Line #90 Film/Predator


1	[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hunt.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:325:It's about hunting.]]
3	%%
4	->''"If it bleeds, we can kill it."''
5	-->-- '''Dutch'''
6
7	''Predator'' is a 1987 sci-fi action/horror film directed by Creator/JohnMcTiernan. Its groundbreaking special effects, big-budget action sequences, and unique premise contributed to its success, which ultimately spawned the multimedia ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' franchise.
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9	Major Alan "Dutch" Schaeffer (Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger) and his elite mercenary "rescue" squad are sent to retrieve a cabinet minister held hostage in a BananaRepublic during the late years of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. After slaughtering a group of guerrillas, they discover the hostages are actually CIA agents and their employers have lied to them. [[HalfwayPlotSwitch But all of that takes a back seat]] once a mysterious, invisible enemy with weapons not of this Earth starts killing off Dutch's team one by one...
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11	''Predator'' is considered ''[[RatedMForManly the manliest movie ever made]]'', and it's hard to argue against the point: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Creator/CarlWeathers, and Wrestling/JesseVentura had major roles in the film, and are all very big, strong guys who are prone to bleed and sweat (though one of 'em in particular [[BadassBoast ain't got time to bleed]]). On the other hand, the emphasis on big, sweaty men being macho with each other in the jungle also makes it one of the most [[HoYay unintentionally homoerotic]] films of all time, perhaps second only to Schwarzenegger's own ''Film/{{Commando}}''.
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13	As a caveat to all of this, however, the film also puts the manliness towards a GenreDeconstruction, because it all vanishes in an instant when [[MeaningfulName the soldiers are no longer the top predators.]]
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15	----
16	!!''Predator'' ain't got time for tropes:
17
18	* AfterActionVillainAnalysis:
19	-->'''Mac:''' ''[to Dillon, describing the encounter with the Predator]'' Those eyes... disappeared. But I know one thing, Major... ''[pause]'' I drew down and fired right at it. Capped-off two hundred rounds and then the Mini-gun; the full pack. Nothin'...nothin' on this earth could have lived... not at that range.\
20	''[later]''\
21	'''Schaefer:''' He uses the trees.
22	* AgentScully: Dillon has the most trouble buying that anything non-human is after them until he sees it for himself.
23	* AliensAreBastards: The Predator came to Earth simply to play "safari" with sentient prey. It taunts its prey with their own words several times. Then there's the fact that [[spoiler: upon being defeated by Dutch's trap, it tries to blow both of them up with a self-destruct, mimicking Billy's laugh as it does so.]]
24	* AliensSpeakingEnglish: The Predator can record human speech, and plays some recordings back several times over the course of the film. It seems to either understand the speech or intuitively guess its meaning, given how appropriately it chooses those moments.
25	* AllThereInTheScript: Although they are never mentioned in the final film, the full names of the main characters in the original script are Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer, Staff Sergeant George Dillon, Sergeant Mac Eliot, Sergeant Blain Cooper, Sergeant Billy Sole, Corporal Poncho Ramirez, and Corporal Rick Hawkins.
26	* AMFMCharacterization: The squad blares "Long Tall Sally" by Music/LittleRichard during the helicopter ride.
27	* AmmunitionBackpack: Blain's gatling gun comes with an entire backpack magazine to feed it.
28	* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Dillon]] has an arm blasted off by the Predator, still firing the gun it was holding while still attached.
29	* ArtImitatesArt: Creator/StanWinston was inspired by a painting of a Rastafarian warrior in the producer's office.
30	-->''"I saw that and I thought it was a great starting concept for the Predator. I started drawing and redesigning this alien character with quills that in silhouette would look like dreadlocks. During this same period of time, Aliens had come out, and Jim Cameron and I were flying to Japan to participate in a symposium about the movie. We were sitting next to each other on the plane, and I was sketching and drawing the Predator."''
31	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: A creature that sees in infrared hunting during the day in a tropical jungle, where the ambient temperature is above 100 F, would be unable to locate any human on sight. This was lampshaded by [=McTiernan=] in the commentary, when he explained how they attempted to film the Predator's vision live on set, and discovered that it was basically like trying to film in backlit fog. In the end, they had to do it in post. The justification in-universe is that the Predator's mask contains some kind of filter to focus on the heat it wants to see (that of living beings); in the climax there's a POV shot of the Predator taking its mask off, [[ShownTheirWork and the cool blue background transitions to everything being equally bright red]].
32	* ATeamFiring: PlayedForDrama in a famous scene when the heroes open fire onto the [[BigBad titular monster]] firing thousands of rounds into a jungle and only manage to tag its leg. Justified by the fact that the creature is invisible.
33	* AudibleSharpness: Averted in a scene in the first act, as the protagonists are sneaking around the base of some bad guys, one of the heroes draws his knife to stab a bad guy. The act of drawing the knife makes no noise and the Mook is unaware of what is about to happen.
34	* BackInTheSaddle: Dillon, who at one time has been one of Dutch's comrades but ended up a pencil pusher at the CIA. He goes along on the mission to save his CIA friends.
35	* BadassBoast:
36	** Mac's threat to Dillon:
37	--->'''Mac:''' You're ghosting us, motherfucker. I don't care who you are back in the world. You give away our position one more time, I'll bleed you, real quiet, an' leave you here. Got that?
38	** Dutch's now famous declaration:
39	--->'''Dutch:''' If it bleeds, [[MundaneSolution we can kill it]].
40	** Before Dillon goes to fight the Predator:
41	--->'''Dutch:''' You can't win this, Dillon.\
42	'''Dillon:''' Maybe I can get even.
43	%%* BadassCrew: Dutch's team is an elite commando unit.
44	%%* BadassNative: Billy and Poncho.
45	* BashBrothers: Blain and Mac served in the same unit in Vietnam.
46	* BattleTrophy: The alien hunter collects skulls (with the spinal cord still attached) from the humans it kills. The sequels show that it's a common practice and tradition of their race.
47	* BerserkerTears: [[spoiler: Mac cries as he unleashes every bullet he has on the Predator following Blain's death]].
48	* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: Dutch uses stealth tactics to defeat the Predator, though it isn't enough to win outright.
49	* BeingWatched: While Dutch and his team head for the rendezvous point, the MagicalNativeAmerican Billy senses the titular creature watching them from the trees.
