In the pantheon of classic movies, we’re often met with the likes of big budget Hollywood blockbusters that entertain everyone – Think Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Schindler’s List, The Godfather, or even Star Wars. Numerous moviegoers have dubbed these films as some of the finest in cinematic history, yet there is one gem that often goes unmentioned. Sure, its budget was not epic, and neither does it carry a big social message but it deserves a spot among the ranks of timeless classics. What film am I talking about?
Predator – 1987
Predator? Arnold Schwarzenegger? An Alien? An Action Movie? One of the best movies of all time? Really?
Yes!
At face value, the original 1987 movie “Predator” has all the traits of a typical Hollywood action flick from the 80’s – it’s a showcase of machoism, intense action, and good old American muscle – a real “man’s man” of a movie. With that synopsis it may not seem like a contender for one of the greatest films of all time – Can a movie so steeped in stereotypical masculinity truly be a classic?
Well, to truly grasp the brilliance of this film is to comprehend the intricacies and complexities that lie within. Watch it for the first time or re-watch it – I’m sure you’ll see how it’s actually a mini masterpiece, definitely in the top 50 movies in the last 50 years, and in the top 100 of all time, and now we’re going to delve into the seven compelling reasons that firmly establish *Predator* as one of the best movies ever!
1. Predator – It Blends Genres perfectly
Films that amalgamate multiple genres into one compelling narrative possess a knack for achieving timeless status. Born on the 4th of July, Forest Gump, and The Terminator are just a few examples. Each of them seamlessly blend one, two, three, or even four genres to produce a truly remarkable film. It is no easy feat, but when executed well, it results in exceptional cinema. That is precisely what Predator does.
The movie quietly starts in the depths of outer space, with an intriguingly designed spacecraft zooming past with a goal – to deploy a minuscule projectile that hurtles towards a planet’s atmosphere. It’s short and fast, there is no spoken dialogue, no distinct visuals, and no clear indication of which planet we’re looking at, but the entire scene exudes a powerful yet subtle sci-fi intro.
Immediately after, the audience is transported into familiar terrain, a military-inspired backdrop reminiscent of a Vietnam War film. Helicopters soar into a humid, war-torn tropical setting, a group of characters are silently yet effectively introduced as a cohesive team, and the narrative rapidly evolves into a collective, search-and-rescue war epic. The inclusion of bombs, firearms, and brutality firmly establishes the film’s genre as a military-centric action thriller, but as we reach the second act, we’re introduced to a new mood and atmosphere. At this pivotal moment the pace, tone, and genre morphs, introducing a new layer to the story – the presence of something else in the jungle.
From this point the mystery, suspense and terror propels the movie forward, and each character is systematically eliminated, leaving the audience unaware of the assailant’s identity, motives, and methods. Is it an animal, an extra-terrestrial, a machine, a friend, or a foe? It’s a whoodunnit! The uncertainty is part of the thrill!
As the climactic finale unfolds, it becomes a quintessential battle between good versus evil with some high-octane action, leaving the hero shaken but ultimately victorious and unbeaten.
Through the blending of genre elements, Predator skillfully weaves a narrative that elicits gripping anxiety within its characters. This mounting tension is effectively imparted to the audience through evocative reactions from the characters, unconventional camera shots, and an unhinged feeling of the unknown. And just when anticipation peaks, it bursts into a riveting, action-packed gunfight, catching viewers off guard.
Can this film be pigeonholed into a singular genre? Is it a sci-fi, action, war, thriller, whodunnit or horror movie? – It’s actually all of them seamlessly sewn together, making for a truly unique experience.
2. The soundtrack momentously mimics the movie.
The musical score, composition, and sound effects crafted by Alan Silvest are unquestionably exceptional; an orchestration of classical cinematic arrangement, bellowing military horns and frenzied rattling snares forge a spectacular opening swiftly succeeded by sinister strings to evoke a sense of enigma, similar to that of a momentous revelation scene from an Indiana Jones movie. Oddly enough its a mixture of whimsy and adventure, with a tinge of terror and exhilaration, but suddenly, there’s a heart-thumping beat and electrifying keyboard clashing with the classical instruments to create a haunting, contemporary, almost militaristic sound reminiscent of the start of a battle, signaling the onset of war.
As the music crescendos, a serene triumphant melody arises, carried by strings and ethereal harmonies. In this moment, a sense of victory, a hero and a new beginning is evoked, but just as quickly, it’s cut short and abruptly takes us back to the frightening synths reinventing the horror once again.
The culmination of these elements resulted in a truly ingenious score, differentiating itself from anything else. It not only set the tone and atmosphere, but amplified the sense of dread, intrigue, terror, and anticipation that lies ahead.
