Movies Worth Seeing

Predator (1987): Peak ’80s Masculinity Meets Sci-Fi Horror

• Movies Worth Seeing

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 54:21

Send a text

This week on Movies Worth Seeing, we go back to the jungle for one of the most rewatchable action films of all time: Predator.

What starts as a macho ’80s commando fantasy slowly mutates into a razor-sharp sci-fi survival horror — and that’s exactly why Predator still slaps nearly 40 years later. We break down how the film cleverly subverts the invincible action-hero trope, why the ensemble cast is stacked with pure testosterone, and how the Predator itself became one of cinema’s most iconic monsters.

We also dig into:

  • Why the first half feels like a different movie (on purpose)
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger’s quiet evolution from gun-blazing leader to hunted survivor
  • The brilliance of the creature design, sound design, and jungle setting
  • Iconic lines, scenes, and memes that refuse to die
  • And whether Predator is secretly smarter than it ever gets credit for

If you love practical effects, quotable dialogue, and films that reward repeat viewings, this one absolutely earns its place on the list.

🎬 Movies Worth Seeing — because some films don’t age… they hunt.

Support the show

SPEAKER_01:

Hey everyone, and welcome to another episode of Movies Worth Seeing. Today I am welcomed by a returning guest who hasn't been on the show for a long time since Avatar 2. By the time this comes out, Avatar 3 is about to hit Luke Aegis.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you for having me back, Mark. You did actually. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_01:

Everyone always fucks up my last name, so that's like my pet peeve.

SPEAKER_02:

It's your natty.

SPEAKER_01:

So on today's episode of Movies Worth Seeing, we've decided to go back where it all began for the Predator franchise. Predator Badlands has come out recently. I'm not gonna watch it, probably never gonna watch it. I'm done with this franchise, I'm done with the sequels. So I thought, why not just go back and watch the original without all the bullshit? And joining me is Luke Aegis, and he has watched Predator for the first time, which I can't believe you haven't seen this movie before, man.

SPEAKER_02:

I just never got around to it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, like it wasn't one of those ones we had on VHS back in the day. Like, yeah, I don't know. I I happened to see a little bit of Predator 2.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know how that came about, but yeah, actually, as a kid, I watched Predator 2 first, and everyone was like, oh, Predator 2 is terrible. You gotta watch the original. And I'll so I don't know. I was I had this weird kind of bias where I actually had more nostalgia for the second movie, which was weird. Being a kid, I didn't know any better. I was like, I didn't know the rules.

SPEAKER_02:

As a kid, you don't care about what's the original or whatever. Like, I would also watch sequels and stuff like that out of canon, I guess you could say. And uh Predator also is in the only 80s, you know, like massive movie that I haven't seen. I guess I haven't seen Alien.

SPEAKER_01:

Having said, Oh, we've got to watch Alien. Okay, we'll watch Aliens. I gotta well, at least Aliens. Alien is a bit too slow, but Aliens. I think Predator 2 and Aliens are are pretty good at just establishing like the law, the the laws, the rules, and everything. So you when you watch it, you're kind of like, oh, I don't know if I need to watch the original. At least not with Alien for me personally. No, no, I get that. Um, but I'm very intrigued to know what you thought of this movie. Like, what what was your first honest reaction when the movie finished?

SPEAKER_02:

So my first honest reaction from when the movie finished was like, I can see why this movie was so entertaining at the time. I could see why it inspired a bunch of sequels, a crossover between Alien as well. I I can actually see why people loved it so much. Just this idea of a um being like, I guess, caught in the rainforest, and it's a bunch of people that really are at the top of their game. But um, they've obviously got a mission, but then having something that's not supposed to be there come in is actually a really cool concept. So I quite enjoyed it. I thought it was a very enjoyable movie. Um, but my initial thoughts were having, like I guess, been more inundated with more action flicks where it gets straight into the action straight away. This was quite a slow burn, you know. So I don't see that much anymore.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's interesting because like I think for some people they think that this is an action movie, but I put it more in the quality of like a sci-fi horror or thriller because there's this one action set piece that's really explosive and fast-paced, you know, all the typical bells and whistles of an 80s action movie, especially from Schwarzenegger or Stallone. It gives you that action set piece and it says, like, oh, okay, there you go, you want that. But then it just totally twists it straight after that without it feeling jarring, but it does it in a way where it defies your expectations.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah, 100%. Like, I would agree with you as well that it is a bit more of a sci-fi horror thriller. Um, and it does kind of flip those expectations. There's that massive set piece earlier, as you said, but then the middle bit is just them like trying to find a way, like trying to find that there is something in the forest with them that's kind of stalking them and going to kill them, and then um having to sort of like change gears for a second and figure a proper way out. So it is it is an interesting setup, I do think. It probably for the time did change things up quite a bit from what people are expecting.

SPEAKER_01:

Like without sounding too fucking film snob, but like it feels like after that action sequence, they're deconstructing 80s action machismo because you see these guys and they're really good at working as a team, they're awesome at coordinating attack, using guns, throwing knives, all that stuff. But when they come up against the predator, it's like none of that stuff matters. It's all about thinking more smarter, more strategic.

SPEAKER_02:

And that's just the thing. Like, they've got an enemy they don't understand, they can't begin to understand because it's from a different world. They don't know the tech, they don't know the tactics. It takes them a bit of a while for them to even figure out they're in the trees. You know, so you're absolutely right. It's it's these people at the top of their game trying to survive something that they don't know, and they most of the time can't even see, which is a very scary kind of concept.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I love Dylan just being like, come on, man, it's just a couple of guys in masks, man. Like, after you see this shit going on, as if to say, like to dismiss it and be like, oh, it's just some soldiers that are just like super stealthy Tom Clancy Splinter. It's like, nah, man, this something else. It's something else. It ain't no man.

