So, I should have written this article years ago.  It's been knocking around in my head since just after Prey came out, but I just never took the time to get it done.

In 2022, I read a brief article that said Prey worked hard to correct the toxic masculinity issues of the original film.  It was three or four paragraphs long, and the primary focus was, of course, Amber Midthunder's character showing that women can be just as strong as men.  It lauded praise on Naru for her determination, innovation, and powerful will.  The original showed that only men were capable of such things, the movie's lone woman being little more than a damsel in distress.  The article went on to say the movie proves that men who love Predator for these things but dislike Prey for the same traits in a woman are toxic misogynists.  

Now, that may be true, but here's the thing - the author of the article was wrong about Predator.

First, let me get one thing in the clear.  I love Prey.  Despite its flaws (and yes, it has flaws because all movies do) in both writing and storytelling, I think it's the best entry in the universe since 1990's mistakenly maligned Predator 2.  I will go even further and say it is also better than the releases since, Killer of Killers and Badlands.  

My issue isn't with Prey, but with the author's misunderstanding of the original film.

Predator isn't just an amazing action flick.  It is.  If that's all you're there for, no shade.  You like what you like.  But it is also a sci-fi / horror monster movie.  Don't believe me?  Compare it to the best monster movies ever made like Jaws.  You don't even see the monster for most of the film!  This combination subverted movie goers' expectations of an Arnold action flick in 1987 and showed us something we'd never seen before.  Combined with an Alan Silvestri score (Back to the Future LEGEND), we have something truly amazing.   As a result, Predator generally cracks the top 10 of best movie lists made in these genres.   

What does this have to do with toxic masculinity?

The movie's opening credits give us a chopper with big, special forces guys.  A jeep running through water because it's so badass it doesn't need roads.  The world's most recognized handshake / arm wrestling contest.  We have badass special forces guys, one with a penchant for telling jokes about his girlfriend's genitals.  We have a huge guy chewing tobacco flinging homophobic slurs.  Every guy is ripped, even the smaller guys.  They do badass things.  The have big, jungle oiled muscles and bigger guns.  The movie is straight (pun intended) 1980s testosterone.

And they all die.

It doesn't matter how badass they are.  It doesn't matter how big their guns are (arms and weapons).  It doesn't matter how fan-fucking-tastic their one liners are.  They all die.

The first guy to bite it is Hawkins, who twice tells jokes about his girlfriend's pu$$y, leading us all to wonder if the guy even has a girlfriend.  Within minutes, we lose Blain, the guy with the biggest gun in the group, who doesn't have time to bleed, and loves throwing around the "f" word, and I don't mean f**k.  

Next we get the "gungasm" scene.  There's a story from behind the scenes that the director, John McTiernan (who would release Die Hard next year), had a visit from a studio exec.  He was told they love what he's doing, but there's just not enough guns and shooting.  McTiernan decided, okay, I'm going to give you more rounds fired in one minute than has ever been done in movie history.  

And to paraphrase Ponco, they hit nothing.

A bunch of infighting starts in the group, and the only two not heavily involved in it are Arnold's Dutch and Elpidia Carrillo's Anna, both of whom are shown doing more thinking than shouting.  They make a stand, setting up all kinds of cool traps.  It doesn't work.  Poncho gets creamed.  The Predator shows itself as if to say, "Here I am.  Come and get me, fuckers."

Mac and Dillon go after it.  Dutch tries to get Dillon not to go, and Dillon responds with, "Maybe I can get even."

Mac, "I gotta score to settle."

Dillon, "We both got scores to settle."

They both die.  Quickly.

Dutch keeps Anna from picking up a gun.  "No, leave it.  He didn't kill you because you weren't armed.  No sport."  While this is a fucking awesome mythology explanation, is that really the case?  Or is McTiernan and Jim Thomas (writer) making the point that guns solve nothing?

Billie goes next, deciding to go out on his own terms.  In what has got to be the most masculine thing ever seen, he pulls an enormous knife (basically a short sword) and marks himself so his enemy doesn't get the honor of drawing first blood.  We hear him scream about two seconds later.  Poncho gets put out of his misery, and we know what happens next.

We get this awesome montage of Arnold making basic weapons - bows, arrows, and spears - while setting traps and reapplying his mud camo.  We get the fantastic faceoff in the jungle.  Neither can see the other.  Arnold is using the Predator's tactics against it.  We see the Predator firing in all directions at once point, seemingly frantic and confused.  Faced with superior firepower, Arnold runs away, just like the Predator did seconds before the gungasm scene.  Intelligence over bravado.

The fight goes back and forth - it's all about innovation and quick thinking, but ends with them going toe to toe.  The Predator completely outmatches Arnold physically, again showing that big muscles and testosterone won't win this fight.  By the way - watch that scene.  When Arnold is scrambling away, the Predator is just walking slowly behind him.  He knows he has one, and he is taking the time to savor the kill.

Beat to shit, Arnold leads the Predator into a trap, who almost falls for it.  Realizing it, the Predator circumvents Arnold's last hope, and our hero knows he's done.  And then the Predator does something incredibly stupid - he leans forward to gloat.  And Arnold sees the tree stump counterweight for the trap right above him.  Arnold wins.

Through intelligence, innovation, and determination.  Not with big guns and muscles.  Not by being the most badass guy there, and certainly not by bragging about how awesome he is.  In fact, that is something we never see Dutch do throughout the whole movie.

Quick note - remember the look of sadness early on when he sees the Russian advisor execute one of the hostages?  He didn't roar "Motherfucker!" and start blasting away.  He sat back, got a pained expression, and accepted that he'd failed to make it in time.

Everything 80s macho in this movie fails.  The more sexist and homophobic the character, the braver they are, and the bigger their guns, the faster they die.

Predator was never a film aggrandizing toxic masculinity.  It was an indictment of it.