50	-->'''Billy:''' ''[staring to where the Predator is watching from]'' Do you see anything? Up there?\
51	'''Dutch:''' Nothing. What do you see?\
52	'''Billy:''' ''[after a moment of silence]'' [[ItsProbablyNothing I guess it's nothing, Major.]] ''[continues walking, with Dutch looking at him in confusion]''
53	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled:
54	** Billy provides an interesting variation. Before he challenges the Predator to direct combat, he cuts his own body to deny the Predator the chance to claim first blood.
55	** After the Predator [[spoiler:is beaten and mortally wounded by Dutch, it decides to go out on its own terms by activating its SelfDestructMechanism to take out itself, its gear, Dutch, and a good-sized portion of the jungle]].
56	* BigBad: The Jungle Hunter Predator, a very dangerous and intelligent alien that aims to hunt and kill the main characters.
57	* BigWhat: Poncho says this ("¿Qué?") when Anna told him "the jungle came alive and took [Hawkins]".
58	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Dillon. He uses his [[FireForgedFriends Fire-Forged Friendship]] with Dutch to get everyone sent to South America to undertake a mission under false pretenses.
59	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Dutch and Anna escape and the Predator is killed, but Dutch's entire team has been killed as well.]] The forlorn look Dutch gives at the very end makes it perfectly clear this sacrifice is too much for him.
60	* BlackHelicopter: Dutch and his team being inserted into the guerrillas' jungle hideout area by a genuine, CIA-owned UH-1N Huey, painted semigloss black. However, the two escorting Huey gunships, being owned by the local friendly government's army, are painted a more sensible jungle green.
61	* BladeBelowTheShoulder: The Predator's gauntlet comes equipped with a pair of razor-sharp WolverineClaws. They're even somewhat pliable, since the Predator wraps them around Dutch's head while sneaking up on him.
62	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Predator has a fairly perverse sense of hunter's honour. Easy kills are skinned and strung up in the trees to rot. Billy is quickly dispatched when he challenges the Predator in direct combat (and also cuts himself to deny the creature the chance to claim first blood), but he apparently earns the creature's respect, and it takes his skull back to the ship as a trophy after it kills him. The Predator doesn't target Anna because she is unarmed and relatively helpless, but when the Predator catches Dutch unarmed, it strips away its gear to fight him on the same technological level, apparently considering him worth fighting hand-to-hand.
63	* BodyguardingABadass: A strange example from the film's production: Fox's insurance company demanded that Sonny Landham could only be cast if he was accompanied by a bodyguard. Not to protect him, but to protect everyone else ''from'' him.
64	* BoobyTrap: Honestly, this film contains so many painstakingly intensive (and almost fetishistic) trap-building montages that it could be called Traps vs. Predator.
65	* BottomlessMagazines: {{Averted\|Trope}}. The team reloads a few times, but they never seem to run low on magazines, either. [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]] with Blain's minigun Ol' Painless. The gun is fired for a ridiculously long time, far longer than would be realistic, before it actually does run out of ammo and is left behind. PlayedStraight in the attack on the rebels. None of the team reloads for the attack, even Dutch isn't shown reloading his single-round grenade launcher.
66	* BreakTheBadass: The first half of the film is used to build up the fact that the mercenary rescue team is made up of the six deadliest men on the planet. This makes the [[OutsideContextProblem the human-hunting alien]] that much more formidable when it causes [[ScaryBlackMan Mac]] to start undergoing a traumatic SanitySlippage after having seen it, and [[BadassNative Billy]] to bluntly admit that, for the first time in his life, he is genuinely terrified and bluntly says they were all going to die.
67	* BringIt: Dutch attempts to lure the Predator into a trap by standing in the (hidden) trap yelling "I'm here, come and kill me!" while making a beckoning gesture.
68	* CameFromTheSky: The movie starts with the title character's ship landing in South America.
69	* TheCameo:
70	** Bodybuilder Sven-Ole Thorsen appears as a Russian officer.
71	** The helicopter pilot is the Predator himself, Kevin Peter Hall.
72	* CannotTellAJoke: Hawkins starts off afflicted with this trope, though it doesn't help that he likes telling them to Billy, who [[TheStoic seems to not possess a sense of humor at all]]. Averted later (somewhat) when he tells yet another vagina joke to Billy, who this time breaks character and lets loose a loud, hearty series of guffaws (which the Predator later mimics).
73	* CatScare:
74	** Billy gets startled by a flock of vultures a second after seeing skinned human bodies hanging from the trees.
75	** Blain hears rustling foliage and readies his gun, only to have it turn out to be a small animal. He rolls his eyes and turns away... then promptly gets killed by the Predator's plasma gun.
76	* CaughtInASnare: The team sets up a net trap to catch the Predator. It works, but not for long -- it cuts itself free in seconds.
77	* ChameleonCamouflage: The Predator's camouflage armor works this way, and the monster knows how to make efficient use of it.
78	* ChaseStopsAtWater: Subverted: Dutch seemingly escapes the titular alien hunter when he falls into a river and down the InevitableWaterfall... only for the creature to jump into the river right after him. And then double-subverted: [[spoiler:the mud of the riverbanks covers Dutch, masking his body heat from the Predator's thermal vision, so the river helped him escape after all.]]
79	* CherryTapping: While future films established Predators as a ProudWarriorRace culture, in the first film the Predator disarming itself to pummel an unarmed Dutch just comes across as toying with its prey.
80	* ClifftopCaterwauling: Dutch, to attract the Predator into his trap.
81	* CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise: After Dutch is the only squad member left, he falls into a huge mud pit and finds himself staring down the Predator with no weapons completely helpless. As he waits for death, he is stunned to see the predator completely ignore him and go after a nearby wild animal. That's when he realizes that the alien is using infrared vision and that his mud bath completely obscured his body heat.
82	* CoveredInMud: Getting covered in mud is the standard method of avoiding thermal detection by the Predator.
83	* CowTools: The Predator is injured by Mac during the MoreDakka scene, and uses a variety of alien Cow Tools to patch the wound. According to the director, these are based on actual veterinary tools.
84	* CreatorCameo: Right after the alien blows itself up, the helicopter pilot commenting on the explosion is Kevin Peter Hall, the man who wore the Predator suit.
85	* CrushingHandshake: When Dutch and Dillon meet after many years apart, they crush each other's hands in an competition of alpha male superiority. After the camera lingers on their bulging arms for a few seconds, Dillon finally surrenders.
86	* CurbStompBattle: Dutch and his team wipe out the guerrillas early in the film. Then the Predator hunts down and kills Dutch's team one by one while suffering hardly a scratch. (Aside from being shot and wounded by Mac after it killed Blain.) The battle between Dutch and the Predator also starts this way, as the Predator completely wrecks Dutch in hand-to-hand combat. Until Dutch manages to lure it into one of his traps.
