Predator (Widescreen Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Another lousy transfer
Review: WOW - one of my favorite movies and the transfer is only slightly better than the previous issue. The DTS also is only slightly improved. WHEN are they going to give us a high-def. transfer and remove the grain. If GWTW -1939 can be done, so can Predator. SHAME on them all. You wait, another one will probably be coming in the next yr. and we can all dump this copy to buy that one. So - don't upgrade yet. Wait for the pristine transfer we all know is coming

Rating:
Summary: Movie = 5 stars. DVD = 3.
Review: I was so excited when i heard that they were re-releasing the Predator dvd. But boy was i upset after finally seeing the finished product.

The original movie is still superb and is one of the greatest cult hits in the last 10 years, but whats up with the dvd?
I was hardly impressed by the low grainy quality of the dvds picture and the extra bonus material is hardly worth noting.
The deleted scene and out-takes were terrible and arent even worth watching.

Oh well, it is still worth it for the main feature.
And maybe they will finally release a dvd worthy of this movie for the 20th anniversary...

Rating:
Summary: Arnold for Prez!!!!
Review: My god this movie rocks. It starts off with Arnold and these ultra tough guys(A red neck, a indian, a black guy, and a nerd)going into the jungle to kill some commie scum. On their way to battle they find some dead Americans skinned in a tree. Apparently commies skin their kills and hang them in trees so they continue on to find em. After a while they find the commie base. Arnold, being tough as nails blows up a bunch of stuff and rushes in and kills like half the guys in the camp. His team helps with the rest and they find this chick and take her prisoner. On the way back to the rendezvous point the commie chick tries to escape but then the nerdy guy catches her....and then he gets his guts blown out and gets drug into the forest by some strange invisible thing. The rest of the gang finds her and she says in commie speak that some demon came outa the forest. That demon is the friggin predator. He is amazing. He will rock you. He ends up killing everyone except Arnold and the chick(woman aren't a challenge). The only reason while Arnold doesn't die is because he's the main character and the USA likes happy endings. This movie is way more believable than AVP and Predator 2....but those movies are still pretty great. This is one of the best action movies ever. I traveled to the dominican republic just to have my DVD of The Predator blessed by a voodoo shaman.

Rating:
Summary: Best action film besides LOTR!!!
Review: Predator, in my opinion is the best action/sci-fi movie ever made. It was made in 1987, but looks like it was made in the late 90's. I don't own Predator on any verison, but I've seen enough to know its great. This is how the story runs down:
Arnold and his band of comanndos infiltrate Central America to look for lost soldiers. They get into a few battles with gurilleas but soon find out their friends are dead and skinned alive. And then of course they find out, they're not alone(besides other gurilleas). An alien form a different planet has come to earth to hunt worthy opponents for sport.It has all sorts of weapons and its invisible. It also has infared vision(which looks really cool form the Predator's point of view). Arnold's squad then gets picked off one-by-one by an unknown foe. First Hawkins gets slaughtered, blood everywhere(especially on some hostage woman form the country). He's dragged away into the trees and later his friends find nothing but a gory torso(if that). Next Ventura(thw white guy with the gatling gun) gets killed, something goes right thorugh him and he dies. After that Mr. Rambo (with black hair) stays ont his bridge type thing to comfront the Predator(slashing this chest as a sign of toughness). All you hear is a scream and hes finished. The other two black guys go out to hunt the beast. One gets shot in the head from the Predator's triangular beam, falls and blood just pours all over the ground, dripping off his face). The skinnier balck guy is caught out in the open. The Predator uses his beam and knocks off the guys arm. He yells and watches the Preadtor jump from the tree, run towards him while takin out his metal claws, and just stabs him right in the stomach. That leaves Arnold left (am i forgetting anyone?). He sits up in a tree, preparing his traps, and waits for the Predator. Finally he comes and Arnold gets the crap beaten out of him until the end, which yopu'lkl have to watch for urself it you never saw it.
Overall, Predator is the supreme guy film of our time. Nothing has beaten it in its genre and nothing probably ever will. Predator remains as one of my favorite movies of all time. Non-stop action from beginning to end. Without Predator, your collection isn't full.