SPEAKER_02:

I guess some, and that's a real, probably a real paranoia that lots of people probably experience and such. Um, I know in Vietnam there was Operation Wandering Ghost, but I believe it was the CIA played sounds of like a spooky sort of like, you know, reverb-y kind of sounds and repetitive sounds of all this weird stuff into the forest at night to psychologically play on the mind of the Viet Cong because they thought that the there were spirits that, you know, lived in the forests and possibly in the trees. I might be not remembering that correctly. But it it kind of is tapping into this very real thing that I'm probably I'm sure a lot of soldiers and stuff might have gone through at the time.

SPEAKER_01:

That's kind of cool because the Predator kind of does that. He plays like the voices, mimics them. He mimics them and play and plays them almost like an audio tape or some shit. And it and it's like really eerie and and sinister the way he does it.

SPEAKER_02:

And in that way, one note I have about that is that I kind of wish that he did it more, like he did it to manipulate them, like grabs those little sound bites. Like, not that I think the predator can necessarily comprehend what they're saying, so that's kind of a bit unrealistic. He just knows when to use it. But it would have been cool if he was able to manipulate, you know, uh, what's his name? Butch, I'm over here, you know, and then he turns around, he's thinking, Oh, it's his mate, and it's no, it's not Butch.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, so you're thinking they should have gone the ghost face in Scream 3 route, where he had the voice changer, and he kind of got people to think that other people were like he uses the voice changer to get them to end up killing each other, killing the wrong people, assuming the wrong suspects are guilty.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely, because I think that's the other thing. It's kind of like John Carpenter's version of the thing. It's like you don't really know who you can trust at that point. Even if it's like not necessarily like, you know, them becoming your friends, if you kind of can't at least it'd be cool if like you couldn't trust that voice being your friend, at least where it's coming from. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

And never they never went that route. No, like they they do more of like predator using the voice to kind of like mock them, mock them, but never do it in in a tactical kind of way, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So I just don't know. That was my sort of thing. It's a bit of a lost opportunity.

SPEAKER_01:

It's kind of interesting because uh like back in the PlayStation 2 era, they had a predator game and you could steal the voices of people and then use it to unlock, like you know, locked gates that have voice analysis. And I always thought to myself, like, oh, that would have been something cool to do in the movies.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that actually would have been quite cool. Like, I guess the modern version now is like you try and unlock someone's phone just using facial recognition, they just like put their heads in and they unlock the phone and then they've got access to everything.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Sorry, as she said that I was like, it's a kind of a weird angle us looking at each other like this.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I just got neck problems. I need I need Predator to give me a spine adjustment.

SPEAKER_02:

I love how he turned you upside down.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I love how he just like fucking pulls out that spine like sub zero style. That's a nuts. That was fucked up 100%. And I think the most fucked up part is I watched this movie way, like I was way too young to watch this when I first did. Because those kills, like watching them back, are brutal. They're mad brutal. Yeah, like they're like not rated like MA. This is just a standard kind of M movie. Really? Understand. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, okay. I would have expected like up to an R rating because I think how gory it is. I know Predator 2 was R, but I think that was for other reasons. Um but yeah, no, that's nuts. Like, I just just getting as well, that guy getting like just shot in the head, and he's not even dead. Like somehow he's killed him. You can see shaking that little bit, having those little tremors, and it's like that is just so unsettling.

SPEAKER_01:

The shaking just makes it so much worse when more unsettling. I'm glad they left it. But every time I watch that kill, I still get that feeling of like, ugh. That was nuts. It's also like there's an interesting contradiction with Predator where it's meant to be this creature that's hunting, you know, for sport, but it's not playing fairly. It's using this camouflage, it's using these advanced weapons that you know humans can't really match with. Yeah, it's it's not playing by the rules, it's kind of it's kind of bullshit.

SPEAKER_02:

It's setting the rules, if anything. I thought um Dutch, like I guess outsmarting him by covering himself in mud. I guess it was by by pure accident at first, but I thought that was an interesting sort of thing. Um because I wouldn't expect it, like, you know, to the mud or whatever to mask infrared. Nothing would surprise me if that actually does happen. Like if for whatever reason it can't penetrate that. So if you cover yourself in mud, will the snake be able to see you? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, no, like um you're right. I'm sure someone in the comments will be like, you're a fucking idiot.

SPEAKER_02:

This one thing that I don't understand about it, and look, it's fine, it's either either way. Like, obviously, in the opening credits, you saw that you saw like something shoot off from the spaceship, which I'm assuming might have been the Predator. But the South American Rebel girl was saying, like, the old ladies used to say there was something live in the forest and such as well. So I don't know if that opening credit scene was maybe like many, many years before, perhaps even a century before. But the thing is, I think whenever the like the fact is that the I guess you could say the Contra or the group or whatever company going into the rainforest to try to find whatever they were actually looking for. I didn't really pick it up. I think it was just documents.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was just it was just a reason for them to go in the jungle. Even the the story makes out like there's more to it, but there really isn't. It's just these guys went into the jungle and got killed. Go in, find out what the hell happened to them.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I think, and that's like that's that's fine and all, but the real what I was trying to get at was this the predator probably was there for a really long time. Like you've got to know that jungle like front to back, and the like the human enemies or whatever wandering through the forest front to back. Like he he had the advantage in so many different ways, you know. But at the end of the day, it was just a sport to him. But yeah, I guess that whole company would kind of fish out of water. Even the guy, what was his name, Billy, who was probably my favourite character, mind you.