87	* CyanidePill: The Predator carries a suicide SelfDestructMechanism. Considering it and its species fellows choose to hunt [[Franchise/{{Alien}} xenomorphs]], and humans who would reverse-engineer any captured technology, it's probably a good idea.
88	* DarkReprise: The movie has a pop-music version: As the commandos' helicopter is touching down in the jungle, the guys are full of macho bravado, slathering on camouflage makeup and trading humorous insults, while Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" blasts from a cassette player; the music is then abruptly cut off during the landing. Later in the movie, when the commandos are finally starting to realize that they're being hunted by a killer from outer space, Mac suffers some SanitySlippage and begins [[MadnessMantra heedlessly babbling]] "He saw his baby coming and he jumped back in the alley... We gonna have some fun tonight... have some fun tonight..."
89	* DeadMansTriggerFinger: A variant -- the titular creature blasts [[spoiler:Dillon's]] arm off with its shoulder cannon. The arm falls to the ground, with the dead hand still pulling the trigger of the weapon it's holding and the gun still firing. Played straight a few moments later when [[spoiler:the Predator stabs Dillon, his screams mingling with the stray shots from his final attempt to shoot the Predator.]]
90	* DeathByLookingUp: Technically, [[spoiler: the Predator dies moments later when it blows itself up, but it is fatally injured by Dutch's trap when it looks up just in time for a suspended log to drop on its head, crushing it and leaving it a broken heap that has only enough strength left to activate its self-destruct bomb and [[EvilLaugh laugh]].]]
91	* DespairEventHorizon: Mac goes through one of these after [[spoiler: Blain's death]]. Billy seemingly resigns himself to death the moment he surmises something other than a human is hunting them.
92	* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Mac's eyes stare at Dillon after getting shot in the head by the Predator's plasmacaster.]]
93	* DigitalDestruction: The "Ultimate Hunter" Blu-ray release relied so heavily on DNR that its version of the film boasts no grain -- but Arnold and Carl Weathers now look more like they got a fine wax job in a few scenes (especially the beginning).
94	* DiscOneFinalBoss: Our protagonists' trip into the jungle is first undertaken to rescue some men from a group of South American guerrillas. Soon after the camp is destroyed, a human-hunting alien shows up.
95	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Many parallels have been made between this film and UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar: American troops fighting in a jungle against a stealthy, inscrutable fighting force.
96	* DontExplainTheJoke: Inverted. Hawkins' fumbling attempt to explain one of his jokes ("You see, because there's an echo...") is the only reason the joke works at all.
97	* DoomedPredecessor: Shortly after landing and finding a downed helicopter, the team discovers the disemboweled and flayed remains of another team of Green Berets who had also been sent to take down the guerillas.
98	* DramaticGunCock:
99	** Blain does this after letting "Old Painless" out of its bag, by cranking the multi-barrels left and right (this is pure RuleOfCool -- in reality, doing this would probably fire off any rounds that were already chambered).
100	** Dutch hears Anna cock her pistol as she's sneaking up on him, giving him time to smack her in the face with the butt of his gun.
101	* DramaticNecklaceRemoval: Billy is shown [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness nervously]] fingering a pouch on a cord around his neck (presumably a [[MagicalNativeAmerican medicine pouch]]) when he senses the Predator near. During his YouShallNotPass scene, he throws away his rifle, rips the pouch from his neck, and wraps the cord around his hand so his palm will have a better grip on the machete he then draws to take the Predator on.
102	* DwindlingParty: The special forces team starts off with seven people and picks up an eighth with Anna. Then the killing starts. By the end of the film, there's only [[spoiler:one]] of the original team left.
103	** [[spoiler:Hawkins:]] stabbed and gutted by the Predator, who hangs his body upside down in a tree;
104	** [[spoiler:Blain:]] shot in the back by the Predator;
105	** [[spoiler:Mac:]] shot in the head by the Predator, leaving his brains strewn all over the jungle floor;
106	** [[spoiler:Dillon:]] arm shot off by the Predator, then impaled;
107	** [[spoiler:Billy:]] KilledOffscreen by the Predator with unknown means and his skull taken as a trophy;
108	** [[spoiler:Poncho:]] shot in the head by the Predator, which in his case is BloodlessCarnage.
109	* DyingSmirk: [[spoiler:After being defeated, the Predator activates a mini nuclear bomb in his suit and gives a booming laugh as Dutch runs to escape the blast area.]]
110	* EnemyMine: Anna the rebel helps the team when she realizes they are ''all'' being hunted.
111	* EurekaMoment: When the Predator approaches a defenseless Dutch, it passes him by. Dutch is puzzled by this slight, but then he looks at the mud covering him, and:
112	-->'''Dutch:''' He couldn't see me...
113	* EvilLaugh: The Predator gives one hell of a menacing cackle [[spoiler:before it dies]], especially since his laugh is a hideously distorted mimic of Billy's laughter. It's probably safe to say that this laugh will haunt Dutch for the rest of his life.
114	* FairPlayVillain: The Predator [[spoiler: doesn't attack the unarmed, given they're not much sport; it spares Anna because she has no weapon. It later gives Dutch a better shot at him by stripping off its mask and shoulder cannon even though it had him at its mercy. It comes across more as sadism than honor in this context, however, as the Predator's subsequent beatdown of Dutch is almost entirely one-sided]].
115	* FastRoping: Used at the beginning and justified because the helicopter doesn't have enough room to set down in the dense jungle.
116	* FlayingAlive: Sort of. The Green Beret team at the beginning was skinned, but given the Predator's methods of taking trophies, it was almost certainly done after death.
117	* FooledByTheSound: Played to sinister effect, as the Predator's equipment can function as a high-tech "duck call", allowing the alien to imitate any sound, and any voice, to distract or unnerve his targets.
118	* ForDoomTheBellTolls: Tubular bells begin to ring out as [[spoiler:Billy]] turns back to face the Predator head-on.
119	* GatlingGood: The famous GE M134 minigun "Ol' Painless", wielded by Wrestling/JesseVentura, was the first handheld minigun ever to be used on film (or in any fiction for that matter). The actors who fired it had to be braced just off-screen, [[RecoiledAcrossTheRoom lest the recoil knock them on their ass]]. And that was just firing ''blanks''. They also had to connect it to an external power source off-screen via a wire that went down his pants. Jesse himself has stated that while the gun was suspended from an off-screen crane in early takes, he later managed to fire it without the crane's help:
120	-->'''Jesse Ventura:''' You just had to grit your teeth and hold on. It's like firing a chainsaw. It's fucking ridiculous. [[AwesomeButImpractical Why the fuck would anyone want to use something like that?]]