Rating:
Summary: McTiernan Ain't Got Time to Bleed
Review: I recently bought a Fox DVD copy of John McTiernan's 1987 action-thriller *Predator*. An action-horror-survival film under-appreciated outside of comic book circles, it nevertheless influences art and entertains audiences.

The last time I can remember seeing this flick, I was either passing through ship's berthing, or somebody's apartment in San Diego. I don't remember ever seeing this movie from start to finish until three weeks ago. It was always a vague montage in my head: one character getting shot by an energy weapon (the scene isn't half as gory as I remember it being), another fellow smarting "stick around" to somebody he just impaled, bad guys flying through the air as gasoline erupts around them-you know, typical "R"-rate machismo. Watching it on DVD was like watching it for the first time.

Somebody organized the DVD material into easily accessible, thematic menus. But the bonus material teases more than informs. None of the documentaries take time to explain anything; they play like additional advertising for the movie. We see the usual backslapping and brownnosing of cast and crewmembers. And we glimpse the cast and crew at work. We also hear tantalizing slips about the differences between the original script and the theatrical cut, about the development of the special effects, and about the filmmaker's creative vision. Nothing elaborates, and it all sounds as if the documentary makers assumed that the details were either boring or common knowledge. As an aspiring filmmaker myself, I want to know about the rating board challenges, studio interference, and technical difficulties. I already own the movie; you don't need to advertise it anymore.

Then there's the director's commentary. Consumers know trouble when a director begins with "Wow! I haven't seen this movie in a looong time! I've forgotten about this stuff up at the front end". Still, Mr. McTiernan seems to elaborate most about the filmmaking experience. For example, he points out real thermal vision devices couldn't simulate the Predator's point-of-view because the jungle itself was hot. He had to go under the table and get a private video editing company to make up the effects at the last minute.

The effects still hold up for something supposedly jury-rigged 17 years ago and so *Predator* stands as an arch-type of the big special effect film. The thermal vision looks great, the cloaking device top-notch; only the shots of the Predator leaping from tree to tree look a little dated. Heavy amounts of sparks and smoke trails make explosions look better than even modern CGI films can manage. And then there are the weapons causing these explosions...

Watching *Predator* re-introduced me to "Ol' Painless": a fantastic and highly influential weapon of fiction. Alongside the "M56 Smartgun" from *Aliens*, Ol' Painless represents the `80's action movie sensibility for Big F'n Guns. Actors Jesse Ventura and Bill Duke take turns wielding this compact electric gatling gun against generic Hispanic rebels and the titular villain. And wield it they did, the weapon spewing 7.62mm NATO blanks into a corona of fire. And at the audience as well; being the distinct weapon of Ventura's character "Blain", Ol' Painless marks the entire movie for the brief period of time it is seen and used.

As a child and later a teen, this hand-held weapon was utterly believable. On into adulthood I thought the weapon not only could exist, but did. It sure sold other artists. Once *Terminator 2* made the final sale with its own minigun, almost every computer shooting game made since at least 1992 has its own version of Ol' Painless-especially id Software games. Many films since *Predator* practically scream for a chance to cap off a few thousand rounds with a rotary gun; *The Matrix* and *We Were Soldiers* even use it appropriately, mounted to a helicopter and everything. Sure, some films used M134s and derivatives before. *Apocalypse Now*, *King Kong*, *Dune*, and *Running Man* come to mind. *Predator* gave this weapon its first true due on screen.

It also gives action/suspense movies their due. Coming along after James Cameron's *Aliens* and *John Carpenter's The Thing*, *Predator* just kicks tail. It's the tale of America's top hostage rescue team rendered impotent by a ghostly monster. It begins with macho swagger and fat cigars and Teflon characters, and ends with almost all the heroes greased, the jungle smoked, and the lead hero slumped and staring. The Predator itself surely counts as one of the more unique and powerful critters in Hollywood's halls. Being the studio film McTiernan cut his teeth on before he took *Die Hard* to the bank, *Predator* benefits from his sensibilities. It also introduced America to a director who just about defined late `80's and early `90's big top action films.

