My Favorite Predator Moments

I got into one of my frequent Quentin Tarantino discussions the other day and reiterated my dislike of From Dusk till Dawn. The first half of that movie was great as a crime flick...breaking out of prison, killing people, kidnapping hostages and skipping off to Mexico. Then the vampires show up. That's where the movie lost me.

My awkward take on the above movie makes it kind of hard to reconcile my love of the movie Predator. Afterall, it's kind of the same chain of events...special forces team goes on black op, kills a bunch of enemies, makes badass comments about the deaths. Then the alien shows up. However, in my opinion, Predator is an infinitely awesome movie. I have no cogent theory to distinguish it from From Dusk till Dawn, so I'll just give you my top five favorite moments from this fantastic movie.

5. Dutch's final battle with the Predator. We all knew he was going to win, but Arnold really went all out with his ingenuity, building traps, covering himself with mud to shield his infrared signature, and displaying classic Schwarzenegger acting skills when he kicked Predator's ass.

4. Dillon and Arnold flex. Of all the badass greeting scenes in all of the movies ever made, this has to rank near the top. What better way to greet someone than to shake hands in a quasi-armwrestling hold for twenty seconds and show the world how jacked your biceps are. From that point forward in the movie, you knew there would be some ass kicking.

3. Wasting the Communists. The first fight of the movie was against a conventional group of terrorists (non-Americans), and Dutch's team moved in to kick ass in an unprecedented display of badassedry. Dutch charges into the hut (after destroying a door and saying "knock knock"), throws a knife through a bad guy's heart and pins him to the wall. Dutch then exits the hut, but not before he says "stick around." Blain (Jesse Ventura) gets skimmed by a bullet and his buddy shows some concern and one of the greatest lines ever ensues: "You're hit man, you're bleeding." [Blain] "I ain't got time to bleed." I think that line alone got him elected governor.

2. The Helicopter Scene. If you were going into combat on a black op without any possibility of backup, I can think of no better way to get pumped than to blast some Little Richard, put on facepaint, and spew tobacco all over the helicopter. Blain can be credited with his other great line of the movie in the helicopter, as well as Hawkins' joke. Decorum prohibits me from repeating them here, but trust me, it was badass.

1. The Gun Scene. Originally filmed as a joke, after viewing the footage, the director insisted on inserting this scene into the movie. Basically, the team catches a glimpse of the Predator running into the jungle after it killed Blain. Everyone opens fire and literally deforests acres of jungle with their bullets. It was a pure two minutes of gunfire, and badass shouts as the crew emptied their weapons into the jungle.

Clearly, we all know the reason why Predator has produced more governors than any other movie...much like the SNL prediction, I fully expect to see Carl Weathers become governor within the next few years. It would be foolish not to be recognized for his contributions to Predator.