John McTiernan
Predator

“What can be wounded, can also be killed” Major Duch Schaefer

To celebrate my first year on DeBaser, I have chosen to review Predator (1987), one of the most beautiful action films of the '80s, even though the film can also be classified as horror or science fiction. Director John McTiernan condenses tension, pace, action, and violence into a testosterone-filled mix that briefly finds time to poke fun at itself (but not too much!). The ingredients are just right: a well-assorted group of pseudo-superheroes, an impenetrable jungle, a mission to accomplish, and a virtually invincible enemy.

Schwarzenegger, in astounding shape, pumped to the extreme, is Major Duch, leading a special team of highly trained soldiers ready to complete any mission assigned to them. This time, it's about going into the Central American jungle to rescue some hostages. All in the norm, except for the fact that among the thick foliage of the trees hides an alien hunter whose hobby seems to be killing humans, skinning them, and collecting their skulls. When this comes into play, a bloody battle begins full of ambushes, traps, duels, chases and tons and tons of adrenaline.

The usual plot, nothing more. Yet there is something extra: maybe it's Schwarzenegger's undeniable charisma, or perhaps the precise characterization of all the characters in his team (it reminds, as a basic idea, the company of “The Guns of Navarone” - citations or plagiarisms? No use asking), but more likely the added value is the Predator itself. The monster is simply perfect, functional and “believable”, so much so that more than twenty years later, they continue to make sequels without substantially altering its characteristics. The solutions for the Predator are numerous and all very interesting and distinctive compared to other horrifying beings, starting with the alien’s perspective, which spies on the unsuspecting soldiers from the beginning with a sort of thermal vision, continuing with the nice special effect of camouflage, not forgetting the infallible shoulder cannon laser sight and the braided hair like Cabal. The 2-DVD version narrates the creation of the monster and the development of the special effects, from the first unwatchable prototypes to the final version. The interviews and behind-the-scenes curiosities with the cast are also pleasant.

“Predator” is destined to become (perhaps it already is) a classic of the genre, thanks to a typical plot, a box-office star, accompanied by a worthy antagonist, thanks also to the cast in general (among others, wrestler Jesse “the Body” Ventura and Carl Weathers, already known as Apollo Creed) and especially because unnecessary flourishes like pathetic love stories culminating in a 30-second bedroom gym session or endless flashbacks narrating the past traumas of our hero of which we couldn't care less have been eliminated. None of this, fortunately, because when there is a Predator lurking in the jungle, there is no time to lose: it only takes a moment to become its macabre trophy.

Always willingly (re)watch to spend an hour and a half and to say, referring to more recent films, that despite using the massive modern computer graphics, “Of course, today in Hollywood they make real crap!”.