Predator

As a child, if I didn't have my nose in a book, I would be sat in front of a video. I wore out tapes like there was no tomorrow and I would love to escape into the world on screen. Given that I was born at the end of the 70's (yes, I know, I'm old) most of the celluloid icons I latched onto hailed from that 80's era of testosterone fuelled aggression, all rippling muscles and huge explosions. Arnold Schwarzenegger,the Governator, is probably the action star par excellence given that he was in such films as The Running Man, Terminator and Conan The Barbarian.

This film is perhaps not one that would appeal to the female of the species, being that it is almost unashamedly macho in ti posturing. We follow a group of special forces soldiers as they troop into the jungles of South America looking for some hostages. they find the camp, but their trip is cut short by an alien on the hunt, the titular Predator. The alien is remorseless and relentless and many other things that begin with the letter R as he hunts down and butchers the soldiers one by one. Much the same way as Jaws keeps the reveal of the monster until fairly late, this film does the same and we see the Predator through it's own eyes, we catch glimpses as it runs and jumps through the trees and we see it's eyes shimmer as it engages it's cloaking device. if you've never seent his movie before (under a rock were we?) you'll be left guessing which of the soldiers makes it and which ends up like a human shish kebab.

Interestingly, this film really does make you cheer the soldiers on, more so than in other action films. They really do seem to have knitted together as a team and you totally buy the fact that they lived and fought together for years. This adds to the fear running thorugh them as they die one by one and there are some genuinely touching moments, albeit drenched in machismo sweat. The final smackdown, between the remaining soldier and the alien is brutal,and rivals the final act of any other action film of that time. The writing here is well done, with just the right tone struck and some the lines are fantastic. Take Jesse 'the Body' Ventura's "i aint got time to bleed" classic if you don't believe me! The lines, in addition to being well written are sparse eneough to allow the macho posturing to take over at times. You really do feel the situation running out of control as the soldiers face up to a foe they can't have concieved of before.

This film is one of the ones that marked my childhood, one I would return to again and again and I still do. That, if nothing else is a mark of how good it is. Do yourself a favour and see this.