History YMMV / Predator

** Back in its time, the film itself was considered shocking as it broke the action movie mold by having Arnie and his friends defeated by a stealthy being that used its brain and deception to defeat them and, in turn, is only beaten in the end by some quick thinking on part of the hero. Nowadays, it's common practice for action movies such as ''Film/DieHard'' have their protagonists rely on their brains instead of heavy firepower and shooting stuff.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/AlanSilvestri is on '''point''' for the first two movies (so much so that Creator/JohnDebney's score for ''Film/{{Predators}}'' is essentially an adaptation of Silvestri's work).

** When Blaine is killed, everybody on his team is upset, but his 'friend' Mac is absolutely devastated. He becomes almost suicidally vengeful and explains to a concerned Dutch that Blaine was his ''friend'', with special emphasis on the word.

* HoYay: When Blaine is killed, everybody on his team is upset, but his 'friend' Mac is absolutely devastated. He becomes almost suicidally vengeful and explains to a concerned Dutch that Blaine was his ''friend'', with special emphasis on the word.

* EvilIsSexy: For ''[[NightmareFetishist certain]]'' kinds of fans, the Yautjas/Predators are definitely this. They all suffer a major case of ButterFace, being aliens that have bizarre and downright nightmarish faces yet have smoking hot, toned and very muscular bodies. Doesn't help that for the most part, their outfits [[Stripperiffic don't really leave much to the imagination]]. As for the most part they are usually wearing {{Loin Cloth}}s and fishnets. Some fans sprinkle in a little bit of SelfFanservice to turn Yautjas into [[MrFanservice Mr]] and [[MsFanservice Ms]] Fanservice. The latter are usually even depicted as [[AmazonianBeauty Amazonian Beauties]].

* EvilIsCool: Given its bizarre weapons and technology and the unique design from Creator/StanWinston, the Predator inevitably became another popular slasher villain along the lines of Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.

** One reason given for its rather impressive comeback is that films like this simply aren't made very much any more; big macho near-invincible action stars with massive guns and simple practical special effects gave way to more ''relatable'' heroes and wall-to-wall CGI. People are getting increasingly bored with what they've got and are looking to the past for entertainment.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: While still a great action movie, some elements of Predator are hardly unique now that they have been imitated several times.

* TooCoolToLive:[[spoiler: [[Wrestling/JesseVentura Blain]], [[ScaryBlackMan Mac]], [[BadassNative Billy Sole]] and [[FallenHero even]] [[BadassBureaucrat Dillion]]]].

* ValuesDissonance: Blain calls the others "slack-jawed faggots" when they politely refuse tobacco.

** Similarly, the film's willingness to paint the government as shady can be much more harder to look at after Creator/{{John McTierman}} acknowledged to lying to the FBI.
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: We're given the rare sight of Arnold Schwarzenegger being straight-up ''terrified'' by the bigger, tougher opponent who's relentlessly hunting him. Plus, his traumatized ThousandYardStare in the final shot.

* BananaRepublic: Steven E. de Souza believes that this film is set in the [[FictionalCountry fictional]] South American country of Val Verde, which was also featured in his film ''Film/{{Commando}}'' and mentioned in his ''Franchise/DieHard II''.

* CompleteMonster:
** From the comic ''Bad Blood'', by Creator/EvanDorkin, Derek Thompson, et al.: The "Bad Blood" Predator is a Yautja criminal who was a vicious, evil SerialKiller being taken on a prison ship to face justice. Upon getting loose, the Bad Blood Predator massacres everyone onboard the ship, [[MonstrousCannibalism cannibalizing them]] before escaping into the backwoods of earth. Deciding to enjoy himself, the Bad Blood Predator goes on a vicious killing spree for the fun of it. Ambushing and killing multiple humans, the Bad Blood Predator murders another Yautja sent to eliminate him while ramping up the bloodshed in increasingly savagery and violence, cheerily mimicking the words "[[CardCarryingVillain sick, psychopathic bastard]]" to refer to himself. While most of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Predators]] are no friend to humanity, the Bad Blood Predator, lacking the [[NobleDemon honor]] of most Predators shows why he is considered a monster by both human and Yautja alike, with a body count well into the double digits.
** ''VideoGame/PredatorConcreteJungle'': Isabella Borgia, later known as the supercomputer and heart of Neonopolis MOTHER, is the matriarch of the Borgia family and the root of all of Neonopolis's corruption and misery. Once the trophy wife of a notorious gangster, Isabella became so much more upon being doused in the blood of a Predator, using her newfound health and power to build the city of Neonopolis over the ashes of New Way City and hooking her own mind up to a supercomputer. Isabella secretly masterminds drug trade, widespread rape, murder, and human trafficking, and the black market arms trade to create a hellish environment suitable for the Yautja to hunt in, letting them slaughter civilians before capturing them and subjecting them to horrific experimentation, whilst also using their blood to rejuvenate herself. Isabella's ultimate goal is to use the genetic material of the Predators to create an entire army, which she plans to use in the bloody conquest first of Earth, and then of other worlds.

