Predator/YMMV
< Predator
Franchise-wise
- Evil Is Cool: Given its bizarre weapons and technology and the unique design from Stan Winston, the Predator inevitably became another popular slasher villain along the lines of Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.
- Visual Effects of Awesome: Given that Stan Winston was involved with the special effects, the Predator suits and cloaking device still look amazing years after they left theaters.
- What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: A camouflaged biped uses endurance, superior tech and stalking to kill targets, not for food but sport.
The first movie
- Award Snub: Losing the Visual Effects Oscar to Innerspace. Not so much for the loss, as Innerspace had some amazingly impressive and innovative special effects itself, but more for the fact this was the only Oscar any of the films were nominated for.
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Blain and Mac.
- First Installment Wins: While some of the sequels have their fans, the original Predator is by far the most well known and revered film in the franchise and is universally considered to be an action classic.
- Fountain of Memes: Virtually every single one of the main characters has an infamous action or one-liner.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Of course, any movie with Arnie and Jesse Ventura is funnier because of their subsequent political careers, but lesser known is that Sonny Landham (Billy) also tried to run for Kentucky Governor and Senator. For more context on Landham, since he isn't nearly as well-known as his co-stars, he was rejected for being too much of a right-wing nut by the Libertarian Party... meaning that, however dimly you might think of Ventura or Schwarzenegger, neither of them can fairly be called the worst gubernatorial candidate in the cast of Predator. Carl Weathers later mocked this with a spoof campaign commercial: "Vote for me. I was in Predator!"
- Arnold would later star in The Expendables and accuse Sylvester Stallone of liking to fight in the jungle.
- Ho Yay: When Blaine is killed, everybody on his team is upset, but his 'friend' Mac is absolutely devastated. He becomes almost suicidally vengeful and explains to a concerned Dutch that Blaine was his friend, with special emphasis on the word.
- Memetic Mutation: Some of the one-liners are downright legendary.
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Blain: Bunch of slack-jawed faggots around here, this stuff'll make you a Goddamn sexual Tyrannosaurus - just like me! |
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- Billy's laugh and the Predator's variation of it.
- The use of handheld miniguns.
- A smaller example: after KONY 2012 came out, Trolls on Facebook and the like started posting pictures of Dillon (who - with his mustache and outfit - looks a lot like Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, the target of KONY 2012) saying nothing but variations of "This guy's awesome", to see how many people they could rile up. It worked.
- Most Wonderful Sound: The Predator's plasma caster and Blaine's minigun.
- Narm: "GET TO DA CHOPPA!" Though many fans view it as Narm Charm, particularly given the memorable sequencce that immediately follows.
- "Seinfeld" Is Unfunny: While still a great action movie, some elements of Predator are hardly unique now that they have been imitated several times.
- Handheld miniguns are hardly revolutionary now that several action movies have imitated or parodied them.
- Visible invisibility isn't as exciting now that works like Halo have imitated it.
- Back in its time, the film itself was considered shocking as it broke the action movie mold by having Arnie and his friends defeated by a stealthy being that used its brain and deception to defeat them and, in turn, is only beaten in the end by some quick thinking on part of the hero. Nowadays, it's common practice for action movies such as Die Hard have their protagonists rely on their brains instead of heavy firepower and shooting stuff.
- Special Effects Failure:
- The blank-firing adapters are visible in the barrels of Arnie's crew's guns.
- Later in the film, the Predator is seen swinging during daylight when it is nighttime in one shot.
- Tough Act to Follow: None of the sequels have managed to match the level of popularity the first film has, with most of the follow-ups being dismissed as coming short or mediocre.
- Uncanny Valley: Several unusual audio examples, from the creepy distortions the Predator hears when the men speak to its bizarrely human laugh at the end.
- Values Dissonance: Blain calls the others "slack-jawed faggots" when they politely refuse tobacco.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: The film has been noted as an allegory for The Vietnam War: an unseen enemy who is well versed in camouflage, defeating a "superior" American force (the Predator's technological advantage notwithstanding).