Predator - A Raving Classic

People have had an odd fascination with Arnold Schwarzenegger ever since he showed up in Hollywood more than thirty years ago. We also have an obsession with Aliens - on top of that, most people love Reggae music. Add these three ingredients together and you'll get today's Raving Classic film - Predator. In 1987, we were treated to what is likely Arnold's best movie ever - a movie that asked the question - what if Aliens hunted humans the way hillbillies stalk deer? Well, maybe this Alien wasn't a hick on his world but then again maybe he was - he had a strange sense of humor and liked to collect trophies.

The main theme from Predator

Predator is one of those movies you can watch again and again and it still grips you. The storyline is fairly thin because this is a macho-action type plot. Everybody in the movie is macho, including the Alien. Even the one female lead, Elpidia Carrillo (as the sexy Sandinista), is pretty tough. The special effects were unique and memorable and the "creature design" - well, it was out of this world.

Kiss me baby !

Now if you want to watch this movie expecting some great acting - forget it. When Arnold does talk he's barely intelligible (perhaps a bit clearer than Stallone though) but then again he's there for the muscle-power and not a lot of introspective monologues. Arnold is always good in movies where you can reasonably affirm that he looks the part - like in Conan (not the talk show) and the Terminator and in this film. Arnold is a walking comic book character leading man - and he was doing that way before the comic book craze took over Hollywood. But he does it so well...

The original trailer for Predator, circa 1987

Here's a list of the rest of the things we like about the movie:

1. The premise was pretty cool.
2. The Dredlock Rastaman monster alien was exceptionally cool.
3. The jungle setting made it seem more plausible (in contrast to some of the silly sequels) 
4. The  Predator versus mercenary battle scenes were great as was the attack on the rebel camp. The personal battle between Arnold and the Predator good ole boy was awesome.
5. The humans won - at least until the next movie. 
6. The movie score was excellent - it added a lot of tension to an already suspenseful, well-paced plot. 
7. Oh, and we liked the shoulder-mounted laser. 

Believe it or not, this was state of the art in 1987

Here's some of our favorite quotes from the movie:

1. Bunch of slack-jawed faggots around here. This stuff will make you a god damned sexual Tyrannosaurus, just like me. (from Jesse Ventura early in the film)
2. This place makes Cambodia look like Kansas... you lose it out here and you're in a world of hurt. (another Jesse quote - all the more interesting given he was a real Navy Seal during the Vietnam war).
3. There's something out there waiting for us, and it ain't no man. We're all gonna die. (Billy / Sonny Landham)
4. If it bleeds, we can kill it. (Arnold)
5. We find them sometimes without their skin. Sometimes...much, much worse. Cazador de trofoes...means the demon who makes trophies of men. (Elpidia Carrillo)

The (entire) Making of Predator

Predator is not a profound movie-going experience but it is a visceral one. It isn't exactly scary but it does get your adrenaline pumping and pulls you inside the story. It's a movie-going experience that translates well to the TV screen as well (big screens are better of course).

Movie Reference	Ratings & Reviews	How to Watch
Predator on Wikipedia	Rotten Tomatoes	From Netflix
Predator on IMDB	Roger Ebert's Review	From Amazon.com

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The Thing - A Raving Classic

What makes a movie a classic film? Is it the age of the picture, its relative popularity; does it have to be one particular genre or is it a genre unto itself? Do critics determine what is or isn't classic or is it the movie lovers? Do you have to take film appreciation courses to be able to identify whether or not a movie is classic? We will try to answer those questions for you as we introduce the first review in a new series we're calling, Raving Classics.

Answers:

1. You don't have to take any film classes to be able to identify a classic. We took some of those classes and can assure you they were a giant waste of time.
2. Classics don't belong to any one genre or any one time - they cross all of them. Films released this year could be classics and virtually any type of film might be considered classic - even some documentaries (Capra's "Why we Fight" is a good example).
3. You don't need critics to tell what is a classic, but they can help you find them if you haven't already discovered them on your own.

Classic Criteria: Here are some guidelines that might be used to help assess whether a film is worthy of being called "Classic."

• It's fun to watch.
• It never gets old - you watch it over and over again and still appreciate it.
• It makes you feel something, or think something new, interesting or otherwise thrilling.
• A classic often gets remade, but the remakes to a real classic never measure up to the original (which is perhaps why no one has tried a remake of Gone with the Wind).
• A classic has memorable moments that stay with you and often these become cultural guideposts or pillars that help to define an age.

So there you have it; our criteria for a classic film. With that we will now review our first Raving Classic - just in time for the onset of cold weather but not too long after Halloween. We're reviewing one of our favorite movies ever - John Carpenter's, The Thing.

Things heat up in the coldest place in the world... Poster art for The Thing

John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) is all about atmosphere - it takes us to the end of the world and strands us there with a handful of bearded and ultimately desperate men (this is definitely not a chick flick). The film's understated soundtrack evokes Jaws but at a much deeper level - helping to establish a sense of foreboding that builds steadily as we drive deeper into the mystery and paranoia that ensues. As you may know this film is itself a remake of a 1951 film and has been remade again recently (2011), which makes it a bit unusual as classics go in that the second one hit the jackpot while the first and third tries missed badly.

CPR was never the same after this scene from "The Thing"

 John Carpenter's The Thing succeeded where the others failed for a number of reasons:

1. An excellent ensemble cast with a very strong performances by the lead Kurt Russell and his sort of nemesis, Keith David (who can now be seen in Cloud Atlas).
2. A very neatly wrapped storyline - it wasn't complicated by any means - but seemed perfectly believable. We're dropped right into the situation and accept it instantly.
3. The tension of this film is palpable. Even after watching it more than 10 times it's still there - and the question of whether or not you can trust the folks around you allows us to drop into a temporary paranoid fantasy without having to stay too long (unlike the X-Files).
4. No One Gets Out Alive - How cool is that? No obvious sequels with the same cast anyway.
5. The Big Question - This film doesn't answer the big question -  what happens next and that makes the movie even more menacing. The 2011 remake actually represents a sort of prequel with a focus on the Norwegian team that dug up the monster so we've still never found out what happened when the rescue team returns to the American Research station.
6. The Battle between McCready and the Monsters was Epic - This guy was cool, the hat, the Whiskey and the wits to take on the toughest bastards in the galaxy.
7. Groundbreaking Special Effects - This movie came well before the advent of computer animation. These monsters were handcrafted with lots of love and still look convincing today. Who can ever forget the slime dogs and spider-head guy?  Unlike many monster, alien or horror flicks, these effects truly advance the plot and ensure the believability of the premise. They are among us and they are not nice...

McCready encounters a dead Norwegian (segue to 2011 remake)

The characters in The Thing seem like a very ordinary bunch of men placed in an extraordinary situation which unfolds before their eyes very rapidly. The situation makes them question who exactly their co-workers are in a more profound way than most of us will ever do. And keep in mind, the first two versions of the Thing were still very much Cold War metaphors - placing them both in cold locales was like having your cake and eating it too.  Being paranoid and scared can be a lot of fun, so next time it starts snowing out, turn the lights down low and watch the 1982 version of The Thing.

A really great trailer, but that's to be expected. 

 

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