121	* GenreDeconstruction: Of the 80s action movies. Go to the "Analysis" page for details. This is definitely the first, and possibly only, movie where audiences get to see Arnold Schwarzenegger in a hand-to-hand fight where he gets absolutely ''[[CurbStompBattle thrashed]]''.
122	* GenreShift: The film starts off as the usual UsefulNotes/ColdWar military shoot-em-up action flick with hostages and CIA spooks, but morphs into sci-fi action/horror halfway through. The moment the Predator takes his place as the antagonist of the film, almost all traces of the initial action film premise are gone, and the characters take a minute to realize it.
123	* GiveMeAReason: Anna (the captured guerrilla) tries to escape from Dillon, her captor. After she's recaptured, he says to her, "Try it again...please," a threat of what he'll do to her if she does.
124	* GoodGunsBadGuns:
125	** Dutch's squad is outfitted mostly with "upgraded" and/or modified Western military firearms. Dutch uses a modified [=M16=] with a under-barrel [=M203=] grenade launcher attachment, Billy also uses a modified [=M16=] with an under-barrel pump-shotgun attachment, and Mac uses a short-barrel [=M60E3=] light machine gun, while the rest of the squad initially use what are supposed to be [=MP5s=] (really heavily modified civilian [=HK94A3=] prop guns). [[TheBigGuy Big Guy]] Blain switches to a [[GatlingGood M134 Minigun]] prior to assaulting the rebel base, while Poncho uses a customized GrenadeLauncher as a secondary weapon. Their use of typically "bad" "advanced" weapons is Justified across the board, as the movie runs on RuleOfCool and RatedMForManly, while also establishing just how much of a threat the titular alien hunter is as it cuts down the squad members one by one.
126	** The BananaRepublic rebels naturally use a variety of AK and Dragunov variants, clear "bad" guns.
127	* GrudgingThankYou: After Mac saves Dillon from a scorpion crawling on his back by pinning it on his knife, Dillon pauses and resentfully says "Thanks".
128	* GunsAkimbo:
129	** Poncho is briefly shown firing his [=HK94A3=] in one hand and his GrenadeLauncher in the other during the jungle shooting scene.
130	** [[spoiler:Dillon]] is shown wielding a [=HK94A3=] in either hand as he trails Mac when the latter chases after the Predator.
131	* GunPorn: Several of the scenes, particularly the famous deforestation sequence, were meant to ridicule this trope (the studio asked for more "gun shooting" scenes, so the director threw in an extended one where that's all the characters do).
132	* HalfwayPlotSwitch: The first act is [[DevelopingDoomedCharacters dedicated to the mission to rescue Dillon's crew]]. Then the Predator attacks Hawkins.
133	* AHandfulForAnEye: Anna throws a handful of leaves in Dillon's face while trying to escape.
134	* HandCannon: Dutch, Poncho, Mac, Billy, and Hawkins all carry Desert Eagle handguns, though no one ever uses them.
135	* HandSignals: While traveling through the jungle and in combat, Dutch uses gestures (along with an occasional whistle) in lieu of speech to give information and instructions to the members of his hostage rescue team.
136	* HandWaved: The fact that the Major in charge of the most trusted rescue squad has an incredibly strong Austrian accent strikes something of an odd note (yes, they're mercenaries, but they're all former soldiers. "Dutch" was stationed in Fort Bragg), and even more so when one considers that absolutely no one mentions it. He's affectionately called "Dutch", and that's the end of the matter. If he was supposed to have spent some time abroad... surely "Deutsch" would have been a better choice? Maybe "Dutch" is a slightly butchered pronunciation of "Deutsch"?
137	* HandyCuffs: The captured rebel Anna has her hands tied in front of her, and takes advantage of it to escape. Somewhat justified because the team is traveling through steep, rough terrain, and she needs her hands in front of her to hold onto things and avoid falling.
138	* HardWorkMontage: Two; the team preparing traps to catch the Predator, and Dutch for their one-on-one confrontation.
139	* HealThyself: The Predator has an advanced medkit that it uses on itself after Dutch's team opens up on it in a massive More Dakka barrage. It dodges out of the way at the beginning of the salvo by jumping into the trees, but still takes one bullet near its knee. Notably, the medkit isn't lasers that automatically regenerate tissue -- it's more advanced, but has recognizable analogues to a human medkit. The Predator is [[BandageWince not amused]] when it has to cinch the wound closed.
140	* HeatWave: Anna informs the military that the titular creature only appears during the hottest years (possibly because it comes from a hot planet).
141	%%* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler:Dillon.]]
142	* HellishCopter: Two of the guerrillas attempt to escape during the camp shootout, but are first shot by Dillon and then blown up by Dutch.
143	* HeroicBSOD:
144	** Anna has this when [[spoiler:Hawkins]] is killed in front of her, splattering his blood on her.
145	** "[[MadnessMantra I'm gonna have me some fun... I'm gonna have me some fun...]]" Mac keeps it more or less together for the most part after [[spoiler:Blain's death]], but the HeroicBSOD doesn't kick in until Poncho is nearly killed, causing Mac to snap.
146	--->'''Mac:''' I got you, motherfucker! I got you! ''[runs after the Predator]'' I'M COMIIING!!
147	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Billy]] makes a last stand on a log bridge to give the rest of the team time to escape.
148	* HoldTheLine: [[spoiler:Billy Sole]] decides he’s tired of being hunted and makes a stand, machete in hand, giving his comrades time to escape to the chopper.
149	%%* HeterosexualLifePartners: Blain and Mac.
150	* HungryJungle: The film's portrayal of the jungle slowly moves towards this until the Predator invokes it full force by picking off the heroes one by one. As stated in the real examples, the actual shooting of the film was very tough due to the jungle conditions.
151	-->"The jungle... it came alive and took him."
152	* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: While widely considered the TropeCodifier, it's actually a subversion – not only are both sides of different species, but one is more advanced technologically than humans, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything much like humans are to actual Earth animals]].
153	* ICallItVera: Blain's portable minigun "Ol' Painless".
154	* ImprobableCover: Dutch lives through a small nuclear explosion at close range because he ducked behind some cover.
