A 1980’s action adventure that hits you with everything in the playbook. A group of special force commandos are called in by the CIA to rescue a government official who was taken by rebel forces in the jungles of South America. The commandos are headed by the lead CIA agents good friend Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who is ready to take this assignment on the only way he knows how- head on. The group finds out that they are not the only hunter out there in the jungle and soon come to realize that they are no longer the hunters, but now are the hunted, by an alien who was born to kill.

A chilling interpretation of “we are not alone” and I can still remember thinking if this is the aliens we will meet in outer space, then I am  glad I wanted to play baseball for a living and not be an astronaut. Arnold was my favorite actor of the time and he did not disappoint me with his portrayal of Dutch.  An all American bad ass who not only has some of the best one liners in the business, but comes through the whole ordeal alive ( big knock on Terminator 2). I had the video game on floppy disk on my commodore 64 and loved every minute of the stop action graphics of the time.  My hero in his biggest battle ever against an enemy not of this world, what else could a young boy who grew up in the 80’s ask for?

As I sit back and watch the movie today, I can still say that it holds itself up to any action movie that has come since. The graphics are not as crisp, the CGI is crude and lacking, but with its star power and use of great timing on the lines coupled with big explosions, Predator still ranks as my all time go to movie. It has spawned two sequels, 2 cross over films, numerous video games, and a cult following that with one phrase you know who else has Dutch and the boys locked in their mind.

Joshua Luchesi