Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying a wonderful November. I actually posted our Blind Spot episode a couple of weeks ago but forgot to post it here on the blog. We made a last minute change to the schedule when I realized I had a major blind spot in the original Predator movie from 1987.
I am perhaps one of the few people who saw Predator Badlands before seeing the original film. This is particularly unique for that film as Badlands subverts the franchise by telling the story of a predator creature instead of the normal human POV. I really enjoyed Badlands as a stand alone entry but even without seeing the other films admire it’s attempt to try something new (we are getting a Moana remake just to remind you how rare such an attempt actually is.)
The biggest surprise watching the original Predator film is how much of a monster movie it is. It is not the scifi movie of something like the Alien films but more similar to something like Jurassic Park. I was also surprised how much of an ensemble film it is. Honestly Carl Weathers is as much the star of the film as Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It’s also more of a war movie than I expected with many scenes reminding me of Apocalypse Now or other 80s era war films. The director John McTiernan is in love with the visual effects of the 80s including making the predator be clear or invisible. It is a very bloody film but at under 2 hours doesn’t feel bloated like many action movies do today.
If you haven’t seen Predator it is definitely worth a watch, as is Predator Badlands. It’s the kind of franchise filmmaking we should be encouraging from Hollywood (and Disney) instead of the soulless entries they so often offer.