155	* IncrediblyObviousBomb: After Dutch mortally wounds the Predator, it activates its SuperWristGadget which starts to beep in an increasingly loud manner, while red indicator bars start disappearing on the display and the Predator gives an EvilLaugh. Dutch doesn't have to be told he'd better run like hell...
156	* InescapableNet: The mercenaries manage to catch the Predator hunting them in a net thanks to Dutch playing bait, but the alien promptly tears the net apart by firing his plasma caster.
157	* InevitableWaterfall: After Dutch falls in the river, he immediately is shown falling down a series of waterfalls.
158	* InvisibilityCloak: The Predator uses advanced technology that renders it practically invisible.
159	* IronicEcho:
160	** When Dillon gets angry that no one's going to cross the border to exfiltrate them, Dutch reminds him that they are "expendable assets", just as Dillon said to Dutch when justifying him [[spoiler:sending them out on false pretenses]].
161	** Both the squad and the Predator itself get scenes where they're firing blindly into the jungle in the vain hope of hitting their target.
162	* IWorkAlone: Justified, as Dutch says that his ''team'' works alone; even though Dillon is an old Vietnam War buddy, he's not used to working with ''them'', and Dutch and the others like it even less that he's in charge of the mission.
163	* JumpScare: After coming out of his hiding place to draw out the Predator, Dutch is about to turn back when the (still invisible) Predator suddenly gets caught in their trap.
164	-->'''Dillon:''' SHIT!
165	* JungleWarfare: The movie takes place in an unnamed Central American country almost entirely covered by jungle. The fighting between Dutch's rescue team and the guerrillas involves standard infiltration tactics and a surprise attack. The battle against the title space alien uses tripwires, Claymore mines and physical traps reminiscent of the Vietnam War.
166	* TheKetchupTest: Possibly justified, considering Predators bleed ''fluorescent green''.
167	* KilledOffScreen: Billy's death isn't seen, and only his scream is heard. Later, we see his body as the Predator takes his head and spinal cord as a trophy.
168	* KnightOfCerebus: The Predator's presence is dealt with very seriously, and drains quite a bit of the campy comedy out of the movie when it arrives. It's rather fitting, considering the team members are in their comfort zone against human opposition, hence their general levity, but once the Predator turns up and makes it clear they're outmatched, they find themselves in a much more dire and unfamiliar scenario.
169	* LaserSight: A variation where the Predator uses a three-dot version to triangulate the aim of its shoulder cannon. From its point of view it appears as three red lines intersecting to form a triangle at the moment of firing.
170	* LateToThePunchline: Hawkins's telling of a post-battle [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093773/quotes?qt0315372 old and dirty joke]] to Billy about his girlfriend's, ah, capacity leaves Billy looking bewildered for a good long pause. Hawkins desperately re-tells the punchline and then wanders off looking a bit crestfallen. A few more seconds pass... then Billy laughs heartily.
171	* LockAndLoadMontage: Dutch prepares primitive weapons and covers himself with mud prior to fighting the title opponent.
172	* LordBritishPostulate: The Predator may be formidable, but as Dutch sums it up with one single BadassBoast, "if it bleeds, we can kill it."
173	* LuredIntoATrap: Dutch attempts this after retreating from the Predator by trying to lure it into an obvious choke point lined with sharpened wooden stakes. The Predator doesn't fall for the obvious SchmuckBait, but [[spoiler: in avoiding it unknowingly steps right underneath a counterweight trap he had previously constructed, allowing Dutch to spring it and crush the Predator]].
174	* MachoMasochism: Just before fighting the title creature, Billy cuts a diagonal wound into his chest with his knife. It's meant to deny first blood to the Predator .
175	* MagicalNativeAmerican: Billy [[BeingWatched senses the presence of the alien]] long before anyone else does. Justified as he ''is'' their scout. Still played straight, however, as Billy's reactions indicate that he somehow understands the otherworldly nature of their foe.
176	-->'''Billy:''' I'm scared, Major.\
177	'''Poncho:''' Bullshit! You ain't afraid of no man.\
178	'''Billy:''' There's something out there waiting for us. And it ain't no man. ''[cocks his gun]'' We're all gonna die.
179	%%* MajorlyAwesome: Major Dutch, our hero.
180	* ManOnFire: At least two guerrillas are shown being set ablaze. One tries to shoot Dillon, who shoots him dead. Later, after he and Dutch shoot a helicopter trying to escape and blow it up, one of the pilots gets out screaming before succumbing to the fire.
181	* MeaningfulEcho: At the beginning of the film, Mac's friend Blain plays a tape of Music/LittleRichard's "Long Tall Sally" on the chopper flight to the drop zone. Much later, during Mac's HeroicBSOD, he repeats the lyrics in an insane mantra.
182	* MildlyMilitary: Aside from Dutch's InsistentTerminology that they are a rescue team. It's left ambiguous if the squad is a U.S. Military unit or an external mercenary unit occasionally brought in when plausible deniability is needed.
183	* MissedHimByThatMuch:
184	** After Hawkins is taken by the Predator, the team go searching for his body. The camera pans upward, following a trail of dripping blood, to reveal his naked body strung from a tree above their heads.
185	** On the villainous side -- during the climax, the Predator climbs down through the trees to investigate the fire Dutch has set...and thanks to his being coated in mud to mask his body heat, it doesn't even realize it passed him by. Or rather, ''crawled right over him'', in a rather harrowing shot where the audience is treated to the alien's camouflage effect moving across Dutch's mud-covered body.
186	* MolotovTruck: There's a truck up on blocks so its engine can be used to power the guerrilla camp. Dutch puts a SatchelCharge in the back, then uses his great strength to raise the truck so the blocks fall over and the truck goes careening downhill into the camp, whereupon he sets off the charge's radio detonator.
187	* MonsterDelay: Only the view of the soldiers from the Yautja's eye-view is visible at first, then a shot of its own hand through its visor revealing that it has claws, then a view of the cloaked Yautja with his glowing yellow eyes, then close-ups of him patching up his wound, then a full-body view, and finally the infamous unmasking moment that reveals just what his "real face" looks like.
188	* MonsterThreatExpiration: The eponymous monster systematically hunts down and kills an entire elite special forces unit, only losing due to a conveniently placed trap shortly before it could kill Dutch.
189	* MoreDakka: And how! After Blain is killed, the team shred the jungle with all weapons at their disposal.
190	* MrFanservice: Almost every male character is shirtless at some point, and all are well-built and muscled. Dutch in particular spends the climax of the movie shirtless.
191	* NeckLift: The Predator grabs Dutch by the neck, picks him up, and presses him against a tree, examining him closely before administering a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.