SPEAKER_01:

The Native American that knew like the Predator, or had this sense of like there's something there's something there, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And he was able to cut the vine and drink the water, like he knew how to move off the land. But even he got outsmarted when he had like a probably a bigger advantage over the rest of them as well.

SPEAKER_01:

So and it's it could have just been that he had like a an actual fight with the predator with the machete, but it was off-screen.

SPEAKER_02:

Why did it happen off-screen? He was the coolest character.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know, like predators. That one of the sequels gives you that that that one-on-one sword fight that you would have wanted when you saw this. I personally like it because I find it funny that like he's making a stand and shit, and being like the full blood on the chest, and then it just cuts back to Arnie and the other guys, and you just hear this high-pitched, like, ah, it used to always crack me up because you feel like the first time you watch it, you're probably thinking, like, ooh, like, could Billy have a chance here? And it's like, no, not at all. No, no chance in hell. Happens off screen, you know. That's a good thing. But it also it also kind of shows like even if you wanted to fight this thing like one-on-one, yeah, you still can't kill it. Unless you're Dutch.

SPEAKER_02:

Actually, no, you're right as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Like Billy didn't have a camouflage. Billy probably would have survived if he did.

SPEAKER_02:

Cool movie.

SPEAKER_01:

Too late for Billy. Um, at what point did you realise these guys are fucked?

SPEAKER_02:

I think I realised they were fucked as soon as the maybe it was the second or the third guy got killed. The one that was actively, like his bro got killed and he's actively trying to hunt them. I'm like, yeah, no, these guys don't stand a chance. I'm I'm kind of like, Arnie has to survive because you know, he's our hero. It's Arnie. And like, you know. But um, yeah, I was pretty it's pretty much supposed to like they're all going to die uh by that point. Yeah. And it and it happened, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

So no s spoiler alert. So um interesting story. Jean-Claude Van Diem was originally the guy in the suit. And something were didn't work out, and he like quit. I don't know how that would have worked because he's shorter than Schwarzenegger, so he wouldn't have had that imposing uh figure or intimidation factor. And it just makes me laugh, seeing behind the scenes footage of like Jean-Claude Van Damme in this giant ridiculous suit of the original predator design when it looked like a fucking praying mantis or something. Um, if you saw the original design, you'd be like, oh my god, I'm so glad they didn't stick with that.

SPEAKER_02:

Can I be real though? Like it would have been a mad wasted opportunity to put Jean-Claude Van Damme in the suit. Like, it's like you wouldn't see him. He'd take the mask off and still be like the thing on face, like it wouldn't be Jean-Claude Van Damme. No, but I guess he wasn't big then.

SPEAKER_01:

You know what? Yeah, he takes off the mask and it is Jean-Claude Van Dier. Then Arnie's like, oh fuck, now it's on and then they have a fucking karate fight.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

That would work. I'd watch that movie. Missed opportunity, man. Missed opportunity. Oh well, we got the expendables with those guys together, but still. Could have happened earlier, man. You didn't have to wait 30 years for it. Um, yeah, but John Claude did the right, made the right call, I think. Um imagine a world where Jean-Claude Van Dam's biggest like IMDB credit would have been the guy in the Predator suit.

SPEAKER_02:

If I'm honest, I'm not a big fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme, so I would invite that timeline. Okay, fair enough.

SPEAKER_01:

Um look, one thing I I really love about watching this again is the jungle feels like a living, breathing character. It feels important to the story, but I don't know. When I watch modern movies, I always feel like the the jungle feels sterile, it feels too clean, too professional. It doesn't have that raw kind of authenticity. But when you watch this, you can tell they actually went into the jungle.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah, yeah. You can tell it's got that sort of messiness, it's got all the foliage left over. If I'm honest, like there was a lot where I'm watching, I'm like, obviously, have not used the audio here because the leaves and stuff will be rattling around like crazy. But they're taking these very gentle steps and this and that. But you're seeing the leaves fly around, I'm like, they they would be caught, they would definitely be caught. But uh you're absolutely right, and the way that they're able to interact with the rainforest and use it to their advantage and fight against it, like you're absolutely right in the terms that it is another character in the film. Um, it works against the characters and it aids the characters in different ways, so it is quite good, and you're I you are absolutely right, where a lot of the time in modern movies, like the Jurassic Park films, the rainforest, the jungle is just a place, yes, you know it's just a setting, sort of script, but you don't feel like you're really in it, you don't feel like like little things like seeing a giant anaconda or fucking coming out of nowhere, seeing these snakes, seeing scorpions, um seeing the sweats on their faces from the humidity, like you know, that is a very sweaty movie. You feel the heat, yeah, yeah. It's it was quite well done, like it really set the scene. Um, because yeah, it would have been mad uncomfortable for all of those actors there, unless they filmed in maybe winter, but they definitely did not film in winter.

SPEAKER_01:

Um I think one thing though, um because of how well they use the jungle, I think that's why a lot of people hated when it went to the city for Predator 2. They were like, oh yeah, it just feels like a generic kind of slasher film because everything's set in the city, whereas the jungle made it unique.