Beyond the intro, our ears are introduced to intricate jungle drums, resonant knocks, a concoction of rain forest noises, and eerie sounds that layer itself over a tribal beat, enhancing the atmospheric nature of the scene and signifying an underlying theme for the film. The manner in which these percussions are executed serves as a crucial factor in the gradual escalation of tension crafted by the movie, and then, one of the most disconcerting sounds I have ever heard emanates from the very alien itself, an eerie croaking, vibrating noise, easily associated with some form of living creature yet perplexingly unidentifiable as to what.
Overall, the soundtrack and score is fantastic, not just in sound but with its ability to serve as a metaphor for the entirety of the film, its tempo, its capacity to fuse genres, and its premonition of the forthcoming events. Much like the movie, the score takes you on a rollercoaster of a ride too.
Take a listen foryourself:
3. The development of anticipation and fear is unparalleled.
Have you ever seen “Psycho” By Alfred Hitchcock? It set the trend for the use of voyeurism, timing, and pace to create tension and suspense in movies, not to mention the shocking twist ending. The sheer terror of the film did not stem from what was shown, but rather what was kept hidden. Similarly, “Predator” follows suit – a work of art that cunningly plays with the dynamics to manipulate the audience’s expectations before boldly turning the tables.
The majority of horror or slasher films employ voyeurism and terror to construct suspense and dread. However, unlike those films that provide some evidence as to who is being a voyeur, Predator does not.
Our introduction to the Predator character is just sound. Then comes the famous heat vision scenes- chilling and unfamiliar. Overall, you have no idea of what you’re witnessing, what you were afraid of or why – It was a complete mystery and a hidden secret with no tell tale or visualisation of the villain until you’re a third of the way into the movie. If you haven’t seen it, try watching it, alone, in the dark, with full surround sound on. You’ll be pooping your pants. Intertwine this with an extensive, slowly administered game of cat and mouse and you will be consumed by the anticipation of an impending act of terror.
The curious question of what is hunting down these strong, more than capable to fightback characters, how and why, supersedes the action that’s presented on screen. Combine this with the cleverly crafted camera angles, visual effects, spooky sounds, and reactions from the characters themselves, Predator manages to capture terror and suspense like no other movie.
4. The ending is inexplicable
I’ve emphasised the use of mystery and the fear of the unknown as being the best traits of this film, however, I then realised that the ending also defines itself in the same way. In fact, it ends without any sort of explanation at all.
When we watch horrors and thrillers that utilise the whodunnit and slasher traits, we’re told of the lore or a backstory to explain the killer’s motives and presence within the story. With the predator, apart from the very short ambiguous opening credits, we have no idea where the killer came from, why it’s in a jungle, crucifying a band of soldiers, or if there are any more of its kind. Subtle hints throughout the movie suggest that the Predator itself is a soldier of some type, and possibly a creature with some morales and honor. By the end of the movie the hero “Dutch”, is victorious, appears to be safe, the last man standing but ultimately the film concludes with the question of whodunnit unanswered, and a feeling that the story has not really finished because nothing has been explained – the spookiness, fear and terror lives beyond the end credits.
5. It’s down to Earth and humane
A great thing about the Predator movie is that it brings the Alien, the Sci-fi and the horror to present day earth, without any big dramatic unbelievable entrance – this makes the plot more mysterious, realistic, and relative to the everyday man/woman.
The Predator intro in the very first scene is the only hint of an outer space narrative that we get, and by the time the film ends, we’ve forgotten that we saw it to begin with because it was so short and disconnected from the rest of the movie. Instead of staying in outer space, we’re taken to Earth as we know it and introduced to a band of men, soldiers, each with a distinct look. From young and cool to tough and rough, and casual to civilised – Black, White, Mexican, and Native American – diversity plays a key role in this movie, symbolising unity and brotherhood as mankind.
The movie solidifies the camaraderie between these men, showcasing them as doing everyday manly things, making them highly relatable in a short space of time. This elite team of seven even manage to defeat an entire army of soldiers, and spare a woman’s life to keep her safe. The goal in the first act is to quickly demonstrate that this cohort of characters have humility, skill, confidence and deadly expertise, a bit like the Avengers except these guys are everyday superheroes, regarding themselves as a “Search & Rescue” team, not “Assassins”. They are admirable, and as the story progresses we witness the care and bond that each character shares with another – it becomes clear that they are more than a team of soldiers, they are friends closely aligned and respectful of each other. The reason to set up this comfort zone of friends, super soldiers and humility is so it could be broken in view of the audience.
As the movie edges into its real story, we begin to see the anxiety and weakness of these men. Confidence becomes fear, intelligence turns into desperation and their strength becomes their weakness, emotions and reactions symbolic of real human nature, not of a Hollywood Hero. They are far from the deadly superteam they thought they were – they are not Predators themselves, they are actually the prey, and their reactions to it mirror what typical humans would do – they decide to fight, but ultimately end up fleeing. It’s an extremely realistic and grounded approach.
