Amazon.com essential video: Rambo meets Alien in this terrific science-fiction thriller from 1987, directed by John McTiernan just a year before Die Hard made him Hollywood's most sought-after director of action-packed blockbusters. Arnold Schwarzenegger leads an elite squad of U.S. Army commandos to a remote region of South American jungle, where they've been assigned to search for South American officials who've been kidnapped by terrorists. Instead they find a bunch of skinned corpses hanging from the trees and realize that they're now facing a mysterious and much deadlier threat. As the squad is picked off one by one, Arnold finds himself pitted against a hideous alien creature that's heavily armed and wearing a spacesuit enabling the creature to render itself invisible. The title says it all in describing the relentless, escalating action that follows, maintained by McTiernan with an abundance of visual flair. The film's special effects are still impressive, and stunning locations in the Mexican jungles create a combined atmosphere of verdant beauty and imminent danger. The plot doesn't hold up to much scrutiny, but the movie's so exciting and tightly paced that its weaknesses seem irrelevant. --Jeff Shannon
Worst looking print! WOW what a bad looking print. Who the heck was in charge of this Blu-Ray transfer??? Does the 'Ray' stand for Ray Charles? because it looks as if a blind man choose to use this print! All the fuzzies, dots, lines, and blemishes on this print look ever better in hi-def! Why on earth can't the original negative be used? If I'm gonna pay a higher price, then I should get a much better picture. Shame, shame, shame, on them.
Top draw mercenary kill festival This is shooter, a stalker and a top piece of all out action cinema. It's very entertaining, tense and full of destruction. This delivers very, very well indeed.
Predator Delivers! You get what you paid for in this movie...big guns, big muscles and one ugly alien. If you are looking for a 'fine film' this isn't for you, but if you are looking to lose yourself in a gory, bullet ridden testosterone fest you have come the the right place. This is an entertaining film with a high level of replayability. It is well worth the price because you will watch it again and again.
Shameful Quality Blu-Ray This is the worst quality Blu-Ray I have come across so far. $26.95 is outrageous for a DVD to Blu-Ray dub. Your probably better off getting the widescreen DVD than the Blu-Ray and playing the movie on upscaling DVD player, you will get the same quality. The movie is classic, just don't buy the Blu-Ray version unless you find it in a bargin bin somewhere.
Less brain, more BLAM!. Less talk, more "FIRE!". Less suck, more AHNAHLD SHWOARZENAYGAH!!!! The Ultimate Predator, battles the Ultimate Prey: The Human Race.
This is, in the smallest nutshell physically possible, the plot of the 80's sci-fi, action, horror film "Predator", from "Die Hard" director John Mctiernan. Now wait a second, from the director of "Die Hard"? then how come nobody ever seems to give this film a second thought? Sure everybody knows about the not-so-amazing Alien vs. Predator crossover, but the original Predator? Nah, you'd have to dig pretty deep to find somebody who remembers that.
For somebody who has never seen or even remembers the release of Predator, may be shocked to here that it earned a pretty good box-office and general critical reaction to the film was positive.
To be honest, I think that Predator is an overlooked gem that brings back some of that 80's, action film nostalgia that so many people unconciously strive to find. Though not on the same level as say "Terminator" or "Aliens", "Predator" is a classic in it's own right, many more recent films have subconciously borrowed from this movie. Many images, which have become iconic in modern cinema, actually have roots in Predator.
Predator is also one of those films that improves with age. It's almost refreshing to see an old style action movie that doesn't feel like a cliche, simply because it's one of those movies that has actually created those cliches to begin with.
If you're an action movie fan who loves Terminator, Die Hard, and Aliens then this movie is for you. If you're not really that type of moviegoer, I think Predator works well enough to actually make a space in your heart for this kind of film.
Now stop reading this review and "GET TO THE CHOPPA!"
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