SPEAKER_02:

I guess though it would have been really hard for them to make a movie that wasn't exactly the same if it was like you know in the in the forest. Um so I don't know, and like the city's a bit of a concrete jungle, but I don't know, I I don't remember much about Predator 2 at all. Like, let's be real, it's an insane movie, it's insane, it's insane, but like you're right when you said it did just fall feel like a bit of a slasher in that respect. Like, and that's got everything to do with the setting. Now you're metropolitan.

SPEAKER_01:

Some good moments, you know. Danny Glover was was pretty good. I liked Danny Glover, especially knowing that like that was Denny Glover during Lethal Weapon era. So you go from watching Lethal Weapon where he's like, I'm getting too old for this shit. Then you watch Predator and he's fucking doing all the Mel Gibson stuff, he's jumping off cars and diving and exploding, doing shootouts and shit. He's the reckless cop.

SPEAKER_02:

Which is great on the edge, but the only issue is it was just wasted on kind of a bad movie, if I'm honest. Oh, yeah, yeah. So you know, it's cool that he was being that awesome front man, it's just a shame that the movie sucked.

SPEAKER_01:

But one thing Predator 2 gave us was the throwing disc, which I did like. Which is dope. Like, we've got one thing I don't like.

SPEAKER_02:

Have you seen Alien vs. Predator?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I don't understand why all of a sudden they made the Predator good in that.

SPEAKER_01:

Like they in the at the end, they kind of had this whole thing about the aliens, really the bad one, the predators, you know, I guess like because the aliens are just they're more like animals in that there's no deeper thought process with them. Whereas the predators, they've got code, they've got honor, they've got things like that. They communicate, they they probably felt the predator would be more of a would work more interestingly with the woman.

SPEAKER_02:

No, that's a fair.

SPEAKER_01:

Especially because it's like out of the humans, the predators and the aliens, like the predators would obviously win. So they had to flip it. Look, it's not a great movie. Like, there's lots of issues with alien versus predator, the fact that it's like M instead of you know, and there's no violence, there's predators like hanging dudes with like their clothes and stuff because they can't get the R rating. And you're like, what? Like predators always skin the people.

SPEAKER_02:

That's kind of what makes them so terrifying, is that they'll flay you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so eh, that was not the best. Yeah, not the best. You you you keep bringing it down into like the the lower tier stuff. Let's keep I'm sorry. Nah, it's all good. It's all good. It's making me appreciate this more because I know where the franchise goes. And like when this finished, there was an ad for like the Predator, and you're like, oh, is that a is that like a sequel or reboot? And I was like, just don't even ask, Luke. Yeah, you don't want to know about that shit. It's like so stupid. The funny thing is. Is though that that movie is written by Shane Black. Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon. Shane Black was also in this movie, which is, I don't know, I find that very random.

SPEAKER_02:

Kind of. It's got some it's part of that like a weird little action movie universe or whatever. Yeah. Do you think Lethal Weapon and Predator exist in the same universe?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think they can because you got Denny Glover in Predator 2. That's true. It'd be a multiverse. It'd be like, oh fuck. Now we're like turning Predator into a Marvel cinematic universe.

SPEAKER_02:

And I'm like, oh, but like uh Predator Lethal Weapon, Predator 2 Lethal Weapon fanfiction. I think that's what we need to do.

SPEAKER_01:

I think Predator is just the adults only home alone. Okay. So maybe there's a there could be a crossover with with Marv and you know the the wet bandits. Maybe the wet bandits. Yeah, the sticky bandits they can like work together with the Predator in a sequel and finally get Kevin, even though he's like 50 years old, probably by now.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I'd pay to watch that movie. That'd be so funny. One thing is I always say to people is I'd love for them just to make a home alone movie where Kevin is cut that bit out.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, no. I want to hear it. I want to hear it. Is it is a Kevin like full grown-up adult and like Yeah, but like he it's like a horror movie.

SPEAKER_02:

Like he can I know that he kind of started doing his own little web series that was sort of similar, but like yeah, like it's like proper brutal.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh like so so if Kevin became like jigsaw, kinda, I think that'd be dope, but he only tortures like criminals, and they're all just happening to break in, and it's like I want to play a game.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh I think you're onto something there. I think so.

SPEAKER_01:

Macaulay Colkin, let's make it a sore home alone crossover.

SPEAKER_02:

I can imagine Macaulay Colkin showing up in a sore movie just saying it'd be such a strange cameo, but I can imagine I can imagine him showing up anyway. That was stupid. This is why you don't stick cameras on okay.

SPEAKER_01:

What what do you think was the most brutal death? I'd have to give it to Carl Weathers. Dylan getting his arm just ripped right off. Ripped off, falling, it's still shooting the gun as it's been taken off. And Dylan doesn't even have time to like process that his arm has been shot off because he has to still shoot the Predator with the other arm. Ah, brilliant man. Um by the way, rest in peace to Carl Weathers, who was an amazing actor and um yeah, known for the Rocky movies, Action Jackson, and of course Predator. But you even notice, like watching this, like he's too good for this role. Like he's he's elevating what is just like a generic like bad guy role. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02:

I get it though, but I did like the twist. And it happened pretty early on that he wasn't just they weren't just there to recover some lost soldiers, they were there to recover some deep state like rebel secrets or something like that between the But do you feel like I wasn't expecting it.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay, well that works for you. But like I I just always felt like they make out like he's a w like he's a despicable, slimy, bad guy when really he's not that and then you get that kill where I don't know, you feel like in any other movie that kind of kill would have been reserved for like the real shit guy, the piece of shit character.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, see this is if you think about it in the broader scheme of things, his character is quite despicable, but probably like you know, that's only a retrospect kind of thing. Because what he does is he portrays like his friend and leads a whole bunch of people unsuspectingly into this territory to do some more work for the government. And because of that, they all die except for like one of them. And I know that wasn't what he was expecting. At the same time, as a soldier, they were all kind of prepared that that might happen. But it kind of is quite insidious when you think about it. His actions did lead that he manipulated his friend and got all these people in as cannon fodder, including himself, and he died in the process. So in a broader screen of things, yeah, he was actually kind of bad. I really liked him. I can st I I can't see why he did it or whatever, but you know, um, I liked him as a character.