Then there’s the Predator itself. You may not realise it but the character and costume is extremely human like. Many movies depict aliens as monstrous or robotic, squid like, or smooth with several limbs and sometimes with huge heads and big brains. In the case of the Predator design they did it all.
The Predator is a monstrous animal-like creature with fangs and mandibles. It’s creepy, scary, reminiscent of a dracula with a crab-like face. That’s actually about as alien as the character design gets, the rest of it is very human like. Two hands, two eyes, two legs, and two feet with a head on top, and even dreadlock hair to top it off. It wears a mask and a fishnet suit, almost making it naked. Sound familiar? Like an ancient human tribesman? It walks like a man, and even attempts to talk like a man. And most importantly, it bleeds!
The visual appearance of the Predator is theatrical narrative. Is it a robot or an animal, an alien, a beast, or through layers of design is there a bigger story. It’s intelligible and capable, a soldier and a tribesman, it’s a killer but also honourable and dare I say it evolved, and extremely human-like as it watches, waits, researches, and makes informed decisions about its prey. Just like humans do – it decides that its best tactic is to divide and conquer, one by one.
6. It trendsettingly bucks the trend
Around half way through the movie we get the the whole group (soldiers and woman) unite and play to their strengths with some muscle flexing, heavy lifting and trap building, showcasing the characters as skilful, intelligent and capable, ready to fight back and triumph over the Predator. It’s a stereotypical montage of “setting the plan” and in any normal movie, a montage like this is a glorious turning point, the beginning of the final act and the beginning of the end for the enemy, but not so much in this movie. Instead, this is the moment where the team as a whole, fail. These characters are all muscle bound hero types, and in a typical action movie of that time, they would likely have all survived the movie in style, leading to a sequel, but in this movie the heroes plan immediately falls apart, chaos ignites, and each character is left in pieces (mentally and physically), picked off one by one as the team ultimately disband and are murdered horrifically and individually. Sounds glum doesn’t it, well it actually is but it’s much more relative, realistic and unique because of it.
Like most action movies of that time, there was no “winning the girl”, “big happy smile”, or “glorious victorious return” by the hero. Instead it’s a mysterious and saddening end, like that of a real war. Lives were lost and the war was only barely won. The hero is bloody, beaten, and confused – physiologically beaten, totally speechless…real sentiments of a real journey and a real human, not a happy Hollywood movie ending.
Secondly, the big muscle bound hero that we were introduced to at the beginning of the film is not the the same bulletproof action hero at the end of the movie, in fact he barely survives and barely managed to win against the predator. By the end of the movie, it’s the predator that’s the unforgettable character that steals the show. At this point, the movie flips the audience’s expectations for the last time.
7. Strength in its subtlety
Predator takes you on a rollercoaster ride to ultimately tell us nothing about what just happened. And that’s where the story really shows its strength. Yes it’s a big bang of an unbelievable sci-fi action movie but each aspect of it is so subtle.
Dialogue is kept to a minimum, with each word used to quickly establish progression. Symbology and clever dynamics make for a strong supporting roll throughout, and actions, reactions, shapes, creatures and sounds hint at core aspects of the narrative as well as the characters within leading the audience to try to clue together the movie scene by scene.
The predator itself is vaguely seen until the very last 5 minutes of the movie. Instead we’re slowly introduced to its presence through horrific murders which are never shown on screen and by looking through the Predators own eerie heat vision which is always accompanied by what sounds like a thumping heartbeat and terrifying distorted sounds.
When we finally get a good glimpse at the Predator, that’s actually all we get, a glimpse, in parts. This keeps the suspense alive, leaving the audience curious and frightened throughout the movie about this unbeknown, capable to kill, intelligent, cool, calm yet murderous alien.
The Predator never attempts to spill the beans about the motive, characters or direction of the movie, instead it subtly transforms it each step of the way.
Conclusion
Although I’ve tried, my words can’t do this film justice, so if you have not seen it already, go ahead and watch it and you’ll see just how chillingly entertaining and well put together it really is.
It’s an easy to watch, electrifying, terrifying, and original movie, full of suspense. Not even the franchise itself has been able to outdo the 1987 original, even when combining itself with another major franchise such as Alien. Predator is an anomaly of a movie with only 2022’s Prey only ever coming close as a contender.
In my humble opinion, the greatness of Predator extends beyond its action-packed moments, as it’s a masterfully crafted murder mystery that pushes the narrative forward by keeping audiences on the edge of their seat.
Seen the movie or not? Watch it again! I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.