Predator

Directed by John McTiernan (1987)

Having seen and loved Terminator and Alien, I was hoping for some beautiful mixing of these two movies in Predator. The former because Arnold of course, and the latter because the two have been conflated in my mind from years of hearing about Alien v Predator in popular culture. Alas, I was slightly disappointed. The suspense of Alien is lost by the corniness of the dialogue (thanks Arnold), and I think the badassery of Terminator isn't present since for the most part we don't see the predator, much like the alien in Alien. But for some reason the terror-inducing element of the alien just wasn't there for me for the predator. It was great for a campy action-thriller though, and has some memorable one-liners of course. The final fight scene is epic and Arnold comes in clutch as always. While not as good as other classics, I still see why Predator has a place in pop culture history and played an important role in film.

(12/21/21)