SPEAKER_01:

A few uh things that I love is I just think that Carl Weathers is just so likable that he's miscast in that role. I feel like you just can't hate him. That's probably why for me, even though he's set up to be, you know, he's a traitor, he's betrayed Dutch, I'm still just like, but it's it's Carl Weathers, man. And I can't hate him.

SPEAKER_02:

Legend, absolute legend, no doubt about it. Um, and the other thing is as well, you kind of did sympathize with him a bit, like he nearly gets killed by a scorpion, and like he's that little bit, he's definitely the most hopeless of the group because he nearly gives away their location by like falling or sliding down a hill or whatever. But yeah, no, you're right, he is just so likable in the role and in general, it is kind of almost a miscast. I don't know. At the same time, the movie wouldn't have been the same without him. I don't know where else you would have put him where it would have made sense, or not like you know, still made sense, or you still would have felt for him because it was kind of a meaty role. Like next to Dutch, like played by Arnie, it's definitely the biggest role. I mean, I guess it's the Predator as well. But integral, and you know, and he did a great job.

SPEAKER_01:

How did it feel to see the origin of so many memes?

SPEAKER_02:

Great. Yeah. We both cackled when we saw like the you know thing where they did the hand thing, and of course, it's like get to the chopper, all that sort of stuff. Um get to the chopper! Get to the chopper. But yeah, it was it was actually really cool seeing like how this middle movie from the 80s, which they probably thought this is just another cheesy action flick, has had actually such a pop cultural influence over the years.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I feel like this could have easily been a cheesy generic, you know, horror for the time. But in the hands of a really highly qualified director like John McTeen and who directed Die Hard, you can see that he's elevating it and he's taking it really seriously. Whereas in lesser hands, like in Predator 2, you see not as much care, not as much suspense or tension. Yeah, we got a little nip slip. Sorry. Hey man, the audience might want that.

SPEAKER_02:

Um yeah, no, like I I agree. And and and the fact is is that like the director with Die Hart, um, his whole idea, like his whole reading or whatever of the whole situation between um John McLean and Mrs. McLean, is it's like a midsummer night stream. It's about two lovers just trying to find each other throughout the whole night. And I guess it's just those little bits of understanding or those little ways of looking at it that do really inform the plot. I'd really love to know what his approach was for Predator. Is it like just another movie about people trying to get home, like I don't know, Lord of the Flies or trying to survive and ETH?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah, 100% E.T. I love that you're bringing Die Hard and Shakespeare together. You're killing diehard for me.

SPEAKER_02:

He no, he did that. And hey, like gotta you gotta respect Shakespeare. Like, you know, it's boring as shit, but you've got to respect his like influence as well. Nah, okay, Predator.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't I don't know, man. I've got trauma from like studying that shit in English class. Yeah. I'll appreciate like plot points and stuff like that, maybe. Romeo and Juliet meets Predator. Now they're that that would be interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

That would be interesting, actually. I'd watch that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I actually hate Romeo and Juliet, so it'd be the only rendition I'd watch.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Just as they're about to like take the the fucking suicide medicine that predator just barges in the space. Yeah, down rips both spines. Yeah. Terrible. Before Sub Zero, there was Predator ripping spines. Yeah. Um, what was the moment for you where you realised this wasn't gonna just be a dumb kind of action movie?

SPEAKER_02:

Very quickly, where we didn't see the Predator, I think, until almost halfway through the film. Like the suspense is there, there was like lots of setup. So yeah, like I I think very early in the film I realized that it wasn't just gonna be like another action movie. If anything, it set the precedent for other action movies to follow on the same line.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that moment when the camera is uh above Arnie and you see the whole kind of layout of the room, and you as the audience realize that someone is like about to go for Arnie from behind, and then Arnie froze a knife, and this dude's like just staring at a knife impaled against a wall, and he says stick around. I'm like that. That just always gets me, it always makes me laugh, even though it's like a dude just died, you're just like stick around. It's just perfect 80s cheesy action movie.

SPEAKER_02:

It's not even it goes beyond 80s, it's just typical Arnold Schwarzenegger. I swear they give him that like you know, stick around. He he's actually quite the I would argue that he's like the king of one-liners in that respect. Like he's always got some weird, funny sort of thing to say. Even more than that guy from CSI. I don't know if you know. But Horatio. Horatio. Oh, yeah. Looks like she just redded herself out. Okay, someone just died. You you what's it called? You insensitive asshole.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, mmm. Looks like she is gonna lose the beauty pageant. And it's like, hey.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't even think I quoted Horatio there. I think it was Grissom or whatever his name was from the other.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, there's so there's so many characters. I actually just started watching CSI all over again. Like the first one, the Las Vegas one.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, last was it Las Vegas? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that the one original one set in Vegas? Oh, because I remembered like Then there's Miami, then New York.

SPEAKER_02:

I remember so yeah, the one with Grissom and that. It was such a fucking mess at the beginning. I don't know if you remember, but like it felt like they didn't even solve the mystery in episode one. And then they've introduced introduced like this awkward character, and then she like episode two.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'm like You think that she's gonna be like the new girl, kind of like the audience's favorite and all that invitation into like the team, and then they just fuck that right off and they go, nah, she's dead.

