Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this macho sci-fi action adventure has lots of bloody violence -- not to mention artillery and gun fetishism (although, in the end, it's the low-tech death traps that prove most effective...). The villain is a laser-wielding alien that cuts down many of the heavily armed heroes, leaving hideously skinned corpses in its wake. Lots of strong language; some drinking, smoking, and drug references. The lone female character doesn't get much to do compared to star Arnold Schwarzenegger and his fellow male soldiers.
Families can talk about the appeal of scary movies. Why is it fun to watch something that puts you on the edge of your seat? How do the scares in a movie like this compare to those in a typical slasher movie? Which do you find scarier? Why? Families can also discuss how the time period in which a movie is made affects it (beyond the quality of the special effects, that is). What political and historical events does the movie reference? If you don't know, how could you find out?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Charles Cassady, Jr.
PREDATOR gets cited by those who keep track of such things as one of the ultimate "guy movies." It's a violent, militaristic, hyper-macho spectacle of biceps, bombs, and guns, with plenty of catchphrases tossed out by bigger-than-life actors (for example, Jesse Ventura's oft-quoted line "I ain't got time to bleed!"). If you can appreciate its cartoonish aspects -- for example, the fact that the cast members, despite having been savagely slaughtered, reappear for the end credits to take a bow and smile -- you'll likely be entertained.
The movie is set in an embattled jungle region in Latin America. A team of super-commandos -- who look like G.I. Joe dolls come to muscular life -- is hired as part of a U.S. military rescue mission to liberate hostages taken by leftist guerillas. Only after eliminating the guerilla headquarters in a firefight do the swaggering heroes, led by the formidable Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) find out that they were deceived. Their target was really a Soviet spy-invasion camp that the Pentagon wanted destroyed after an earlier Green Beret squad went missing.
But the commandos have worse problems. An alien spaceship has landed nearby, with its deadly occupant watching all the bloodshed. The creature is a tall, vicious extraterrestrial equivalent of a big-game hunter, and it was what killed (and skinned) the Green Berets. Now it's after the commandos, leaving Dutch to figure out how to overcome its invisibility technology and superior death-ray firepower.
In the process, he runs out of guns and regresses to basic hand-made booby-traps and snares -- just like the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. Or perhaps it's meant to be like the Viet Cong ... but this isn't exactly a message movie (even though it touches on controversial Cold War conflicts).
At least Predator is more fun than its 1990 sequel, Predator 2, in which the alien went hunting gangstas and FBI agents in a stereotypically hyper-violent Los Angeles, with Danny Glover grievously miscast in the Arnold role as a one-man-army cop. After that, the creature mainly appeared in video games and crossover comic books (even Batman fought the Predator!) until Alien Vs. Predator came along and filled in some of the questions about the Predator's eons-old interaction with the human race.
For a non-science-fiction movie with a similar tone, try Commando, in which Schwarzenegger (and some of Predator's supporting cast) stomp around Latin America with big guns fighting bad guys and rescuing a little girl. For more extraterrestrial scares, check out the original Alien, and for more Arnold action, you can't go wrong with the Terminator franchise.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentDouble-entendre dirty jokes and sex talk. |
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ViolenceHigh-powered artillery slaughter. People are riddled with big bullets from big guns, knifed, set on fire with grenades, and so on. Mayhem, pummeling, and stabbing is inflicted on the vicious alien as well. People are shot in the head or blasted through by alien beams. The Predator dismembers people (at a distance) and leaves hideously skinned human corpses. |
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LanguageLanguage includes "f--k," "bastard," "son of a bitch," "damn," and "bulls--t." One African-American character calls another the "N" word, and not in a remotely friendly fashion. Some swearing in Spanish. |
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Social BehaviorDutch says that he and his men are rescuers, not assassins, and he never seems to kill an "innocent" person. But it's hard to tell the difference with his weapons-happy (albeit diverse) team of bruisers. A U.S. Army commander turns out to be dishonest. The men are stereotypically hyper-macho characters right out of Soldier of Fortune; the only female character (a communist guerilla survivor) isn't given much to do. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoRecreational drinking, smoking, tobacco-chewing, references to drugs. |
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