IT CAME FOR THE THRILL OF THE HUNT. IT PICKED THE WRONG MAN TO HUNT.

Special Forces Major ”Dutch” Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his team are off to the Central American jungle on a rescue mission, but face an unexpected and highly lethal enemy…

A sci-fi action movie whose cult status has grown over the years. It now stands as one of Schwarzenegger’s finest adventures after The Terminator (1984), offering the kind of shootouts that his fans expect, but also a great amount of tension in the jungle and clever Vietnam War symbolism.

Engaging cast that are picked off one by one but the monster itself is also intriguing, partly because it remains more or less hidden most of the time. Alan Silvestri’s evocative music score adds to the thrills.

1987-U.S. 107 min. Color. Directed by John McTiernan. Screenplay: Jim Thomas, John Thomas. Music: Alan Silvestri. Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Alan ”Dutch” Schaefer), Carl Weathers (Al Dillon), Elpidia Carrillo (Anna Gonsalves), Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, Shane Black. 

Trivia: Jean-Claude Van Damme was first cast as the predator, but dropped out. Followed by three sequels, starting with Predator 2 (1990) and three prequels, starting with Prey (2022); the monster also appeared in Alien vs. Predator (2004).

Last word: “[Schwarzenegger] hadn’t made very many movies. But I knew that he was very smart and he’s like a sponge. He just picks up information from people. So I tried to keep people around him who knew how to act, particularly Carl Weathers. Arnold was really wonderful about that – you could tell. Normally, the star stays in his trailer when they’re doing a scene with the second lead. Nope. Whenever Carl was working, particularly during the first half of the movie, Arnold somehow wasn’t in his trailer. He was standing around watching what was going on. He was learning! That’s why I cast Carl.” (McTiernan, Cinephilia & Beyond)