LEWM: "PREDATOR" ESL LESSON

 
ARCENAL STUDIOS presents LEARNING ENGLISH WITH MOVIES: "PREDATOR" (1987) - a video lesson for ESL students who would like to improve their English skills by using MOVIES as the main topic.

 

 

PREDATOR

 

PREDATOR is 1987 action science fiction film directed by John McTiernan starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A PREDATOR is an animal that lives by killing and eating other animals.

McTiernan would also direct the hugely successful action film DIE HARD, the submarine thriller THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, and the third DIE HARD sequel, DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE.

He would also re-team with Schwarzenegger for the action/comedy THE LAST ACTION HERO. Unfortunately, the film bombed at the box office.

A BOMB OR flop is a film that is considered highly unsuccessful or unprofitable during its theatrical run.

Joel Silver, one of the producers of COMMANDO, wanted Schwarzenegger as the heroic lead character in the PREDATOR film.

Silver has produced some of the most successful action films of the 80’s and 90’s, including the LETHAL WEAPON, DIE HARD and THE MATRIX films.

Most of the action in PREDATOR was filmed in the jungles of Mexico. The grueling production not only had to deal with the harsh jungle environment but also with the challenging stunt work and special effects.

GRUELING means extremely tiring and demanding.

In fact, action star Jean Claude Van Damme was originally cast as the PREDATOR creature. However, the suit was so hot, cumbersome and uncomfortable that he quit the production only after a couple of days.

CUMBERSOME means large or heavy and therefore difficult to carry or use.

STAN WINSTON, the academy award winning special effects supervisor behind THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS, and JURASSIC PARK, redesigned the suit and a new actor was cast to play the menacing PREDATOR.

Schwarzenegger was joined by an ensemble cast, including his former co-stars Jesse Ventura who had worked with him in the film THE RUNNING MAN and Bill Duke who had worked with him in COMMANDO.

ENSEMBLE is a group of musicians, actors, or dancers who perform together.

They would also be joined by Rocky’s Apollo creed himself, Carl Weathers.

Shane Black, the writer/director of 2018’s THE PREDATOR, also appeared in the film.

The script, originally titled THE HUNTER was rewritten and focused on one alien PREDATOR hunting for game on Earth.

In Hunting, Game or quarry is any animal hunted for food, and the meat of those animals.

Since the Predator is hunting for sport, he is determined to find the ultimate prey, an elite commando soldier.

Award winning Music composer Alan Silvestri was hired to score the film.

This prolific composer has written some of the most memorable film soundtracks in history, including BACK TO THE FUTURE, FORREST GUMP, and the AVENGERS just to name a few.

The PLOT of the movie centers on an elite squad of soldiers hired to find a missing politician held hostage in a Central American jungle.

The leader of this squad is DUTCH, an old friend of CIA Officer Dillon, the man in charge of the covert operation.

COVERT means secret or hidden.

Despite Dutch’s objections, Dillon joins them in their mission to find the cabinet minister.

Once they find a crashed helicopter belonging to green berets that Dutch knew, they start to suspect that their mission was not at all what it seemed.

After an encounter with a dangerous guerilla army, Dutch discovers Dillon’s true intentions, to kill the insurgents and steal their highly sensitive intelligence.

GUERILLA is person or people who engage in irregular warfare especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harassment and sabotage.

In the aftermath of the attack, they manage to capture a prisoner, a woman guerilla soldier named Anna.

While making their way back to their extraction point, they encounter a mysterious creature that start killing them one by one.

They try their best to trap the invisible creature, but unfortunately only a few of them manage to escape.

Anna is the only one able to reach the rescue helicopter alive, while Dutch is followed by the relentless PREDATOR into the heart of the jungle.

After falling into a lake, the PREDATOR’s invisibility stops working, allowing Dutch to finally see the creature.

Not only that, but Dutch also discovers that being covered in mud makes him invisible to the Predator’s heat vision.

Using all his experience as a soldier, Dutch decides to hunt the creature by using booby traps.

BOOBY TRAP is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm, or surprise a human being or an animal.

This way, he becomes the new PREDATOR while the creature is now the PREY.

After a fierce hand-to-hand combat against the creature, Dutch manages to trap him under a huge tree.

The dying Predator, activates a time bomb that explodes just seconds after Dutch jumps for safety.

By the end of the film, Anna and the rescue helicopter find Dutch alive and fly him back to the camp.

The success of the film spawned a media franchise of films, comic books, video games and toys.

The PREDATOR character also appeared in the ALIEN VS PREDATOR films, where the creature battles the fearsome and deadly ALIENS.

The rights of the franchise belonged to Twentieth Century Fox, the movie studio that was recently purchased by the Walt Disney Company.

As a result of this unprecedented deal, the PREDATOR franchise now belongs to Disney, which is already considering rebooting the franchise for a whole new generation.