Predator (Ultimate Edition) [Blu-ray] [1987]

You all know the film. It's brilliant. Thankfully the 4k edition is the best version I have seen. The last blu ray was terribly over-digitised and some skin (especially a particular scene with Carl Withers) looked almost plastic. The 4k transfer remians faithful to the original film (which was shot in 35mm). If I have a minor criticism it would be the colouring is a little lighter and maybe lacks a bit of depth but you could probably fix that with your tv settings. Remember, you're not getting a film shot in 4k so don't expect insanely high resolutions but it is faithful to the original with some impressive tweaks without being intrusive. For instance, you no longer see Carl Wither's real arm underneath the prosthetic stump which used to annoy me.

What a film, still enjoy it to this day. And totally factual, based on a true story!!!

This review is not really about the quality of the transfer and the quality of the 3D medium in which it is presented but more about collectable bust you get with this version. I have seen Predator hundreds of times and being a Predator fan it was not the Blu-ray that drew me to this item. When I saw this for pre-order I was totally blown away by the Predator head. Now we have seen a collectable Predator head before. In the wake of the Alien Quadrilogy 9 disc collectable Alien head, Predator, Predator 2 and Alien vs Predator got repackaged in a box set head of it's own. That item is much sought after by collectors and to find such an item on ebay you can expect to pay anywhere from £50.00 if you are lucky up to £150.00. The quality of that sculpture is not a patch on this release exclusively from Amazon. When I first saw this release I knew I had to have it. I was a bit dubious as the photos looked ok in some shots and a bit cheap in others. However, I knew that this being a limited edition would in time be worth it's weight in gold to fans and collectors alike and already there are people on ebay selling this for nearly £200.00. So is this really any good? In a word YES!! For the price on Amazon this is an extremely great bargain. Although I have yet to view the film itself as I do not have a 3D TV and Blu-ray player (I need to ask my mate very kindly to pop round his one night and watch it on his) the quality of the sculpt is better than I first thought. First up is the mask. It fits very well over the Predator's face and is held in place on the top of the head by 2 magnets concealed within the underside of the mask. This stops it from falling forward so there is no danger of it falling off accidently and breaking. It is also weathered very well giving it that used and abused look straight out of the movie. The only grievance I have is the masks eyes and tri-laser targeting system. It would have been a nice touch to have the masks eyes hollow and covered with a screen mesh rather than molded as part of the mask. The targeting lasers on the side of the mask suffer the same problem as it would have been nice to have red tinted clear plastic insets rather than what is molded there already but this is really being nit picky as over all it looks fantastic. Secondly the head itself. It is a descent enough sculpt and has a great paint job on the skin with some nice tones. The ringlets on the dreadlocks are molded as part of the dreadlock then painted. It would have been a more detailed look to have the ringlets as separate items and the same with the neck ring. When all said and done though what really makes this light years ahead of the other Predator Head release is the fact that it has a removable mask and that the dreadlocks, quills and teeth are all separate entities glued on individually making it more realistic. I would personally say that for the money you can't go wrong. If you are Predator fan this is an absolute must have just for the sculpture alone and when you compare this to something like a life size bust from Sideshow Collectables which would set you back around anywhere from 4 or 5 hundred Dollars to over one thousand Dollars the £90.00 price tag here is more than generous. If I had the money I'd buy another one to keep in mint condition for when the value increases with age. The disc itself will be worth nothing but this set as a whole is going to sky rocket in time. Buy your's now while you still can!