SPEAKER_02:

But it rather than like kind of to change the game, because I know like Welcome to Dario, I don't know if you've seen that. Spoiler alert. No, half the kids that her set up and advertising and everything, they die straight away. Cool. You gonna watch it? Because I just spoiled it for you.

SPEAKER_01:

Nah, I've already forgotten what it's called. No, that's fine. Was it Welcome to Dario?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02:

But like that's the thing, and rather than it being like, oh wow, this show's different. I was just sort of thinking, like, well, that was a waste of my time. Like, I was invested in these characters and now they're gone. So I don't get it. I don't like it. I don't appreciate it. Anyways, back on to Predator, sorry.

SPEAKER_01:

That's all good. Um, man, that music. Alan Silvestry. Holy shit, that music is just everything. It's like, it's awe-inspiring and it's eerie, it's disturbing, and it's and it's pumps you up for action. It's like it ticks all these boxes. It's fantastic. I think it's one of the first movies I watched as a kid where I was like, fuck, the music is really noticeable, but like in a good way, where you notice how awesome it is.

SPEAKER_02:

I picked up one of it as well because it was kind of giving me back to the future vibes in a way for a little bit, it's like the horn section and then how it would like do no no no no no, all that sort of stuff. Um, so it was definitely of the era, but it was quite it did uh heaps of an impact. I would have been interested to see, considering they were in the jungle, if they did something even a little bit more like I don't know, I guess how can I put it that doesn't sound bad. Something kind of a little bit more sort of strange, like using more sort of like natural instruments and all that sort of stuff to sort of build it, kind of in the way like say The Shining did, you know, with some of its score. But you know, like there was still very much informs so much of the movie.

SPEAKER_01:

It's it's kind of it it feels kind of similar to like aliens with the music, similar vibes. I've not seen aliens.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh man, I've not seen aliens, I've not seen the terminator movies. You haven't seen any of the terminator movies. I've not seen any of the terminator movies. I've seen maybe number three, Judgment Day. It's awful.

SPEAKER_01:

No, number number three is Rise of the Machines, number two is Judgment Day, which is the one.

SPEAKER_02:

Damn, man. Seen the one where he puts the glasses on and the bad ones and then he takes it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's Terminator 3. Yeah. That one's trash. Yeah. Or I it's it's the best out of the trash sequels, but it's still pretty trash. Pretty trash. Yeah. Damn, man.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you just have to keep having me back, bro. That's like I'm the worst Cinephile ever.

SPEAKER_01:

That's like, oh my god, that's like if your first m introduction to Predator was aliens versus predators. It it was. Oh my god. No wonder you weren't that excited to watch. You must have been like, wow, there's actual storytelling and substance to this thing.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And it's cool, they're in the jungle.

SPEAKER_01:

Anyways. You sounded like a little kid when you said, like, it's in the jungle, it's so cool when there's a lot of it. It is pretty cool in the jungle. But like there is a primal kind of joy to this movie of its simplicity. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And just the general bloody hypermasculinity of it. Yeah. These sweaty buff dudes just going into the forest and well not forest, the jungle, and saving the day or trying to save whilst trying to save themselves.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, some of the best shots involve biceps.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, I mean, what there's that scene where they're all just mindlessly like shooting into the trees. They don't even know what they're shooting at. They're just shooting because Max started shooting. And like, you know that they're not getting it at all, but for this very long shot, they're just shooting. You can see Arnie's biceps just popping out as he's shooting, the sweat glistening and shit. And you're just like, even though that achieved nothing, that was awesome.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01:

So worth it.

SPEAKER_02:

It's it they really, he really, I think the director understood aesthetics as well. Because, like, if you pay attention to certain things, like, look, there's no production, proper production design in the jungle, except for like maybe the set piece set pieces near the beginning and near the end. But the and the lighting or whatever a lot of the time isn't great. You could tell that they'll film in probably midday and the sun bucketing down on them. Um, you know, and the lighting changes and this and that. So there wasn't much they could do, but he still had a very clear idea of the aesthetics. He still wanted, like, you know, them to be super sweaty, super oily, but like, you know, guns out and like very machismo. And he knew, I guess, like, you know, the little intricacies of like he's behind you focusing on the eye, and like the eyes like darting around, and this and that. Where a lot of other I mean, like, I guess it's become a bit more of a trope now, but probably at the time a lot of other action filmmakers and wouldn't have cared so much. But he knew how to make those little moments tense and also like really hook into the aesthetic.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I think the oil men deserved a lot of praise for this movie. Oh, 100%. They must have been working overtime. Yeah, it must have been like Diddy party over there. Well, luckily, don't worry about it. Luckily, Diddy wasn't around then because shit, he would have been stealing the oil oil bottles. Yeah. They would have been like, shit, where what happened to all the oil? Now all I can think about is Diddy. Fuck.

SPEAKER_02:

What have I done?

SPEAKER_01:

Predator, the Diddy story. So I I should have introduced him and be like, oh, okay. On today's episode, we're gonna talk about Harvey Weinstein, the movie. I mean, Predator.

SPEAKER_02:

That's really funny. So in a terrible way, but that's quite funny. You're really honest. I was not expecting that to come.

