Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7884 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-13
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Although it was only made in 1987, Predator is already the kind of film that has action fans sighing, "They don't make 'em like that any more". Few later films can equal its testosterone-fuelled scenario, its graphic violence or its genuinely unnerving sense of danger. An alien big-game hunter comes to Earth to hunt the meanest, most dangerous creatures on the planet. Naturally, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his astonishingly muscle-bound team of marines are prime targets. The premise has a compelling Zen-like simplicity and the correspondingly minimalist script consists, for the most part, of the statuesque soldiers snarling one-liners at each other ("I ain't got time to bleed", "If it bleeds we can kill it") in between firing unfeasibly large weapons.

Director John McTiernan emphasises the claustrophobic confines of the jungle setting, allowing tension to build for the film's first two thirds by keeping the titular hunter concealed from both its prey and the audience. Composer Alan Silvestri's nerve-jangling percussive score racks up the tension yet further. When the creature does show its handiwork the results are horrifically gory, and, thanks to the film's insistently realistic tone, all the more terrifying. By the final act, a memorably mud-caked Arnie must discard all his high-tech weaponry and fight hand-to-hand against creature effects wizard Stan Winston's classic monster; McTiernan's action choreography ensures that the outcome of this hard-fought duel is never a foregone conclusion.

On the DVD: Predator at last gets the DVD release it deserves. Its previous incarnations used the bowdlerised TV edit; but this two-disc set restores the full theatrical cut, with skinned corpses aplenty and Carl Weathers' lopped-off arm among other messy delights. Not only that, but the sound options are now ultra-vivid Dolby 5.1 or DTS 5.1, though the anamorphic picture is still grainy in some of the darker scenes. John McTiernan provides a decent director's commentary, but much more fascinating information can be had from a text commentary option.

On the generously filled second disc there are seven short behind-the-scenes featurettes (including one dedicated to "Old Painless" the Gatling gun) plus a retrospective documentary, "If It Bleeds We Can Kill It", which includes both old and new interviews with many of the cast and crew. There are also outtakes and a deleted scene, special effects segments, camouflage tests and a text profile of the creature and its weaponry, plus a photo gallery. --Mark Walker

Synopsis
In the remote jungle of a Central American country, an elite group of commandos led by Major Dutch Schaeffer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), embarks on a CIA mission to clear out a guerrilla stronghold and rescue the remaining hostages. However, the hunters become the hunted when a highly intelligent, otherwordly being slowly and methodically starts killing off members of Dutch's team. Possessing a chameleonlike camouflaging ability and a deadly alien arsenal, the creature tracks down the soldiers one by one. Director John McTiernan's film is a thrilling high-action flick, filled with great one-liners (courtesy of Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, and the rest of the cast) and excellent special effects.

Customer Reviews

outstanding horror film
This is a classic horror film and is one of my favorite films. Tense, violent, action-packed and superb scenes. The setting is perfect in a lush jungle and the way the suspense slowly builds is brilliantly done, with the predator observing them at first and then picking them off one by one. The battle at the end between Arnie and the predator is really exciting. This is a must-see.

Sublime
This is quite simply a stunning piece of entertainment. Fantastic action, suspense, mystery and wonderful, if one dimensional, characters. Some of the imagery is iconic and the Predator, when you see it for the first time, is wierdly magnificent. Of course the story is essentially Alien in the Jungle. Where a group is whittled away one by one by an unseen monster before the last one alive duels with the beast and finally, victorious, makes a peaceful journey away from the carnage towards home. Whatever its ancestry this is a film you'll watch again and again because even when you know what's coming, it's still great.

Energetic Sci Fi thriller
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator) stars as Dutch, a soldier sent into an American Jungle on a mission, only to find out that he and his colleagues are being hunted by a mysterious monster.

the film is fast and energetic right from the off with Arnie on top form. the graphics are good and the direction even better with a feeling of isolation and claustrophobia encoded to justify the thriller genre.

there isnt much depth to the characters, there is a sluggish start and the film itself doesnt run for very long but otherwise its a very enjoyable watch and a good sci fi thriller