192	* NeverGiveTheCaptainAStraightAnswer: PlayedForDrama. Hawkins is the first member of Dutch's team to be taken by the alien, but all Poncho can find is a pile of internal organs rotting on the ground. When he returns to report, Poncho can barely comprehend what he has seen.
193	-->'''Poncho:''' Major...you'd better take a look at this...\
194	'''Dutch:''' Did you find Hawkins?\
195	'''Poncho:''' I...I can't tell.\
196	''[{{reaction shot}} from Dutch]''
197	* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: Notably averted. In his DVD commentary, director Creator/JohnMcTiernan makes a point of noting that the scorpion that Mac stabs and later stomps was a real one. Also, earlier, one of Dutch's men kicks a vulture.
198	* NoSell: In the final fight, Dutch tries punching the Predator in the face. It doesn't faze it one bit, and responds by giving Dutch three more punches.
199	* NonindicativeName: As wouldn't be addressed until the [[Film/ThePredator fourth film]] in the franchise, calling the antagonist a "predator" is technically a misnomer. It doesn't actually ''eat'' the enemies it kills, just skinning them and taking trophies. Rather prominently, there isn't a TitleDrop when they discuss the alien, instead referring to it as a hunter instead of a predator.
200	* NoodleIncident: At least two:
201	** At the beginning, when Dutch and Dillon are introduced:
202	--->'''Dillon:''' I heard about that little job you pulled off in Berlin. Very nice, Dutch.\
203	'''Dutch:''' [[GoodOldWays Good old days.]]\
204	'''Dillon:''' Yeah, like the good old days. Then how come you passed on Libya?\
205	'''Dutch:''' [[EveryoneHasStandards We're not assassins.]]
206	** When attacking the guerrillas:
207	--->'''Poncho:''' Do you remember Afghanistan?\
208	'''Dutch:''' Trying to forget it.
209	* NotEnoughToBury:
210	-->'''Dutch:''' Did you find Hawkins?\
211	'''Poncho:''' I... can't tell.
212	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: It's an Creator/{{Arn\|oldSchwarzenegger}}ie movie, so that's not much of a surprise really. See HandWaved above as to why that's a bit strange here, though.
213	* NothingButSkulls: In a subversion, the movie goes for nothing but skulls ''with'' the spinal cord still intact.
214	* NothingIsScarier: The Predator is very slowly revealed, and at first all we see are its victims and first-person thermal images of it stalking the main characters. Unfortunately, the exact nature of the enemy is kinda spoiled for us immediately with the opening shot of a clearly inhuman spaceship.
215	* NotSoDifferentRemark: By the end of the film, Dutch and the Predator are the only ones left, playing a primal cat-and-mouse game with traps. [[spoiler: Upon its defeat,]] Dutch walks up to its fallen form and says...
216	-->'''Dutch:''' What the hell are you?\
217	'''The Predator:''' [[IronicEcho What the hell are]] ''[[WorthyOpponent you?]]''
218	* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: When they find evidence that the title Predator didn't escape their barrage of gunfire ''completely'' unscathed, the soldiers realize they're not dealing with an invincible supernatural threat, just a very, very dangerous mortal one. Cue one of the film's more famous quotes:
219	-->'''Dutch:''' If it bleeds, we can kill it.
220	* NotSoStoic: The MagicalNativeAmerican Billy is portrayed as TheStoic, but he out-of-character guffaws at a vagina joke in a LateToThePunchline moment.
221	* NotWorthKilling: Dutch is about to smash the mortally wounded Predator's head with a boulder but then changes his mind and apparently decides to leave the creature to die on its own. The Predator then demonstrates why following this trope can be a really bad idea, when he activates his self-destruct mechanism, and Dutch barely escapes the resulting explosion.
222	* {{Novelization}}: The film was novelised by Peter Monette. [[https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/Predator_(novel) More details here]].
223	* NoWaterproofingInTheFuture: The eponymous alien has a cloaking device which conveniently shorts out whenever it comes into contact with water. A little odd when it's established that their species have been coming to Earth for hundreds of years and thus should've developed an upgrade. Of note is that the Predator wades in a river and the device keeps on working for a while, only shorting out well after the Predator drags itself to shore.
224	* OhCrap:
225	** While Blain is sneaking into the guerrilla camp, he nearly triggers the tripwire on a claymore mine.
226	** In the finale, when the Predator smashes a log used by Dutch with its bare forearm.
227	--->'''Dutch:''' Bad idea.
228	** This is also Dutch's reaction when he realizes that those strange displays on the Predator's wrist-mounted computer are actually a ''countdown timer''.
229	* OminousAdversarialAmusement: After Dutch mortally wounds the title creature, it activates a device on its wrist and starts laughing at him. Dutch realizes the device is a SelfDestructMechanism and starts running.
230	* OneWordTitle: ''Predator''.
231	* OutrunTheFireball: The climax features an alien countdown, a spooky, ominous laugh, and an explosion with the power of a tactical nuke. This becomes even more ridiculous in the sequel, when Mike reveals that the self-destruct device is powerful enough to completely level a radius of 300 city blocks. Yet Dutch got away, despite only starting his run when the timer was almost up.
232	* OutsideContextProblem: Dutch and his team have everything under control, until an interplanetary hunter with technology, skills, and physical strength beyond any of them arrives.
233	* OutsideGenreFoe: It starts off as a war/action movie, with experienced soldiers going on what looks to them and the audience like another jungle skirmish, to fight some local guerillas. Then the hyper-advanced alien comes in, hijacks the plot, and turns the movie into a [[SciFiHorror completely different genre]]. The characters go from seasoned soldiers on a mission to the playthings of something that sees hunting them as an enjoyable hobby, and couldn't be more confused about it.
234	* OutsideTheBoxTactic: Finding himself physically outmatched by the title antagonist, Dutch tries to goad it into a spiked trap he'd earlier set up. When the alien hunter proves to be too smart to fall for the ruse, a quick-thinking Dutch [[spoiler:instead cuts the rope holding up the trap's heavy counterweight, dropping it on his adversary's head]].
235	* PenPushingPresident: Dillon fulfils this role. As a Colonel, he outranks everyone else on Dutch's team (Dutch included) and in his most famous line he says he's "been pushing papers for the CIA".
236	* PersecutionFlip: An alien hunts humans like humans hunt animals, down to butchering, skinning, and taking their skulls as trophies. Not even the top training and weapons of the mercenary protagonists are a match to his superior technology.