SPEAKER_01:

Or like just as the Predator, you know, suicide bombed or whatever, Arnie's like, alright, I finally survived. And then Harvey Weinstein comes out of nowhere and he's like, that was just round one, man. That was just the practice. Okay. Um, can you can you see why this movie became iconic? Why it started a whole franchise? Or does it feel like they they squeezed every bit of juice out of something where it didn't really deserve sequels?

SPEAKER_02:

I can to a degree see why they made it into a franchise beyond that. Um I think Predator is such a unique villain for the time and such, because he wasn't quite an alien. He had like the tech sort of thing going. Um, there was also, I guess, the suspicion that he might have been something a bit more um spiritual, I guess, in the beginning, rather than an alien. Um, but he and he doesn't definitely have an iconic look in the same way that you know Terminator has an iconic look, and the alien from Alien has an iconic look.

SPEAKER_01:

All those movies you haven't seen.

SPEAKER_02:

All that I mean, I know I know what a face huggle is, you know. So but that's the thing, like they all um have that like that sort of iconic sort of feel about them. And I guess let's be real as well. It probably just made a bucket load of money, and they're like, yeah, we need to we need to keep cashing in on this.

SPEAKER_01:

We're thinking too hard about it while the boardroom meeting was just like, all right, we made all this money.

SPEAKER_00:

How are we gonna do it again? How are we gonna do it again? Why don't we put a two in front of Predator? And you know what?

SPEAKER_02:

They're not in a jungle, they're in the concrete jungle.

SPEAKER_00:

The city.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And we take the guy from Lethal Weapon, we make him the lead.

SPEAKER_00:

Shave his beard, and now he's a completely different character. And we're gonna have Gary Busey get cut in half. Which was probably the best part.

SPEAKER_01:

That was actually the best part. I still don't understand that kill because it's like the slight the disc like cuts him and his bottom part drops, but I don't know where the top half of him goes. No, I'd never. Even as a kid, I was like, where's the top half of him gone? Like it didn't make sense. It just levitates. Yeah. Same with like this watching this back, and you're like, oh, that was interesting. Like how like Arnie jumped off the waterfall, he's falling down the waterfall, and the camera goes from like normal, and then it becomes this potato shot where like the camera quality looks completely different, and then it goes back to you know movie quality. You're like, oh, that was a bit of a jarring kind of shot there.

SPEAKER_02:

It was. What do you think happened there? Did they like have to crop right in? Did the focus puller just miss his mark? Someone definitely I think it because it was so grainy, they probably had to crop in.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, someone definitely fucked up. Someone someone's like, yeah, that movie got me fired.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, now that I guess the next game is to find their name in the credits.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Imagine like they got blacklisted after that shot.

SPEAKER_02:

I've heard horror stories from Hollywood in the old days, like someone left a camera rolling and wasted a whole like reel of film back in the day, which would have been so expensive.

SPEAKER_01:

Doesn't it make you happy to know that like that problem would never ever happen to you as a filmmaker because yeah, you don't have to worry about the expenses of just using film.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-mm, 100%. Like, I that's one thing I I disagree with with some filmmakers about is like it's so much better being on digital. The capabilities are so much better. Don't get me wrong, there's kind of a form that film taught people that's kind of been lost, you know. Uh because now we shoot the rehearsal, whereas back in the day that was just not an option. You had to do the rehearsal. But yeah, like um, I think digital, there's so much more that you can do with it. You can also, if you do happen to make mistakes, not that you should be aiming to, you should be trying to fix it before you roll up. Um, there is, I guess, that tangibility not tangibility, there is that uh space or whatever to sort of like work on things, which you just didn't have in film necessarily back in the day.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Quinton Tarantino is not going to be happy about your thoughts, but he's probably never gonna watch this, so I think we'll be all right. He'll probably never watch my movies either. So or maybe he's The one guy like when you get a negative review and it's as anonymous as Tarantino just shitting on indie filmmakers because they choose to use digital instead of film.

SPEAKER_02:

I'd love to use film one day. I just I don't know, I'm just lazy. Digital's just so much better for me.

SPEAKER_01:

And you can make mistakes.

SPEAKER_02:

And you don't have to worry about the dollars and like there is even these things with film where it's like, have I got enough space for one more take? You know? Or do I need to keep like thinking ahead? Anyway, it stresses me out. Imagine doing the podcast on film.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh god. Well, I mean podcasts when oh my god, how would you even frickin upload the podcast with film? You'd have to Oh god, I don't know. We'd have to scan it. I don't even want to think about it. I'll just think about how podcasts and movies can be made off of just your phone alone probably blows people's minds when you think about it like that. Um I think that the final battle between Arnie and the Predator, like the whole movie just shifts into another gear.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It's so fucking well done. You know, seeing Arnie training and putting together a bow and arrow and stuff like that, and then it's cutting to the predator with his skulls and shit that he's collected from his fallen comrades. It's just it's brilliant. I love it. And then that war cry and seeing Arnie adapt, set up traps, trying to lure, like they're both trying to lure each other into traps. Yeah, it's it's very well done.

