On the podcast this time, Steven and Sean are tearing the jungle a new one with the 1987 film from John McTiernan, Predator.
If you’ve spent any time on the internet in the last half-decade or so, you’re probably more familiar with this film than you realize. That was the case with me, at least. Large portions of online language are borrowed directly from it. That bicep-flexing, hand-clapping handshake that Arnold and Carl Weathers share? Oh yeah, that’s from this film. “Get to the choppah!” This film right here. Um, pretty much everything else that Arnold says? Yeah, you know where to find it.
Because of its prevalence, you’ll probably find yourself feeling a bit of déjà vu while watching it. The thing has made its way into the global zeitgeist as few other films have.
For a film with such remarkable displays of machismo and clear compensating for small “egos,” it’s amazing to see that it’s also far more than the sum of its parts. It’s all too easy to go into this film for the first time and think that you’re just going to get a balls-to-the-wall, blow ‘em up action fest, but that’s not the case. You’re going to get a piece of film work that has stood the test of time for a good reason.
Not to toot our own horn, but you don’t get featured on this podcast for no good reason. Even the truly terrible films we’ve seen (and there have been a few) were talked about because there was something special about them. In the case of our B-movie bonus episodes, are those movies special because they’re truly god-awful? Oh yeah. We’re looking at you, Sharktopus.
With Predator, you have a monster movie (well, an alien movie, but that’s a different franchise) that transcends its action movie tropes. It goes beyond bullets, explosions, and greased-up pecs. By the end of it, you’ll have watched a thrilling cat-and-mouse adventure between one of the great action stars and a murderous, yet respectful monster.
Now, who doesn’t want to watch that?
(Recorded on July 12, 2021)
Links to Stuff We Mentioned:
A Fish Called Selma | The Simpsons - IMDb
Blockbuster (Bend, Oregon) - Wikipedia
(Turns out that the last Blockbuster is in Oregon, and not Alaska. The second to last Blockbuster was the one in Alaska. There can be only one and now the Oregon Blockbuster is the Blockbuster Highlander.)
