ufo on earth

Released on June 12, 1987, Predator was #1 at the box office in its opening weekend. Its opening weekend gross of $12 million was second to Beverly Hills Cop II in 1987.[8] The film grossed nearly $60 million in the U.S. and $100 million at the worldwide box office.[9]

Initial critical reaction to the film was generally negative with critics focusing on the lack of story and excitement. Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times described it as "grisly and dull, with few surprises"[10] Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the film is "a rather pointless thing when you get down to it, has little of the provocative intelligence that was found in "Terminator." But at least it's self-propelling in terms of suspense and cheap thrills."[11] Dean Lamanna wrote in Cinefantastique that "the militarized monster movie tires under its own derivative weight."[12] Variety wrote that the film was a "slightly above-average actioner that tries to compensate for tissue-thin-plot with ever-more-grisly death sequences and impressive special effects."[13] Michael Wilmington wrote a negative review focusing on the story, proclaiming it as "arguably one of the emptiest, feeblest, most derivative scripts ever made as a major studio movie."[14]

Among the positive reviews, Roger Ebert praised the film stating that, "it has good location photography and terrific special effects, and it supplies what it claims to supply: an effective action movie" but still noted that "the action moves so quickly that we overlook questions such as why would an alien species go to all the effort to send a creature to earth, just so that it could swing from the trees and skin American soldiers? Or, why would a creature so technologically advanced need to bother with hand-to-hand combat, when it could just zap Arnold with a ray gun".[15]

However, reaction to the film has warmed with time. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly named it the #22 greatest action movie of all time.[16] The magazine also ranked the film 14th on their "The Best Rock-'em, Sock-'em Movies of the Past 25 Years" list.[17] As of June of 2009, the film holds a 76% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. [18]

The main cast of Predator. Left to right: Blain, Hawkins, Dutch, Mac, Dillon, Billy, Poncho.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger as MAJ Alan "Dutch" Schaefer: Dutch is the leader of the team, and an elite veteran, who served together with Dillion in Vietnam during the Battle of Huế.
* Carl Weathers as George Dillon: Dillon is a former teammate of Dutch and current CIA agent, sent along with Dutch's team for the mission. He is no longer a regular field agent, so he is out of practice.
* Elpidia Carrillo as Anna: Anna is a guerrilla, captured by Dutch's troops following a battle with the rebels. She later tells them of an "old demon" that during hot summers attacks people from violent areas who are later found skinned and hollowed.
* Bill Duke as Mac Eliot: Mac is a close friend of Blain's; they served in Vietnam together and were the only two members of their platoon to make it out alive after a night-long battle. He is hostile towards Dillon, stating that he'll kill him if he hinders the group.
* Jesse Ventura as Blain Cooper: Blain fought alongside Mac in the Vietnam War and were the only members of their platoon to survive a night-long battle. He often chews tobacco, and wears a battered old cowboy hat. His weapon of choice is a modified minigun he calls "Ol' Painless," but he also carries a submachine gun when he needs to be stealthy. A
* Sonny Landham as Billy Sole: Billy is a Native American with a strong jungle sense. He is generally very quiet, and Hawkins constantly attempts to make him laugh.
* Richard Chaves as Jorge "Poncho" Ramirez: Poncho is a Chicano, who speaks fluent Spanish, and shows a sarcastic wit.
* Shane Black as Rick Hawkins: Hawkins is the team's radio operator and technical expert. He tells sexual jokes, though he usually has to explain them, and reads comic books.
* R. G. Armstrong as Major General Homer Phillips: Phillips is the coordinator of the mission, who forms the team based upon their reputation.
* Kevin Peter Hall as The Predator: The Predator is member of a warrior race which hunts aggressive members of other species for sport, uses active camouflage, a plasma weapon and can see the infrared spectrum. Hall also plays the end scene helicopter pilot
* Sven-Ole Thorsen as Russian military adviser

The soundtrack was composed by Alan Silvestri, who was coming off the huge success of Back to the Future in 1985. Predator was his first major action movie and the score is full of his now familiar genre characteristics: heavy horn blasts, staccato string rhythms, and undulating timpani rolls that highlight the action and suspense. Little Richard's song "Long Tall Sally" is featured in the helicopter en route to the jungle. Mac also recites a few lines from the song as he's chasing the Predator after it escapes from their booby trap.