What Made Predator Such a Big Hit?
Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2022 7:27 am
Arnold Schwarzenegger, but not quite for the reasons one might think.
Before Predator Schwarzenegger was just starting on his popularity train, coming off the heels of Terminator and Conan the Barbarian. Predator was his next big film and the premise of this film was something that was never really attempted after this film, presenting a movie monster that could threatened and even possibly defeat THE Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Sure, Schwarzenegger was beaten in Terminator but he was the villain in that before it was defeated it managed to kill several people, including most of a police station and the deuteragonist and very nearly killed the protagonist. So the idea of Schwarzenegger going up against something that was as tough, if not tough, then him was applying.
And that is what all the marketing was based around, one of the biggest action stars was going to fight a monster. And the movie delivered.
The 3 act structure of the film is rather interesting as all three acts are all different genres. Act one is a standard 80s action movie filled with one liners, explosions and guns, Lots of Guns. And, of course, big men and their ridiculously oversized muscles.
Act 2, however, takes a interesting twist as the film stops being an action movie and instead turns into a slasher movie with the only difference being that the victims are all badass soldiers lead by THE Badass of the Day. And yet with all their weapons and skills, it means nothing to the Predator. Sure, it may not be invincible but even with what Dutch says "If it bleeds, we can kill it" doesn't matter if it kills you first. Two of the heroes are killed with ease by the Predator in the first few minutes of act 2 and the woman who saw it happened (who's a badass in her own right) is clearly in shock for a good chunk of the movie.
And by the end of act 2, everyone in Dutch's team are dead and he's now without any of his weapons and all he has on his side in the monster that killed all his friends.
Act 3 is the show down as the film finally gets to the pay off which is Schwarzenegger vs. The Predator and in the end but instead of being a full on brawl it's a battle of brains vs. brawn as Dutch goes low tech and covers himself in mud to counter the Predator's heat vision. And even then Dutch is STILL not able to best his adversary as it's not long till his cornered by the Predator. And then the two engage in a fist fight which is REALLY one sided as the Predator is clearly stronger then Dutch could ever hope to be but in the end he still beats the monster via one of his traps.
But what's great about this film is that while Schwarzenegger won it almost feels like he lost as all his friends are dead and instead of standing triumphantly after the battle the final shot of the film is Dutch sitting back with a thousand yard stare. There's no badass one liner, no speech of hope and no sense that this is a victory meant to be celebrated, this was a battle to the death and in a way, the Predator won. He has the last laugh of the film, literally and even in the silly end credits where everyone smiles into the camera like this was some sort of sitcom the image of Dutch we get, he's not smiling, but glaring at something behind the camera.
And finally, as of the time this writing, Dutch has not returned to the series and Schwarzenegger has given no real indication that he will return to the role but the Predator? They always come back. It may be a different one but the Predator made such an impact on pop-culture that it doesn't need Schwarzenegger to stand on it's own. You don't even need to title the film to include Predator for the film to be a hit the monster has become the true star of the series.
So, in the end I would say that the success of the series came down to two things, Schwarzenegger's presents and the Predator itself. The film works because of both of them and remove either one from the equation and the film wouldn't have been as good as it was.
Before Predator Schwarzenegger was just starting on his popularity train, coming off the heels of Terminator and Conan the Barbarian. Predator was his next big film and the premise of this film was something that was never really attempted after this film, presenting a movie monster that could threatened and even possibly defeat THE Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Sure, Schwarzenegger was beaten in Terminator but he was the villain in that before it was defeated it managed to kill several people, including most of a police station and the deuteragonist and very nearly killed the protagonist. So the idea of Schwarzenegger going up against something that was as tough, if not tough, then him was applying.
And that is what all the marketing was based around, one of the biggest action stars was going to fight a monster. And the movie delivered.
The 3 act structure of the film is rather interesting as all three acts are all different genres. Act one is a standard 80s action movie filled with one liners, explosions and guns, Lots of Guns. And, of course, big men and their ridiculously oversized muscles.
Act 2, however, takes a interesting twist as the film stops being an action movie and instead turns into a slasher movie with the only difference being that the victims are all badass soldiers lead by THE Badass of the Day. And yet with all their weapons and skills, it means nothing to the Predator. Sure, it may not be invincible but even with what Dutch says "If it bleeds, we can kill it" doesn't matter if it kills you first. Two of the heroes are killed with ease by the Predator in the first few minutes of act 2 and the woman who saw it happened (who's a badass in her own right) is clearly in shock for a good chunk of the movie.
And by the end of act 2, everyone in Dutch's team are dead and he's now without any of his weapons and all he has on his side in the monster that killed all his friends.
Act 3 is the show down as the film finally gets to the pay off which is Schwarzenegger vs. The Predator and in the end but instead of being a full on brawl it's a battle of brains vs. brawn as Dutch goes low tech and covers himself in mud to counter the Predator's heat vision. And even then Dutch is STILL not able to best his adversary as it's not long till his cornered by the Predator. And then the two engage in a fist fight which is REALLY one sided as the Predator is clearly stronger then Dutch could ever hope to be but in the end he still beats the monster via one of his traps.
But what's great about this film is that while Schwarzenegger won it almost feels like he lost as all his friends are dead and instead of standing triumphantly after the battle the final shot of the film is Dutch sitting back with a thousand yard stare. There's no badass one liner, no speech of hope and no sense that this is a victory meant to be celebrated, this was a battle to the death and in a way, the Predator won. He has the last laugh of the film, literally and even in the silly end credits where everyone smiles into the camera like this was some sort of sitcom the image of Dutch we get, he's not smiling, but glaring at something behind the camera.
And finally, as of the time this writing, Dutch has not returned to the series and Schwarzenegger has given no real indication that he will return to the role but the Predator? They always come back. It may be a different one but the Predator made such an impact on pop-culture that it doesn't need Schwarzenegger to stand on it's own. You don't even need to title the film to include Predator for the film to be a hit the monster has become the true star of the series.
So, in the end I would say that the success of the series came down to two things, Schwarzenegger's presents and the Predator itself. The film works because of both of them and remove either one from the equation and the film wouldn't have been as good as it was.