McTiernan action films seem to work because he understands an audience's visceral needs. He injects a modicum of humanity into frames full of shootouts and explosions. Die Hard exemplifies the lighter touches that make the action easier to swallow, like his hero cop repeatedly encountering a Christmas swimsuit pinup, or scrunching his toes against carpet to relieve the stress of flying. McTiernan did it first in Predator.

What sells *Predator* as much as the invisible plasma casting villain and steroid-enhanced one-liners are the outrageous but utterly understandable character quirks. Like the terrible girlfriend jokes, the mouthfuls of chew, and friendship between Ventura and Duke's characters. Schwartzenegger and Weather's characters have a mutual past turned into a sour present, and their conflict helps to fill scenes that would otherwise just be a bunch of guys running around the jungle.

However cheap the effort and cardboard the characters, this film and its accoutrements have a natural head-shaking charm other films either lack or force. It boasts iconic weapons and a truly formidable enemy presented by well-weathered effects. As far as big eighties action/horror/suspense/special effect films go, *Predator* is a film to catch and appreciate.



Rating:
Summary: One of the best sci-fi/action films of recent memory........
Review: I remember watching this movie in 1987 (when I was 12) and just saying, "Wow". Arnold was "the man" back in the 80's and it had a terrific cast of characters. And of course, it had the Predator.

Watching this movie just makes me kind of miss the 80's. Back then you had movies where testosterone was running so high on screen that it just made you feel invincible. While I have had a few female friends that enjoy Predator, it's a typical guy movie. The plot is about as simple as it gets. An elite U.S. marine force goes into the jungle to find and rescue a lost group of soldiers. Upon finding the skinned bodies of the missing, they start getting picked off one-by-one by a mysterious enemy who is hunting them. After awhile they figure out that what is taking them out isn't human and it's up to Arnold to do his thing.

The thing I love about this movie is that it doesn't pull any punches as far as what it's trying to do. You send in big, strong tough guys to use big guns to find other soldiers & fight an alien (The Predator). Every character in the film is interesting and has their own little style. One character has big glasses and tells sick jokes. One is a big-ass indian who is the trail guide, of sorts. One is a very dark-skinned black guy who is just a bit off. Then you get to Jesse Ventura's "Painless". The gatling gun he used in this movie has now become legend and still impressive to this day. Just seeing Ventura in the movie at all is quite amusing, but he plays the role very well. Arnold is actually better here than I have seen him in most of his action films. He doesn't have to carry the movie on his back and he seems to enjoy that. His fellow cast of characters spout off so many good, tough guy lines that he doesn't have to do it all himself.

And I haven't even mentioned the namesake of the movie yet really. The Predator is a fierce and incredible hunter. By now most of you know about the alien and it's weapons and what it can do. I must give a huge nod to Stan Winston for maybe saving this movie by creating an incredible Predator. If you watch the special features, you will be shocked at what the first Predator actually looked like. On top of that, Jean-Claude Van Damme was supposed to be inside the suit. Ugh. Guess they dodged a bullet there, eh?

Predator wasn't meant to win any acadamy awards or tug at your heart-strings, etc. It's a fun, big guns, blow crap up, fight bad-ass alien, testosterone filled flick. This is Arnold at his best and this spawned the directorial career of John McTiernan (Die Hard). This movie is so enjoyable to watch that I have seen it more times than I can count. Go get this nice special edition as soon as you can.

Special Features: Well, at least we finally get a special edition of this great movie. The supplements that are here, however, are pretty good but not great. There is a documentary on the making of the film, which is pretty decent. Most of the interviews and footage is from 1987 when the movie was made. I would've liked to see some newer stuff, but I won't complain. There are seven behind-the-scenes featurettes that delve into different aspects of the film. They are each kinda short, but are informative. There are outtakes, a deleted scene (which wasn't very good) and other various little features. Not a bad edition, but I was expecting a little bit more.