237	* PinnedToTheWall: The movie has Dutch dealing with a random mook who attempts to sneak up on him, by flinging his machete with enough force to impale the mook into a nearby wall. Followed by the following line by Dutch:
238	-->'''Dutch:''' [[DeadlyEuphemism Stick around.]]
239	* PistolWhipping: Dutch knocks out Anna by hitting her in the head with the stock of his rifle.
240	* PlotArmor: At one point, Dutch takes a shot from the Predator's shoulder cannon. While the same weapon effortlessly slices through other characters in gruesome ways, Dutch survives because the shot hit his gun instead, causing him only minor wounds.
241	* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Dutch and his team are mercenaries; however, they specialize in hostage and rescue operations, turning down assignments that only involve killing people. [[spoiler:Accordingly, when Dutch learns that Dillon fabricated the hostage situation to trick Dutch into wiping out a rebel compound, the mercs are ''not happy''.]]
242	* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: At the beginning of the final fight between Dutch and the Predator, it gives him a backhanded slap to the face and knocks him back several yards.
243	* TheQuietOne: The Native American tracker "Billy", whose contributions are things like "Something is out there." Poignant because, sure enough, something ''is'' out there.
244	* RainOfBlood: Subverted, as none of TheSquad led by Dutch see it. As they search the jungle below, we see blood dripping on a leaf above their heads, then the camera pans up to reveal the naked body of their colleague hanging from the treetops.
245	* RatedMForManly: It's a bunch of badass soldiers versus an alien hunter who's even tougher than they are.
246	* RealityHasNoSubtitles: After Dillon captures the female Central American guerrilla Anna, she and other members of Dutch's rescue team repeatedly speak to each other in Spanish without any translation for the audience.
247	* ARealManIsAKiller:
248	** Despite being a mercenary, Dutch doesn't think so, and has turned down numerous high-profile jobs for this reason.
249	--->'''Dutch:''' We're a rescue team, ''not'' assassins.
250	** Dillon tells him that's not his decision to make.
251	--->'''Dillon:''' You're an asset. An expendable asset. And I used you to get the job done, got it?!\
252	'''Dutch:''' My men are ''not'' expendable. And we don't do this kind of work.
253	* RedHerring: Early on in the film, much is made of the Predator's ability to mimic human speech. Specifically, it is shown analyzing and duplicating Mac's dialogue "Turn around. Over here." Over an hour of screen time later, Dillon hears Mac's voice beckoning him with the exact same words and tone. At this point, the entire terrified audience believes that the Predator is baiting him, only for it to turn out... it really was Mac after all. The Predator never does use that gambit. After [[spoiler:Mac gets killed]], the Predator taunts him with Mac's "any time" dialogue, so it is employed as psychological warfare. An early version of the script had the Predator trying to lure Dutch using Anna's voice (note that she's shouting at Dillon right before the "Turn around. Over here," scene), but Dutch is alerted when the Predator then uses Mac's voice.
254	* RoaringRampageOfRescue: Dutch's crack commando team is called in to rescue two missing cabinet ministers, who are suspected to be held hostage by a rebel force. Both of them are actually CIA, and the team had been lied to about their identities; both are already dead as well, and though he was hoping to rescue them the agent who set the team up quickly admits that he mainly wanted Dutch's unit to destroy the rebel base and kill all the soldiers in a preemptive strike. They do exactly that, except they mistakenly believe the rebels skinned the previous team alive and strung them up, making this a RoaringRampageOfRevenge as well... except the culprit behind the skinning was actually the Predator, so the rebels were MisBlamed twice.[[invoked]]
255	* RockBeatsLaser: Notably averted. Despite exploiting the Predator's heat vision to his advantage, Dutch's low-tech approach fails to beat the alien. It's only when the latter decides to "[[HonorBeforeReason even things out]]" by removing its multi-purpose helmet and shoulder gun that Dutch stands a slender chance. [[spoiler:And even when he wins, it's in no small part due to luck and the Predator's strange blend of arrogance and honor.]] Also, Dutch quite literally grabs a large rock to use as a weapon at the close, but [[spoiler:drops it when he sees the Predator has already been mortally wounded by his log trap.]]
256	* SacrificialLion: Most everyone that dies, [[spoiler:Blain]] in particular.
257	* SanitySlippage: Mac isn't all there during his final confrontation with the Predator. [[spoiler:Billy's SenselessSacrifice]] might be a result of this as well.
258	* SatchelCharge: Dutch uses a satchel charge to destroy some trucks used by the guerrillas in the opening battle.
259	* ScarilyCompetentTracker: Billy, the MagicalNativeAmerican, does this several times throughout the movie. As does the Predator itself, but it has the advantage of technology.
260	* ScreamingWarrior: Dutch lights a torch and screams into the night, beckoning the Predator to come to him.
261	* SelfDestructMechanism: The Predator has a device on its wrist that can destroy an area of about 300 city blocks.
262	* SendInTheSearchTeam: The movie begins with this premise, though those participating don't actually know it. Their mission -- supposedly to rescue a cabinet minister shot down by guerrillas -- is actually to find a special forces team that had been sent in to stop a guerrilla offensive.
263	* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler:Dillon and Billy.]] It's even lampshaded by Dutch and acknowledged by [[spoiler:Dillon]] in the former case.
264	-->'''Dutch:''' You can't win this one, [[spoiler:Dillon.]]\
265	[[spoiler:'''Dillon:''']] I know, but maybe I can get even.
266	* ShirtlessScene: Dillon, Billy, Poncho, and Dutch all get at least one. Dutch acts as a WalkingShirtlessScene for the climax.
267	* ShoulderCannon: The Predator comes equipped with a Plasma Caster, a laser-targeted shoulder-mounted plasma-cannon.
268	* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: Dutch finds his special forces team has been duped by CIA agent Dillon:
269	-->'''Dutch:''' What happened to you, Dillon? You used to be someone I could trust.\
270	'''Dillon:''' I woke up. Why don't you? You're an asset. An expendable asset. And I used you to get the job done.
271	* SkywardScream: [[spoiler:Dillon's]] dying scream is howled upwards as the Predator impales him.
272	* SoleSurvivor: Blain and Mac were the only survivors from their platoon during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.
273	* SoundOnlyDeath: As the fleeing party is being pursued by the title creature, one of them, Billy, decides to perform a YouShallNotPass to let the others escape. As they continue along they hear his scream as the Predator kills him.
274	* SoundtrackDissonance:
275	** Music/LittleRichard's "Long Tall Sally" being played by Blain on the chopper flight to the drop zone.