* TooCoolToLive: Most of the predators' victims are [[WorthyOpponent commendably formidable fighters themselves]], but the special mention goes to those the predators choose to claim their skull and spinal cord as trophies for putting up a heck of a fight for them before winning. Also, any [[EvilIsCool predator]] in the films who is killed by their opponent.

* TooCoolToLive: Any [[EvilIsCool predator]] in the films who is killed by their opponent.

** The film depicts the CIA as meddling in South America because of communisim. This became a lot more harsher due to the Iran Contra scandal that burst later that year.

** [[spoiler:The thousand-yard-stare Dutch (who by this point has gone from a confident jocky super-human to a withering, traumatised wreck that has lost everyone he loved) gives in the film's final shots.]]

** Similarly, the film's willingness to paint the government as shady can be much more harder to look at after Creator/JohnMcTierman acknowledged to lying to the FBI.

** A smaller example: After ''KONY 2012'' came out, {{Troll}}s on Facebook and the like started posting pictures of Dillon who -- with his mustache and army outfit in ''Predator'' -- looked a bit like Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony at a brief glance, at least to the ill-informed who didn't know the actor. Most said nothing but variations of "This guy's awesome", to see how many people they could rile up. [[http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/people-who-think-carl-weathers-is-joseph-kony It worked.]]

** From the comic ''Bad Blood'', by Evan Dorkin, Derek Thompson, et al.: The "Bad Blood" Predator is a Yautja criminal who was a vicious, evil SerialKiller being taken on a prison ship to face justice. Upon getting loose, the Bad Blood Predator massacres everyone onboard the ship, [[MonstrousCannibalism cannibalizing them]] before escaping into the backwoods of earth. Deciding to enjoy himself, the Bad Blood Predator goes on a vicious killing spree for the fun of it. Ambushing and killing multiple humans, the Bad Blood Predator murders another Yautja sent to eliminate him while ramping up the bloodshed in increasingly savagery and violence, cheerily mimicking the words "[[CardCarryingVillain sick, psychopathic bastard]]" to refer to himself. While most of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Predators]] are no friend to humanity, the Bad Blood Predator, lacking the [[NobleDemon honor]] of most Predators shows why he is considered a monster by both human and Yautja alike, with a body count well into the double digits.

* MemeticMutation: Some of the one-liners are downright ''legendary''.

** Similarly, the film's willingness to paint the government as shady can be much more harder to look at after Director John McTierman acknowledged to lying to the FBI.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: The first films, at least, attempt the Aesop that "sports hunting is bad." But the Predators specifically go after victims that can fight back, making the hunt a true test of skill against skill, and (nuclear self-destruct options aside) are rather graceful losers. No shame in testing your skill against, and being bested by, a truly challenging opponent. All-in-all, Predator hunting is rather different than typical deer or duck hunting humans engage in. . . and when humans did engage in sport hunting against things that could hunt them back, they drove several of those species to near-extinction.

* {{Sequelitis}}: None of the sequels have earned the level of acclaim or success that the original film has with ''Film/ThePredator'' suffering particularly hard due to HypeBacklash over the credentials of the director and cast. Though ''Film/Predator2'' and ''Film/{{Predators}}'' have definitely [[VindicatedbyHistory gained better appreciation over time]], largely thanks to the ''Film/AlienVsPredator'' films and ''The Predator'' being more divisive films.