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RTTP: Predator - McTiernan in godmode

W

Weckum

Member
Okay, so it's been about 18-20 years since I last saw Predator. I remembered the skinned guys (those freaked me out as a 10 year old), some of the action and the general gist of the movie. Of course I know the gifs and some of the quotes.

But holy shit, this is a masterclass in how to do mindless action movies. Seriously, there's no stupid exposition, no back story that needs to be explained, not a lot of dialogue.

It's just Arnie and his ragtag group of commando's in the jungle, kicking ass (well, getting their asses kicked) . The movie just flies by, it's insane.

And of course, the movie is basically one legendary quote after another.

'Dillon, you son of a bitch'
'This stuff will make you a goddamn sexual tyrannosaur'
'I ain't got no time to bleed'
'If it bleeds, we can kill it'
'Get to the choppaaaaah'

McTiernan had such a great run in the late 80s, early 90s. Predator, Die Hard, Hunt for the Red October and (arguably) Die Hard 3. Even some of the later stuff was great (Thomas Crown Affair, 13th Warrior)

I can't wait until he comes back with his new project.

Obligatory gif overload
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T

TheVisualizer

Banned
This is one of my favorite movies ever.

Nothing much else I can say, you said everything well enough in the OP.

I love the design of the Predator, and its pretty crazy to think it almost didnt happen and instead we would have had JCVD jumping around the jungle in that ridiculous looking costume they had him wearing in the behind the scenes videos.
 
B

Biggest-Geek-Ever

Member
1VjEL.gif


Amazing movie. I go back and forth on whether I love this or Die Hard more. Blows my mind this film owes its existence to a joke about Rocky fighting aliens.
 
Captain Zyrain

Captain Zyrain

Member
I never realized how much I enjoyed his movies in the 80's and 90's.

1987 Predator
1988 Die Hard
1990 The Hunt for Red October
1991 Flight of the Intruder
1992 Medicine Man
1993 Last Action Hero
1995 Die Hard with a Vengeance

Yes, even Medicine Man & Last Action Hero
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
Weckum said:
He was, yeah, Got released one or two years ago. According to IMDB he's working on a new project.
Click to expand...

legit excited to see what it is, hope he's still got it

Captain Zyrain said:
I never realized how much I enjoyed his movies in the 80's and 90's.

1987 Predator
1988 Die Hard
1990 The Hunt for Red October
1991 Flight of the Intruder
1992 Medicine Man
1993 Last Action Hero
1995 Die Hard with a Vengeance

Yes, even Medicine Man & Last Action Hero
Click to expand...

look at this fuckin' resume right here
 
C

callmedave

Member
Captain Zyrain said:
I never realized how much I enjoyed his movies in the 80's and 90's.

1987 Predator
1988 Die Hard
1990 The Hunt for Red October
1991 Flight of the Intruder
1992 Medicine Man
1993 Last Action Hero
1995 Die Hard with a Vengeance

Yes, even Medicine Man & Last Action Hero
Click to expand...

No love for The 13th Warrior? Even though he left the project or was canned, i don't remember, that movie is pure entertainment.
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
Captain Zyrain said:
I never realized how much I enjoyed his movies in the 80's and 90's.

1987 Predator
1988 Die Hard
1990 The Hunt for Red October
1991 Flight of the Intruder
1992 Medicine Man
1993 Last Action Hero
1995 Die Hard with a Vengeance

Yes, even Medicine Man & Last Action Hero
Click to expand...

The world wasn't meta enough for Last Action Hero at the time.
 
F

Freewheelin'

Member
Fuckin' love this film, even tho I saw it for the first time a couple of months ago on Blu-Ray in it's horrible smear edition where everyone looks like they've been coated with Vaseline :(

Still awesome though. Arnie is awesome
 
H

HyperZone<3

Member
kinda weird how McTiernan went from the mediocre and unsuccessful Pierce Brosnan horror flick Nomads (its got some style to it, but its fatally flawed in many ways) to this. That's a rapid ascent up the Hollywood ladder right there.
 
J

J_Viper

Member
Every single second of Predator is flawless. It's one of my all time favorites.

On the topic of McTeirnan, I've never watched The 13th Warrior.

I've wanted to for a while now, but it's not available anywhere and it was never released on blu-ray

Freewheelin' said:
Fuckin' love this film, even tho I saw it for the first time a couple of months ago on Blu-Ray in it's horrible smear edition where everyone looks like they've been coated with Vaseline :(

Still awesome though. Arnie is awesome
Click to expand...

The initial blu-ray release didn't have the Vaseline, definitely seek out that copy

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Predator-Blu-ray/316/
 
F

FuriousOne

Member
The reveal of the Predator in the film is done in such a perfect way. Slow burn. This is my all time favorite, no questions asked.
 
R

RedSwirl

Junior Member
It's not even all that mindless. It's basically The Most Dangerous Game. It's really interesting how the protagonists go from being the hunters in the first half of the movie to being the hunted in the second half.
 
N

Nokterian

Member
Captain Zyrain said:
I never realized how much I enjoyed his movies in the 80's and 90's.

1987 Predator
1988 Die Hard
1990 The Hunt for Red October
1991 Flight of the Intruder
1992 Medicine Man
1993 Last Action Hero
1995 Die Hard with a Vengeance

Yes, even Medicine Man & Last Action Hero
Click to expand...

That resume is godtier movie making.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Sectorseven said:
Predator 2 is better.
Click to expand...

I saw Predator 2 all the way through for the first time the other day, and holy shit it's such a downgrade from the first movie. The original is extremely tight, it has just the right amount of mystery and just the right amount of exposition. It's got a cast of memorable characters and the plot is just complex enough to keep you interested without going overboard. The second loses almost everything that made the first special and is just kind of a middling late 80's / early 90's action film.
 
R

Rudimental

Member
golem said:
My friend just lent me Predator 3D, gonna give it a watch. Hear the post convert is not bad
Click to expand...

Aside from a couple of shots, and being the Madame Tussauds master, I found the 3D conversion pretty good. It suits a lot of the way the film is shot through the jungle.
 
F

Firemind

Member
When Mac's head gets blown to bits I'm like DAMN I thought you collect their skulls as trophies. I think the spine he eventually pulls out and preserves is Billy's...
 
E

EGM1966

Member
GOAT action/thriller. It even has the perfect level of cheese and that's real hard to pull off.

That Die Hard was to shortly follow and top it (just) is amazing to consider.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
There is nothing 'mindless' about Predator. The reason action movies were great back then were because they had great scripts as well as direction, like Predator.
 
T

Team Filler

Member
Still my favorite action movie of all time. Lot's of great bits from the movie already mentioned, but one I want to say is that primal yell Dutch makes to lure the Predator back for a showdown sends chills down my spine every time.

I really hope McTiernan can pull a George Miller with his next action movie.
 
W

Weckum

Member
SCULLIBUNDO said:
There is nothing 'mindless' about Predator. The reason action movies were great back then were because they had great scripts as well as direction, like Predator.
Click to expand...

I don't mean it in a bad way. What I meant is that there is not some overarching 'big story' that needs to be told, something way beyond what it needs (looking at F&F series for example with their contrived plots).

It reminded me of Mad Max: Fury Road in certain ways, especially with the lack of dialogue and the focus on visuals.
 
S

Sojgat

Member
McTiernan is one of my favourite directors, but I actually think Predator, while great, is one of his weakest efforts. I feel like he didn't really know what he was doing at this point, and a lot of things were just happy accidents.

Silvestri's music pretty much carries the entire film.
 
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