Predator 1987 was always a B-movie

  Blender Dumbass
September 28, 2025

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https://blenderdumbass.org/reviews/predator_1987_was_always_a_b-movie : 👁 1

#predator #horror #ArnoldSchwarzenegger #film #review #movies #cinemastodon

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As I observed in my review of Predator 2, the Predator films feel very B-movie-like. And the first film, John McTiernan's 1987 Predator is not an exception.

Shooting in an actual jungle, McTiernan didn't have all the basic needs of a film-director. He couldn't make crane-shots, or lay down dolly tracks so easily. This made the entire move be rather simplistic. Most shots are hand held, or on a steady-cam rig. Some are rather cool shots. But most of it is simple, due to the environment. This simple approach to shots already gives the movie this slight B-movie quality.

Using Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987 as the lead actor, came with its own set of expectations and little quarks. For example, the infamous tendency of Arny to get stupid one-liners, like when he throws a knife at an enemy soldier in the beginning, the knife is big enough to penetrate him fully, and stick him to the wall, and Arny says: "Stick around".

I speculated that Predator 2 might not only be a sequel to this movie, but also a sequel to Lethal Weapon, and now I have more proof to this speculation of mine. Lethal Weapon was written by Shane Black who for some reason plays one of the soldiers in this film and who has the same kind of role, when it comes to writing the script, as Tarantino on Jerry Bruckheimer movies in the late 90s. Shane Black did some minor script changes, probably to elevate the dialogue a bit. I'm pretty sure that the dumb jokes he tells in the film, were written by him. Though, it would be funny if that was the stuff he didn't actually bring to the film.

There character of Anna ( Elpidia Carrillo ) is so stupidly B-movie-esque. She is this girl who speaks only Spanish and who needs to be translated to by the 2 dudes who speak it. But then Dutch ( Arny ) becomes so pissed, and asks her a question ( in English ) with such intensity, that she suddenly learns the entire English language out of fear and answers to him in proper English. I mean, I get it, she was playing dumb with them, so she could learn what they are planning to do without them knowing it. And was pretending to only speak Spanish. And then when shit hit the fan and they met the Predator, she decided that enough is enough. And she can stop pretending. But that scene was really fucking hilarious in the way it was done.

Also that Bayhem! first encounter with the Predator, lol. The entire team of troops start shooting at the jungle blindly without even knowing what they are shooting at. They even send explosives. They mow the whole forest down. Like yeah, one of them gets shot by the Predator. And the other sees him, so he starts shooting in his general direction. But then Arny comes and also starts shooting. Without ever seeing what he is shooting at. And then everybody come and all of them start shooting. They are just shooting the trees unloading their entire arsenal on the poor forest. This is one of the most hilarious scenes ever.

So let me pull something out of my ass, for a little bit. Dillon ( Carl Weathers ) and Arny have a cool as, manliest hand shake ever, in the beginning of the film. The moment is iconic and everybody knows about it. Dillon is black. And Arny is a Schwarzenegger. Schwarzen in German means Black. And the second half of the name is an outright insult of a black person. But Arnold is white. Dillon is black. Yet we learn that Dillon is a traitor of sorts. Not really a traitor. An friendship abuser, so to speak. So the film makes the black guy, kind of one of the bad guys in the film. And then when everybody is dead or "in the choppa" and Arny needs to survive ( and kill ) the alien. He finds out that he becomes invisible to the Predator if he puts mud all around his body. Becoming actually black. The mud is a black-face. Arnold becomes a Schwarzenegger to have a benefit over the Predator. Is the film racist? Nah... fuck that. Let's not go there. Or the 2 people who reads those reviews will stop reading them, or something.

Happy Hacking!!!


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  Troler c:0



And there is an another Anna, in Anna (2019), who can speak Russian.

Reply

  Troler c:1



I would not stop reading your reviews, were you to discuss such topics. I guess a fitting question would be: is Jerry from Tom & Jerry racist?

... replies ( 1 )

  Blender Dumbass c:2



@Troler Which Tom & Jerry? There is the cartoon about the cat and mouse games. And there is Top Gun. ( Tom Cruise, Jerry Bruckheimer )

Reply

  Blender Dumbass c:2

... c:1

  Troler c:1

Is the film racist? Nah... fuck that. Let's not go there. Or the 2 people who reads those reviews will stop reading them, or something

I would not stop reading your reviews, were you to discuss such topics. I guess a fitting question would be: is Jerry from Tom & Jerry racist?

@Troler Which Tom & Jerry? There is the cartoon about the cat and mouse games. And there is Top Gun. ( Tom Cruise, Jerry Bruckheimer )

Reply