[5] Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Dutch Schaefer, the leader of an elite paramilitary rescue team on a mission to save hostages in guerrilla-held territory in a Central American rainforest, who encounter the deadly Predator (Kevin Peter Hall), a skilled, technologically advanced extraterrestrial who stalks and hunts them down.

Carl Weathers, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Richard Chaves, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, and Shane Black are supporting co-stars.

The success of Predator launched a media franchise of films, novels, comic books, video games, and toys.

The team find the helicopter wreckage and traces of guerrilla soldiers, as well as three skinned corpses hung high in the trees nearby.

Dutch's team attacks the guerrilla camp, killing the soldiers and their Russian military allies, and learning the hostages were CIA agents.

Dillon admits the cabinet minister story was a lie to convince Dutch—who refuses to use his team for assassinations—to eliminate the camp and prevent a Soviet-sponsored invasion.

Unbeknownst to the team, a technologically-advanced, humanoid predator has stalked them since their arrival, remaining invisible with a cloaking device, and using thermal imaging vision to see their body heat.

Realizing the predator only attacks those it considers a threat, Dutch warns Anna to relinquish her weapon and run to the extraction point.

Easily outmatched by the larger and stronger creature, Dutch attempts to goad it into a trapped tunnel, but the predator suspects his plan and goes around it.

Levy then brought the screenplay to producer Joel Silver who, based on his experience with Commando, decided to turn the science fiction pulp story line into a big-budget film.

To play the elite band of soldiers, both Silver and Gordon, with co-producer John Davis, searched for other larger-than-life men of action.

Carl Weathers, who had been memorable as boxer Apollo Creed in the Rocky films, was their first choice to play Dillon while professional wrestler and former Navy SEAL Jesse Ventura was hired for his formidable physique as Blain, co-starring with Schwarzenegger the same year in The Running Man.

[6][10] But when the 5'9" Van Damme was compared to Schwarzenegger, Weathers, and Ventura — actors over 6 feet tall and known for their bodybuilding regimens — it became apparent a more physically imposing man was needed to make the creature appear threatening.

Additionally, the original design for the Predator was felt to be too cumbersome and difficult to manage in the jungle and, even with a more imposing actor, did not provoke enough fear.

Van Damme was removed from the film and replaced by the 7'2" Kevin Peter Hall, who had just finished work as a sasquatch in Harry and the Hendersons.

Much of the material dealing with the unit's deployment in the jungle was completed in a few short weeks and both Silver and Gordon were pleased by the dailies provided by McTiernan.

On Friday, April 25, production halted so that Schwarzenegger could get to his wedding on time, flying to Hyannis Port in a Learjet chartered by Silver.

[6] Unlike McTiernan, most of the cast and crew suffered from travelers' diarrhea since the Mexican hotel in which they were living had problems with its water purification.

While on a plane ride to Fox studios alongside Aliens director James Cameron, Winston sketched monster ideas.

[18] The invisibility effect was achieved by having someone wearing a bright red suit (because it was the farthest opposite of the green of the jungle and the blue of the sky) the size of the Predator.

[18] The electrical sparks were rotoscoped animation using white paper pins registered on portable light tables to black-and-white prints of the film frames.

[18] Additional visual effects, mainly for the opening title sequence of the Predator arriving on Earth, were supplied by Dream Quest Images (later Oscar-winners for their work on The Abyss and Total Recall).

In 2010, the same year Predators featured an adaptation of Silvestri's score by John Debney, Intrada Records released the album in a 3000-copy limited edition with remastered sound, many cues combined and renamed, and most notably (as with Intrada's release of Basil Poledouris's score for RoboCop) presenting the original end credits music as recorded (the film versions are mixed differently).

[31] Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times proclaimed it "arguably one of the emptiest, feeblest, most derivative scripts ever made as a major studio movie".

[32] 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".

"[35] The Hollywood Reporter's Duane Byrge felt that the Predator's weaponized attacks relied too heavily on special effects, but allowed that the film is a "well-made, old-style assault movie" and a "full-assault" visual experience.

John McTiernan's direction is claustrophobic, fluid and assured, staging the action with aplomb but concentrating just as much on tension and atmosphere... A thumping piece of powerhouse cinema.

Though in the same year the academy had categorized the Predator creature as a visual effect, it honored Rick Baker with an Oscar in the Best Makeup category for his work on Harry and the Hendersons.

[46] Predator was ranked 4th in a 2015 Rolling Stone reader poll of the all-time best action films; it was described by reporter Andy Greene as "freakin' awesome".

[61] Arnold Schwarzenegger has not reprised his role as Dutch Schaefer in the subsequent sequels; he had been made offers to return[citation needed] but declined on all of these occasions.