Yes people, I’m reviewing Predator before Alien. Ok I had a while ago planned to review Alien, but then found I lacked a means to watch it at the time so had to hurriedly change to something else. But a friend lent me their Blu-ray of the first 3 Predator films, and after finally watching Predator 2, I decided to watch the first film again for fun.

The premise of Predator is simple, let’s get a bunch of Action movie stars; do a basic action movie complete with being tricked into doing something they didn’t want to because they don’t want to just be killers… and then after doing that, have them all start being hunted by a completely unrelated alien. It’s a fun detail of the film, the Predator isn’t the reason they were in there, their mission was not about the killer alien.

Sure we all know this is starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it has plenty of other people you can see for this action flick like Carl Weathers who have their characters share a handshake that’s only been bested in epicness by the recent Sonic 3 movie. The first act of the film is the standard action movie you expect with this team, they go in on what they think is a rescue mission, fight the enemy base, then learn the truth and are pissed… but on the way you do get one strange event, when they come across a group of skinned people hanging, and they were Green Berets, eventually learning they were the original team sent in but they lost contact with. After the truth of the mission is learned and carried out, then the real film starts as this team of action heroes begin being taken out.

The Predator’s design is amazing, while it’s very human looking with that face mask on as opposed to the Xenomorph, it wasn’t the original design and when you see the images of that original design, you are glad they changed it. Stan Winston did a truly classic design that has lasted all these years. The creature is also brought to life thanks to its performer Kevin Peter Hall. That body language shows it’s a cunning creature and not some animalistic monster like the Xenomorph. We see it bleed, it has to tend to its wounds, it’s not invulnerable, but it’s crafty.

There’s a real tenseness as the team struggles to deal with this creature as it picks them off until only Arnold’s character remains which leads to the final act whereby chance he finds a way to become the hunter rather than the prey.

The film is gory, but it’s not what you would consider a horror as it’s much more action. Yes it is scary and the Predator and what it does are terrifying, but it’s not the claustrophobic terror of Alien. Which kind of makes this film a lot more rewatchable, you can watch act one again and see details about what’s to come that maybe you missed.

Rating: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️