SPEAKER_02:

It's next level, and that's one thing you made the comparison earlier. It's like home alone, where you know the hunter becomes the hunted. And I think that's I think it was really cool as well to see it in a jungle setting where you've got limited resources. Like, how are you gonna do it? And he's hoisten up this big ass like trunk of a tree or something like that, pulling it up into another trap. Like, it's just it's really smart, it's really well done. I'm surprised we didn't see any more traditional booby traps, like where they had like a whole bunch of like a hole with spikes in it, and he laid over a whole bunch of other things where if you stepped on that, you'd fall and you'd get impaled on all the spikes. Then again, maybe that's a bit cliche, but it was uh it was definitely cool how Arnie Dutch used that location to his advantage quite like how Predator did before.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and like one trap didn't work, but it set it up perfectly for the other trap. Yeah, that was smart. I don't know, it works in that like you don't see Arnie like he does try and throw some fisticuffs with the Predator, but it just doesn't work, and it sets up right away like nah. Even Arnie's strength cannot help him with this. He can't fight like that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, oh he's just getting overpowered, like he's getting blown back by just a punch and a hit and all that sort of stuff and a slap. Like it's but that's the kind of thing that's cool about it, is Arnie had to learn, or he had to pre preset it up how to usmart this creature that has so much more of an advantage of him. And by that point, he hasn't got his squadron with him, he's just himself, it's just man versus predator.

SPEAKER_01:

And even though he's got the camouflage, he still has to fight strategically because this fucker's like it'll it's noticing like oh the bushes moving, like something up. Yeah, he might be there, and then yeah, it's the final reveal of the mask coming off and just seeing that there's this even uglier person underneath, or alien, I should say. That was the moment the mask comes off, and it's John Claude being here.

SPEAKER_02:

I wish I knew some John Claude Van Damme lines so I could quote it.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I I've seen his movies, and even I don't. I I I he doesn't have that those trademark lines.

SPEAKER_02:

He doesn't have the what was the line that Arnie said that the knife thing? Stick around, stick around, like he doesn't have his stick around.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he doesn't have the like I'll be back or like I'm curious to know if maybe he tried some and they just didn't work.

SPEAKER_02:

Um maybe that's how he lost the job. The master fly is open, he's like, Ah, cell vista, baby, and they're like, nah, that's not even.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he he said to the script writers, he was like, Look, like, this predator thing's pretty cool, but what if he had a Belgian accent? What if I spoke in just my normal voice and that was the Predator's dialogue? What if the Predator made these like quips after he killed each person?

SPEAKER_02:

And they're like, that that's a terrible idea. Get the fuck off the set.

SPEAKER_01:

Go back to Belgium. So, what what would be your final rating out of five, or what would you give Predator?

SPEAKER_02:

It's it's hard because I'm actually just not a big fan of the genre, I'll be honest. I think it was very entertaining. But I think out of respect, out of just the quality of it, out of the respect for the cultural impact, I'd give it maybe a four out of five.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm gonna give it a five out of five. Just because I've seen it so many times and I never get sick of it. Like I said, the music is fantastic, the pacing is so well done. I love the slow build. I love the the cheesy over-the-top action sequence, but then watching it all be peeled back and go into this tense, slower kind of thriller. I love those moments of like like when Arnie is trying to lure the predator out and you think everything's all good, and then that trap just springs up. Like there's just lots of great moments. A lot of the kills are really, really well done. I think the the mystery of the predator is handled very well, and it's just lots of standout shots for for this type of movie. Like, there's some shots where I go, like, fuck, like, wow, that was amazing. Like, what about that shot when the predator fires the plasma cannon and he's trying to get a hold of Arnie? And like, there's this beautiful shot of the Predator there in the forest in this open space, and just like the sparks are flying. The sparks are flying, and it it's brilliant. I must an awesome shot.

SPEAKER_02:

100%. I was love, I was really loved that shot. I thought as soon as I saw it, like, that's fucking cool. Yeah, that probably gave it an extra star for me alone. Yeah, I I look as I said, I I appreciate like it's standing, it's cultural. I did it like the story, I did like the story and all that sort of thing. I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable film. If it was just out of entertainment alone, I probably would give it a four and a half, maybe a five out of five.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, but yeah, overall rating about four stars. You know what puts it in the five out of five for me? What is it? The ending credits where they show all the characters and it it looks like a sitcom. It's just like Carl Weathers is like I'll be the boy. Like nothing's uh nothing says like sitcom style intro, like a movie about a creature ripping people's spines out, right? That's what we would want to see. Like this guy that was just dismembered. Let's bring him back and be like, here it is, Carl Weathers.

SPEAKER_00:

Steve Jane Black. We're all dead.

SPEAKER_01:

Like so it always stands out as like just when the movie's ending, and it it jarringly goes to these sitcom-like intros of all these characters that are dead.

SPEAKER_02:

And they're all quite goofy.

SPEAKER_01:

Whose idea was this?

SPEAKER_02:

It's pretty 80s, though, when you think about it. Like, that's what makes it so 80s, and it's part of the charm.

SPEAKER_01:

It's definitely something you won't see in modern movies. Imagine a modern film doing that shit now.

SPEAKER_02:

We could we should bring it back.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it'd be fun to like watch watch those mute the film, watch that that credit scene, and put like you know, the full house theme or like the Seinfeld theme. Try it out with different sitcoms.

SPEAKER_02:

Let's do it. That's what the new credit movie should have.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, um, yeah, it's great having you back on on the show, Luke. It's been great being here, thank you. I've lost a lot of respect for you knowing that you haven't seen a lot of classic films.

SPEAKER_02:

It's alright. We'll we'll build it back up by watching them together. He actually wants to kick me out right now. I can see the rage on this man's face. It's okay. It's okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Um yeah, get out anyway. That's um that's us, guys. That's uh another episode of Movies Worth Seeing. If you enjoyed this episode, this classic movie episode, please leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts on Predator. Does it still live up to the modern cinema landscape? Or is it an outdated 80s over the top cheesy action flick? Comment below your thoughts, let us know, and until next time, our still a beast.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to movies worth seeing. Make sure to like and share the show and leave a review. You can follow us on Instagram at Mike.