Predator

The 80's proved that Arnold was invinceable at the box office. Was there nothing that could topple his overnight success that came with the hits in Conan the Barbarian and the Sci-Fi thriller Terminator. He needed a bigger challenge, something out of this world, and it was delivered in the form of a Human hunting Predator. Now it was time for Arnie to be on the receiving end.

Dutch (Schwarzenegger) and a crack team of Commandos, featuring the likes of B-grade legends such as Jesse Ventura and Bill Duke (Commando), are sent into the South American jungles on a search and rescue mission but soon find themselves on a wild goose chase care of long time military friend Dillon (Carl Weathers).

It's time for them to "get da hell out" before the Geurillas come back for revenge. The problem is that something else is stalking the team and picking them off one by one. The Predator, with his ability to remain invisible and his large arsenal of out of this world weapons easily carves his way through them all but has he met his match in Arnold or is this out of this world challenge too much for our hero.

Director John McTiernan, who would later go on to direct such hits as Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October and The Last Action Hero, has crafted a suspensful and action packed ride of a movie from start to finish. Let's hope that this teaming up of McTiernan and Schwarzenegger works once again when they begin work on Terminator 3.

The biggest problem this DVD faces is that we have a dual coded region 2/4 disc that suffers at the hands of the BBFC with certain key scenes being either shortened or totally missing. A detriment to the DVD that didn't need anything else bad going for it that isn't already lost in the video and audio as discussed below.

Once again we have another transfer suffering from a case of split personality. The first section, before the crew lands in the jungle, has an image riddled with grain, film dirt and noise and is obviously from a working print. Color is OK and sharpness leaves a lot to be desired. Edge enhancement is used to bring some sort of hard edge definition.

Once the team makes it to the jungle it is as if a whole new transfer begins with a much cleaner print, this time coming from a proper negative (You can tell the difference in the source by the color of the film dirt. If the dirt is black then the source is a positive print, if the dirt is white then we have a negative.)

Color now begins to take on a new level of saturation and richness with all manner of green shades splashing onto the screen. At times the jungle here looks impressive, melting away the concrete jungles that we are used to.

The final scenes are in entire darkness and here is where we notice the black levels of this DVD not being up to the standard of the stellar transfers we have come across in our time as reviewers. All in all, a nice anamorphic transfer for a 15 year old movie that seems on par with our region 1 cousins.

Billed as a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, we are only presented with an actual 4.1 soundtrack as the surrounds are in mono, also noted in a few US reviews of their disc, including the newly remastered dts release found over there.

Despite this inaccuracy, the movie has never sounded better with a very nice soundtrack that brings the jungle to life. Initially, dialogue is a little soft but soon settles into a nice even level. The front soundstage is alive with sound with the rear providing a supporting role when called upon.

Having not seen the movie in the theatres and only experiencing it many times on VHS, this is the best sounding version I have heard to date. The major attraction is the tight bass that eminates during the more enthralling scenes.

As stated above, the cuts included are obvious with various "mother fah" scenes ending abruptly. The most obvious of which is the entirely missing scene that includes Arnies classic "Stick around". Thankyou BBFC and thank you Fox.

Yet another trailer only release of a classic. It deserved so much more, like a feature on producing the Predator invisible effect.

Has there ever been another alien such as the Predator. Foxs other alien franchise is the leading contender and the hope for the "Alien vs Predator" franchise to begin still rages on.

As a movie, this is one of the better Arnie efforts, even if he is the prey himself. The cuts introduced really do mean a backward step for fans who have been used to the full edit on both video and when it aired on TV not even a fortnight ago.

I'd like to recommend it but can't bring myself to do so. I leave that up to you.