Predator is a fine story and reasonably well made and filmed. Arnold acts very well in this and far better than some of his colleagues. The alien is beautifully realized and, catchphrase lapses aside ("Knock knock", "Stick around" etc) it's really rather plausible. The Blu-Ray transfer is, I think, very good. The problem is the source material. The film stock and camera work have added a huge amount of grain and 'noise' into the images. I thought, during the opening scenes, that the transfer was very poor but then other scenes appeared that clearly showed a spot on HD image. For example, in the opening scenes the characters are in a tent. The tent scenes look bad but then the action cuts to a map and the map is perfect. It's the original film at fault and not the transfer folks. Some parts of the jungle scenes look great, the attack on the compound for example, whereas others look sub DVD. I think it was a low budget production working in extreme conditions and the quality of the filming suffered as a result. It IS better than DVD though. What's not better than DVD is the extras. There are none. There are some trailers but those aren't extras they're studio adverts. My DVD copy has a whole extra disc of documentaries and other stuff so why is the much more expensive Blu-Ray version bereft? In short, worth buying but not massively better than DVD.

Great science fiction movie.

Super contente nickel

Vale muito a pena pegar essa edição importada do México. Um filme que envelheceu bem, não ficou datado, os efeitos especiais, os efeitos práticos, um talentosíssimo elenco, direção, fizeram deste filme o melhor da franquia Predador. Os bônus deste filme são um show á parte, com um vasto material áudio visual, que não é encontrado em outras edições deste filme. O BD entrega uma imagem excelente, de alta resolução e nitidez.

Para mí la mejor película de la saga,cumple en calidad 4k y me gusto mucho!!!!no podía faltar en mi colección!!!!llegó en muy buen estado y a tiempo!!!

Predator c’est une référence du cinéma d’horreur grâce à ses effets spéciaux, une œuvre culte mêlant brutalité, héroïsme, guerre, science fiction, jouant avec la vue subjective et la capacité de notre créature à se rendre invisible. Vous pensiez qu’Arnold Schwarzenegger était la star du film ? Erreur, la star n’est autre que le Predator, impressionnante créature humanoïde de plus de 2mètres au physique athlétique, cachant son visage hideux à l’aide d’un masque (vous allez comprendre pourquoi il n’a pas une gueule de porte-bonheur), arborant des dreadlocks et dont la jungle sera son terrain de jeu. En gros Predator est un alien Jamaïcain. Se pourrait-il que la totalité de nos mercenaires soit vouée à un destin funeste ? Au début, toute l’équipe très professionnelle règne en maitre en maitrisant très rapidement un campement de rebelles. Ce ne sera pas la même mayonnaise par la suite lorsqu’ils seront traqués par cette créature venue tout droit de l’espace. Le Predator aime bien passer ses vacances d’été en Amazonie pour écorcher de l’humain. Sa passion : collectionner les trophées (tout particulièrement les cranes humains), sa chasse d’humains est son safari. Quelle autre musique que de la musique tribale pouvait accompagner ce film ? Vous ne verrez la créature en chair et en os qu’à la fin du film. On ne sait pas à quoi elle ressemble mais on sait qu’elle est terriblement dangereuse et intelligente. Sa puissance est démesurée. La capacité de se rendre invisible, possédant un arsenal de haute technologie tel que le camouflage holographique, un masque permettant d’avoir une vision thermique, un mini canon laser sur l’épaule, et une sorte de montre capable de faire exploser tout un continent, comment vaincre une créature qu’on ne peut voir ni entendre et qui possède tout cet arsenal ? Dans la jungle, c’est donc le Predator qui porte la culotte ! Grand film d’action et de science fiction, chef d’œuvre du genre, Predator, en plus de voir son casting déborder de charisme, se permet d’être ambitieux malgré son scénario simpliste. On appréciera l’ambiance angoissante et terrifiante, le très bon mélange d’action et de science fiction, on appréciera l’analyse du comportement humain, les somptueuses musiques tendues et du style tribale orchestrées par Alan Silvestri, les répliques testostéronées, la photographie et la mise en scène soignées, la jungle filmée comme une entité diabolique, les effets spéciaux et le maquillage du Predator d’une grande réussite (merci encore Stan Winston), pour un monument anthologique. Deux monstres sacrés d’Hollywood livrent dans la jungle le combat le plus titanesque de toute l’histoire du cinéma. La question est de savoir qui remportera la victoire ?