Blu-ray Disc Review |
Release Date: April 15, 2008. Film Rating:   / Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Dutch), Carl Weathers (Dillon), Bill Duke (Mac), Jesse Ventura (Blain) Written by: Jim Thomas & John Thomas Directed by: John McTiernan Soon the hunt will begin. Predator is a science fiction film from the '80s that has stood the test of time. It was moderately successful back in the day but lives on as a sought after catalogue title for Fox. It’s been released many times on DVD with different soundtrack options and special features. Its success is partly due to the stars of the film: Arnold Schwarzenegger as a household name because of his continual rise to fame from appearing in many action films; and Jesse Ventura, a popular WWF wrestler who crossed the line into acting. The technologically superior alien we know as the Predator, a hunter for sport and travelling to other worlds for the kill, has also had a very successful life in the pages of Dark Horse Comics and video games battling H.R. Giger’s Aliens. The alien is cool looking. He’s an alien hunter and warrior, but beefed up with strength, power, weapons and armour. He’s a man’s alien, and an ugly one too. Yet John McTiernan has done a great job not to date Predator to the ‘80s era. Aside from a few effects, it’s kept relatively simple and holds up better than the CGI creatures of today. Here lies the film’s success: it still looks and feels real. The story is simple: a team of commandos headed by Dutch (Schwarzenegger) are sent into the jungle to clean up a group of supposed guerrillas. But when their pick-up is delayed, what they find is that they are each being plucked off of the ground one by one by an invisible killer – an alien not of this world who kills for sport. The film pits the strength of man against a much stronger and technologically superior alien.  VIDEO QUALITY: 3/5 Like the high definition release of Commando, Predator is superior to the DVD in terms of detail, depth, and colour resolution (it's also encoded in MPEG-2 suggesting this title was prepared long ago but put on hold for to coincide with the release of AVP-R). But Predator also has problems with its original photography as well. Some shots are out of focus when the eye craves a razor-sharp image. Despite this, I never understood PQ ratings of DVDs and laserdiscs of the past. Many times the releases were given perfect scores when compared to the transfers of that era. I’ve always disagreed feeling the film was never up to par. The film has always had excessive grain, hot reds (look at Arnold’s shirt at the beginning of the film or the helicopter ride into the jungle), and average contrast with poor black levels. This Blu-ray disc does seem a bit different from the earliest Predator releases in such that reds aren’t as hot anymore and grain has been reduced somewhat, but image contrast remains average and black levels a bit high just to look into the “shadows” a bit more. Colour resolution is better with a bit more saturation and with more natural jungle green and less pale skin tones (benefits of going to HD). But fine picture detail included on this disc always gave me a desire for more. It seems like whatever print Fox has used for this film has stayed consistent for the past fifteen years. Can Predator ever look any better? I don’t know. I'm still bothered that sometimes the colour temperature of some parts of the image can appear pink or purple too. Just look at the "white" backgrounds (DVDs had same problem). I do question these things since HD allows us to put our favourite films under a microscope. HD has increased the demands of consumers for the best image possible. Even though I am happy to view Predator in HD and the benefits are clearly seen, my (possibly unrealistic) expectations can get the better of me. The aspect ratio is 1.85:1 and the black unused portion of the screen is at the top of the image. AUDIO QUALITY: 3.5/5 Predator has always had a bit of an odd sound design. I think that it’s great for it’s time; activity all around the listener, dynamic, and the use of sound effects that don’t really date themselves too much. At the same time, there are weird moments in the mix that stand out and make me raise an eyebrow. For example, after the Dutch and his commandos obliterate all of the guerrillas in the jungle, there is dialogue with Dutch and Hawkins who had just gained base communication. When Dillon informs Dutch he's taking the girl as a hostage, the background sound effects such as fire burning and sizzling completely disappear into absolute darkness. Very strange. A few clicks and ticks can be heard in the main channels and dialogue has the occasional strain, but most of the film plays well through this lossless DTS-Master Audio encoding. As I mentioned before, for a soundtrack from 1987, the mix is very active. Sounds are heard all around. The action moments are explosive and the sounds of guns and explosions are relatively modern and not wimpy or dated, with just a bit of limitation in greater dynamic range. The jungle noises are everywhere, and seeing through the Predator’s eyes is like hearing through his ears and being in his head. The murmuring bass of its poor hearing is heard all around in all channels, and the soundtrack delivers good 360-degree bass. The LFE is used sometimes in the 5.1 remix, but most bass is preserved well in the main channels. Like previous DTS-encoded releases, Alan Silvestri’s score comes alive! Recorded with a wide soundstage, the brass shines through with cleanliness and dynamics. It’s integrated into the mix with slightly more importance than the sound effects intensifying the emotional impact of the film. There are two soundtrack options: DTS-Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 4.0. Both have mono surround, although there seems to be a slight pull to the right rear in the 5.1 option making it not quite mono back there. [When this review was first posted, I mentioned that the 4.0 soundtrack was defective. This is not the case. When I first viewed the title, a loud buzzing sound was coming from the rear channels when this soundtrack option was selected. This happened using the decoding in my Panasonic DMP-BD10A. After a 2nd check the next day, there was no buzzing and the soundtrack is fine. The buzzing could have been a player error when changing the soundtracks on this BD. This is the first time I've ever encountered this, but thought it was best to make one final check before making the claim of a defective audio option. - Mike] TACTILE FUN!! / TACTILE TRANSDUCER ON/ON?: ON The LFE moments in this film alright but not overwhelmingly exciting. Still, I feel there is value to using a bass shaker for a little bit of sci-fi fun. SPECIAL FEATURES: .5/5 A collector's edition was released in 2004 that included a documentary, featurettes, a deleted scene and outtakes, audio commentary, text commentary, etc... None of this has been included on this release and I don't think it's unrealistic for consumers to expect it either. Disappointingly, there are no special features on this disc except for an HD theatrical trailer and D-Box motion control. The latter is a cool feature that I’d hope to be equipped with someday, but for the high costs of this toy, I’d rather finish upgrading my reference system with the best performance A/V gear possible. Almost there… IN THE END... Thank you Fox for releasing one of my favourite ‘80’s science fiction flicks. I know many people will be ready to pick this title up when it arrives on store shelves. If you have been satisfied with the picture and sound quality on past DVD releases then you will 100% approve of the performance here. I’ve always dreamed of a video overhaul when this title finally came to high definition so I can say that my impressions were very good, but not what I was hoping for…hence the reason I am a bit hard on the video score. Compared to other newer and older releases, the video of Predator won’t wow anyone but those appreciative of the benefits of a high def upgrade will be content. Michael Osadciw March 30, 2008. Review System |
[PG]101665829[/PG]
I won't be picking this up at any price....I'm happy with the DVD:SE release for now. No special features (As with Commando, Robocop....etc.etc...) means no sale! Saves me some cash for more worthwhile releases by other studios.
