Predator is one of those films that by all rights should have been a horrific experience. Consider: It starred Arnold Schwarzenegger during the height of his "bad action movie" phase; Arnold's co-stars were a group of B-list, muscle bound stars that included an ex-pro wrestler and Rocky's villain-turned-saint Apollo Creed; and perhaps most telling of all, Jean Claude Van Damme stepped down from the project.

Yep. This thing had stinker written all over it. So what happened?

For one thing, the film was helmed by John McTiernan. McTiernan, you might recall, directed the likes of Die Hard and The Hunt For Red October. Here is a guy who understands how to effectively pace an action film.

For another, considering that th efilm is little more than an alien ripping apart a bunch of soldiers, the script is actually relatively smart (maybe this is the real reason Van Damme left). These may not be the best actors to ever heft a machine gun, but they are given well-realized characters and each soldier's motivations and reactions to the threat is unique and feels honest.

The story opens with a group of highly specialized commandos on a mission in Central America to rescue some hostages. In charge of the unit is Dutch (Schwarzenegger) and he's unhappy that his unit is forced to bring along CIA operative Dillon (Carl Weathers) as some sort of special consultant. Dutch and Dillon have a history and Dutch resents the fact that his former friend has traded in a machine gun for a pencil.

As the unit marches deeper into the jungle, it becomes clear that there is something much more going on than just simple civil unrest and guerrilla in-fighting. They come across a downed helicopter and the crew inside has been skinned. When the commandos finally arrive at the guerilla camp and eliminate the hostiles, they discover that many of the villagers seem to be terrified of...something. These are people well used to the horrors of constant butchery, and yet something has them spooked.

That something is a predator from another world. It has come to this planet to hunt for trophies and its prey is human. The creature has the ability to almost perfectly camoflauge itself in the jungle by refracting light around itself. It also uses sophisticated thermal imaging and laser-guided weapons. It soon becomes clear that the unit of crack commandos is no match for this lone alien.

The clever thing about predator is that it doesn't tip its hand too early. It begins very much like a conventional, and likely very boring shoot-em-up fest between Arnold and company and a group of faceless Central American bad guys. Just as we're about to become resigned to a numbing fate of mindless gunfights, the predator shows up and begins to wreak havok. Once the alien makes is appearance (or rather doesn't appear, as the case may be), the film never looks back.

For once, here is a film that justifies having all of the main characters die one by one. This gimmick is almost never satisfying, but here it makes perfect sense. The predator is a hunter and for it the skill is in making each kill something personal. When finally Arnold is the only soldier left, he realizes that he is severely outclassed by this enemy and he abandons traditional weaponry in order to fight the creature in a more savage and ultimately effective manner.

Predator isn't great cinema, but it is a great movie. It's pure action, smart, brutal and very satisfying.