Saturday, July 3, 2010

JAM Reviews Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment



Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition on Blu-Ray: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Review by JAM


Much like a good wine, some movies only get better with time. Predator from 1987 is one such movie that was tepidly reviewed during its release, yet hailed as one of the best action films of all time nowadays. In preparation for the second sequel Predators, Fox has rereleased the original on Blu-ray in the Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition with an all-new digital restoration of the film and an all-new documentary “Evolution of the Species: Hunters of Extreme Perfection”.


Sent on a rescue mission in the country of Guatemala, Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Major Alan “Dutch” Schaeffer, the leader of a group of commandos who include a who’s who of muscle bound action stars from 1987 including CIA officer George Dillon (Carl Weathers), Blain Cooper (Jesse Ventura), and Billy Sole (Sonny Landham). Each of these actors paled in comparison to the 7’2 1/2” Kevin Peter Hall that played the Predator himself (and a helicopter pilot at the end). This commando team is sent into the jungle, recruited by the CIA for a rescue mission only to find out they have really been sent in for vengeance. A previous extraction team had been killed and gutted, and the CIA believed it was the work of Guatemalan rebels only to find something worse. The team is stalked and hunted through the jungle by an otherworldly force and slowly taken one at a time until the final confrontation. Who will win between man and alien?


JAMS Ink on Predator

Ahhhhhhnuld!!! One of the major films to establish Arnold as the go-to guy in action films was Predator, which came in a five year period which included Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator, Red Sonja, Commando, Raw Deal, Predator, and The Running Man. It is funny to look back at this 1987 movie and see two big buff action stars, who also shared time in The Running Man, becoming state governors recently, Arnold and Jesse Ventura. It was also interesting to see a villain who towered over Arnold as Kevin Peter Hall was about a foot taller and an imposing site in the Predator armor.

I’ve always liked the sci-fi aspect of Predator with an alien race basically scouting or hunting on our planet. Not something I would really want to happen, but fun to watch on the screen. The costume has become an iconic look, with t-shirts, comics, figures and movies tied in with the Aliens race as well. And everything could have been WAY different if the original plan of Jean-Claude Van Damme as the Predator had happened. A ninja type Predator may have been interesting, but so much smaller in stature. In my opinion, they made the right choice.

EXTRAS

Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition Blu-ray Special Features:
• ALL-NEW Digital Restoration of Predator
• ALL-NEW Sneak Peak at Predators
• ALL-NEW “Evolution of the Species: Hunters of Extreme Perfection” Featurette
• Feature-Length Audio Commentary by John McTiernan
• Text Commentary by Historian Eric Lichtensfeld
• “If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It” Making-Of Documentary
• “Inside The Predator” Documentary
• Special Effects Featurettes
• Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
• Short Takes
• Theatrical Trailers
• Photo Galleries
• Predator Profile

A two disk DVD previous release had nearly all of the extras included on this release, including the deleted scenes, making of documentary, and the special featurettes, but there are a few brand new additions to this release. A sneak peek at Predators, a new digital rendering of the Predator movie, and a featurette discussing the evolution of the species which is a cool discussion about the first movie with people involved in Predator and the soon to be arriving Predators, including the director Robert Rodriguez.

Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition Blu-ray from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment stalks its way onto shelves on June 29, 2010 and it is definitely recommended for any fans of the original movie as the digital transition is extremely well done compared to the first release. Make sure to grab a copy before it disappears into the foliage.

PREDATOR: ULTIMATE HUNTER EDITION BLU-RAY
Street Date: June 29, 2010
Screen Format: Widescreen – 1.85:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, English 4.0 Dolby Surround, Spanish 5.1 Dolby
Digital and French 5.1 DTS
Subtitles: English/French/Spanish
U.S. Rating: R
Total Run Time: 108 minutes
Closed Captioned: Yes

Remember check out this review and more from JAM at www.hollywoodteenzine.com for teens and tweens, and at http://jammoviereviews.blogspot.com for movies of all genres and ages.

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