276	** Unintentional: though Music/AlanSilvestri's work usually sounds different from movie to movie, half the score here is very similar to his ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' score, making it hard to take those parts of ''Predator'' seriously.
277	** The sitcommy cast credits play over dark, pounding ending music, further adding to the MoodWhiplash.
278	* StabTheSalad: Dutch's prisoner Anna has her hands tied in front of her. He pulls out a knife and then slashes down with it...to cut the ropes securing her wrists and free her.
279	* StabTheScorpion: Mac threatens Dillon with a knife, but uses it to stab a scorpion on his shoulder instead. This moment is the TropeNamer.
280	* SymbolicWeaponDiscarding: After hearing Dillon's death scream and sensing that the eponymous hunter is on their trail, [[BadassNative Billy]] tosses his gun off of the log bridge the survivors are escaping across. He draws his knife and symbolically cuts himself, denying the Predator first blood, while also pulling a DramaticNecklaceRemoval with his medicine pouch. After calling out to him once, Dutch realizes that Billy is going to perform a HeroicSacrifice to [[YouShallNotPass buy the others more time to escape]]. By discarding his gun, he ensures an up-close and personal fight with the BloodKnight alien. [[spoiler:He is still KilledOffscreen, and the Predator takes his skull as a BattleTrophy.]]
281	* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:After being pulverized by Dutch's deadfall trap, the dying Predator tries to take its enemy out as well by initiating a self-destruct sequence that wipes out an enormous swath of jungle.]] This also prevents its advanced weapons and stealth tech from being recovered.
282	* TechnologicallyAdvancedFoe: Five heavily-armed military men begin hunting down a missing cabinet member. Suddenly, they're struggling against a technologically advanced alien hunter.
283	* TestosteronePoisoning: Blain's reaction when the others refuse to chew tobacco like him is to scoff at them and boast about the manly benefits of his tobacco habit.
284	* ThisIsGonnaSuck:
285	** Dutch gives a sardonic "This is getting better by the minute," when Dillon tells him they have no backup after they cross the border.
286	** Dutch's expression after the Predator walks ''around'' the death trap he was trying to sucker it into. [[spoiler:Subverted seconds later, when he realizes that by moving around the spikes, the Predator put itself underneath the trap's deadfall weight, which Dutch promptly crushes it under.]]
287	* ThisMeansWarpaint: Towards the end of the film, Dutch coats himself in mud as he prepares for the final confrontation, which also [[SimpleYetAwesome masks him from the Predator's heat vision]].
288	* ThousandYardStare:
289	** Anna goes into shock after seeing the Predator kill its first (on-screen) victim.
290	** Dutch has one in the exfiltration helicopter after [[spoiler:everyone in his squad is killed and the Predator's subsequent suicide]].
291	* ThrowingTheDistraction: During the final confrontation with the Predator, already hard to spot thanks to the mud covering him, Dutch throws a rock to distract the alien hunter and gets a chance to spear him.
292	* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: In this case, a machete. "[[BondOneLiner Stick around!]]"
293	* TorsoWithAView: Blaine gets blasted by the Predator's superweapon. He doesn't survive, but his body doesn't seem to notice it's no longer with spine.
294	* TrailOfBlood: At various times throughout the film, Dutch and the alien track each other by following bloodstains.
295	* TrapMaster: Dutch's entire team is incredibly skilled at laying out exhaustive trap networks, from log deadfalls and net snares to tripwire-activated claymores. Dutch himself embodies this trope during his final battle with the Predator.
296	* UnderequippedCharge: The MagicalNativeAmerican Billy throws down his assault rifle and pulls out a really big knife to fight the title monster in a YouShallNotPass. It ends badly for him.
297	* UnintentionalBackupPlan: Dutch's plan to lure the titular menace into a deadly knife-trap fails when the Predator spots what he's up to and simply goes around it. Just as it's about to kill him, Dutch notices it's standing right under the trap's counterweight... a giant log.
298	* VaginaDentata: When the Predator finally reveals his face, the viewer gets a good look at what even cable television movie commentary describes as a toothed vagina. Hence the heroes of both films call him "pussyface".
299	* VideoCredits: In a big contrast to all the preceding tension (and the action theme playing in the background), the actors appear smiling and laughing, except for a very scared Dutch.
300	* VillainOfAnotherStory: The Soviets and the guerrillas they were advising are the initial foes for Dutch's team and the CIA to take down before the Predator steps in.
301	* VineSwing: While Dutch is hiding in a tree, the Predator climbs by him, so he uses a vine to swing to another tree.
302	* WalkingShirtlessScene: Dutch is bare-chested for the climax.
303	* WhamShot: Throughout the early portion of the movie, the group is [[MysteriousWatcher shadowed by something]] watching them through thermal vision. After raiding the insurgent base, Mac stabs a scorpion that was crawling on Dillon. After wiping it off and the group leaving, their mysterious stalker approaches to examine the scorpion, a monstrous clawed hand reaching out to pick it up, revealing that the stalker is definitely ''not'' human.
304	* WhatNowEnding: How will Dutch explain the [[spoiler:death of his entire team? That an alien killed them then blew itself up and half the rainforest]]? What if the government doesn't believe him? ''What if they do?'' Both ''Film/Predator2'' and ''Film/{{Predators}}'' indicate that the story was taken seriously but obviously hidden from the public. The final fate of the survivors remains unclear in light of this.
305	* TheWorfEffect: The entire team takes out an entire base full of guerrillas so that when the Predator starts killing them, it's clear how dangerous it is.
306	* WorthyOpponent: The Predator recognizes Dutch as one, taking off its plasmacaster and mask for a one-on-one fight at the end.
307	* WreckedWeapon: The Predator shoots Dutch's rifle, blowing it in half.
308	* WrongGenreSavvy: The team are very competent commandos in a 1980s action film. Unfortunately, the movie turns into a sci-fi slasher film around halfway through.
309	* YouShallNotPass: [[spoiler:Billy]] makes his last stand against the Predator to give the rest of the team a chance to escape. Sadly, this doesn't end well for him.
310	* YouUsedToBeBetterSpeech: Dutch and his hostage rescue team are hired to retrieve a cabinet minister and his aide from enemy hands. When they find the men, Dutch discovers that they're actually CIA spies, and the real purpose of hiring the team was to use it to destroy a rebel military encampment. Dutch challenges his old friend CIA operative Dillon, who tricked him into accepting the job.
311	-->'''Dutch:''' What happened to you, Dillon? You used to be somebody I could trust.

Context Film / Predator