face and it was played by Jean-Claude Van Damme. The director John McTiernan filmed a few pieces of footage with it, went back to the studio, and said "You don't really want me to use this do you?" and the studio said "NO! WAIT! STOP!". Winston came on not long after and performer Kevin Peter Hall was cast as the new Predator. Hall, who stood at 7'2", had experience in dance and looked to African dances for inspiration for the Predators movement.

The hunter sees through Dutch's traps again but Dutch turns it on him. Dutch showing mercy to the hunter, now crushed under a log, is really interesting. He went this far, but he stops, of course the hunter responds by activating a self-destruct device. The chopper flying with Anna on board, that's Kevin Peter Hall as the pilot FYI the director wanted to get him into the movie because he did such a great job as the Predator. Dutch standing in the ashes and smoke is a stunning visual, as the human music fades back in. It brings us back down to what I think is quite an important thing; even if the world goes up, and hell breaks loose, strip everything away and we're still just people.

RESCUE; The General and Anna look at Dutch as Dutch looks out the chopper. Schwarzenegger is terrific in this movie. I know a lot of people look to Conan or Terminator 1 & 2 as his iconic roles. But PREDATOR is the one that I think really delivered on Schwarzenegger as an actor. The last shot of him has a weight to it. You can see that the man who was throwing around one liners as he casually took out guerrilla fighters is changed in a profound way.

CREDITS; PREDATOR is a movie that's been with me since I was a kid. I've always loved it, more specifically I've always loved the Predator himself. I'm a monster guy. The best creatures have characters, and the Predator has that in a big way, so the Predator sticks with you. The entire cast and crew really worked their asses off to make something worth peoples time, and I think they succeeded in a huge way. To this very day PREDATOR is looked at as one of the great moments in action films. And has gone on to become one of the best loved movies of the past 30 years. Thank you to everyone involved.

And thank you for indulging me, I know it was rough, but it was interesting for me. Next I'll be doing the same for PREDATOR 2.