Predator Ultimate Hunter Edition Blu-ray
Right in the middle of Arnold Schwarzenegger's prime film career he stars as Dutch, the tough leader of a commando group hired by the CIA to rescue a Cabinet Member only to be hunted by a Predator.
Film making 25/25
Video 18/25
Audio 22/25
Bonus Features 20/25
Total 85/100
The classic start to a series of films that continue today stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dutch, leader of a commando group sent into the South American jungle to rescue a downed helicopters crew and passenger. Dutch and his crew are sent in to rescue a cabinet member who was on board a helicopter but later on things are not what they appear.
Old time acquaintance and CIA operative Dillon, played by Carl Weathers, leads them into the jungle after the downed helicopter but they find trouble quickly. The crew on the helicopter has been skinned alive and left high up in the trees, an almost impossible feat for a human.
When the commando group finds the enemy encampment and the supposed downed cabinet member they attack only find intelligence in papers, maps and communications equipment. Dutch confronts Dillon who tells the truth, the were after the information and there was no rescue but Dutch already figured that out.
They do rescue a woman who was being held prisoner by the guerilla group that has been causing trouble for the locals and the government. Anna is a local, they do not really give much of an explanation for her in the film but she is the terrified innocent of the film stuck in for the plot.
When the group of commandos with Anna in tow head off to their pickup Anna escapes, is confronted by one of the commandos who catches her and then the Predator kills him. Anna is terrified and tells the others that the jungle came to life and took the soldier, not exactly a helpful explanation to a team deep in the jungle.
One by one the team of commandos are killed and ripped apart like trophies as the Predator hunts the group when their helicopter pickup will not go deep into the jungle to get them. Dutch is the last to survive and confront the Predator using home made weapons and the jungles natural materials for camouflage.
Anna was pushed out of the way near the end and the Predator left her to chase after a real foe in Dutch, Anna and Dutch are rescued by the Army General after Dutch deals with the Predator. The Predator being mortally wounded by Dutch had set off a small nuclear self destruct to cremate any evidence of himself and possibly to kill Dutch.
Predator, along with Aliens, started a whole series of films, games and other entertainment frenzies that continue today with their popular myth based on aliens. The movie does not go much into why the Predator is here on earth other than as a hunter looking in war torn hot spots for a worthy opponent.
While the film does have plenty of speaking during the film the plot and filming style leave a lot to the imagination and the general action of the film to fill in the whys and hows of things. The film is one of those classic science fiction movies that has spawned numerous science fiction films including copy cats, films based on the Predator and other great sci-fi movies.
Video for Predator is well done considering the film was made in 1987 but it does have a bit of controversy among film lovers and critics. The film has been cleaned up quite a bit and to me it looks very good but others say they took out too much detail due to the cleaning.
Grain is gone but with it a bit too much detail for some but for me it just looks good and shows that there can be both good looking video and those that do not think it is good looking. The video has great color and being in the jungle for 99 percent of the film color is vivid and good looking.
Audio is also very good with DTS-HD Master 5.1 Surround Sound and does the film justice with well done gunfire and explosions but the film does lack a more modern sound. The film is dated and really shows it when talking about not only audio but video but not all is lost, extras on this Ultimate Hunter Edition adds a lot of value.
Bonus features include audio commentary by director John McTiernan and text only commentary by Eric Lichtenfeld, a film historian. Other features include several making of features, outtakes and deleted scenes as well as a sneak peek at the newest take off called Predators.
The bonus content is about what you would expect and really worth it for an older film as far back as the 1980's where they did not do much with bonus content. I found this edition well worth the purchase and really good with plenty of the making of features which is really what people want to see from action films.
Predator is a one of a kind film and the classic action film with the science fiction theme solidly planted in the one solitary aspect of the film. Predator is truly a well worthwhile purchase but for traditional film fans who want the grain but better detailed film you may want to go with the 2008 edition.
If you're looking for a better digitally enhanced but clearly less noisy and vivid edition of Predator with all the bonus features you can possibly get the Blu-ray Ultimate Hunter Edition is a great purchase.