When the jungle comes alive to exact its own brand of hell on you, is there anyway to survive? And just what is it that's doing all the killing - the jungle itself, or something far worse?

Major Dutch Schaeffer (Schwarzenegger) and his battle-hardened squad of elite commandos begrudgingly accept a mission from old friend Dillon (Carl Weathers). The mission is to free a group of political hostages who are being held hostage by guerrilla forces, deep within the jungle in Central America. The group are airlifted into a dense tropical rainforest, where they begin their search for the missing aircraft. What Dutch doesn't realise is that there is more to the story about the hostage situation than Dillon is revealing - and when they find the Minister's chopper down and all its crew slaughtered, inexplicable tracks are found that were made by American boots.

Nearby, some of the Americans that they had tracked are found hanging upside down, skinned. Dog tags reveal the identity of the dead team leader, an officer known to Dutch. It quickly becomes clear that Dutch and his team were deceived when they were briefed. Dillon reluctantly admits that the diplomats are intelligence operatives, and Dutch's team has been set up to confront a hostile force. But it's too late to turn back now. When they come across the guerrilla encampment a brutal fire-fight ensues and all but one of the guerrillas are killed. Dutch and his team now have to make their way on foot to the border, through the dense jungle, encumbered by surviving guerrilla Anna (Elpidia Carrillo), who may have useful information. Only after they've crossed into friendly territory will it be safe to extract them. However, when members of the squad start disappearing and are found torn to shreds, Schaeffer's team discovers that a hidden danger awaits them in the jungle, a danger that far exceeds the guerrillas they were hunting. An alien from another planet, who hunts humans for sport, is stalking the jungle, and this lethal predator (Kevin Peter Hall) possesses sophisticated technology and a massive physique to boot. If any of them are to survive, then they must put aside any thoughts of revenge and try to eliminate this predator, who is picking them off one by one.

There is nothing I can really fault Predator on - it is an Eighties classic! It looks and sounds amazing, and I for one am glad they have released it on the PSP. The only thing I found slightly irritating is that the producer expects us to believe that Dutch and his crew come across a tiny little Guerrilla village in the middle of such a large expanse of jungle and there is only one female there. Surely not! But this is easily forgiven and doesn't really detract from the film as a whole; neither does it affect the style or plot of the film. The final act is no doubt the strongest and can even be viewed as a separate movie altogether; I wont spoil the ending for you, but I will tell you that it is amazing and well worth waiting for!

Schwarzenegger does a fantastic job in this role (and I believe it should have been up there with Terminator and Total Recall). Arnie looks absolutely massive, with muscles bulging out everywhere, every bit what we would expect from an Elite Commando. Granted, his dialogue isn't very substantial (he's not there to sound good, he's there to be HUGE and look rough and tough) and we do get a few comical one-liners, but this all adds to the charm that is Arnie. In fact, the entire cast were perfectly chosen, a veritable feast of Eighties action heroes. Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura and Sonny Landham are just three of the rather humungous actors under the command of Schwarzenegger's group, and each of them fits their respective roles perfectly. Every character in the force possesses their own individual personality and quirks, thereby making us want to root for the survival of them all! Anna, who is played by Elpidia Carrillo, does a wonderful job as the female Guerrilla; she stands up well to the overly large males and carries off the bit of dialogue that she has with real finesse. At no point did I find her acting to be unbelievable, and she did look genuinely frightened when the Predator appeared; all in all a superb performance.

This is another great conversion of an all time classic film; the rich greens of the forest are dazzling and hold an amazing depth to them, and you can almost reach out and touch them. You can feel the heat and humidity within the jungle and can totally sympathise with the characters when they start to sweat. The black levels are adequate, but not up there with some UMDs I have seen. The colours are bright and vivid, and look as good on my PSP as they do on my 32" widescreen.

The sounds are lush and you can feel the jungle living and breathing its own music all around - and this makes you feel immersed in it yourself. The panning sounds of the helicopters are scintillating and you find yourself looking around the screen to see if you can catch one last glimpse before they disappear out of sight. The soundtrack is another point of this film that I feel I need to mention, as it does a stand up job of actually adding to the atmosphere and drama that is appearing within the film. They have managed to capture all the emotion and adrenaline that the characters are feeling during any particular scene or situation. This is a better soundtrack in fact than on a lot of more recent releases. I found the sound level to be just perfect on this UMD; however, if I had been in a rather noisy area I may have found it a little too low - just forget about using the speakers and stick to headphones.

Yet again Twentieth Century Fox are lacking in the extras department, well, in fact, there just aren't any! We do have the usual subtitles and language options. I'm not going to moan about this however, as sooner or later publishers will realise that people who buy UMDs require a little more bang for their buck.

Predator is a film that delivers exactly what it promises; an effective and entertaining mix of huge explosions, backed by treacherous landscapes and impressive special effects for their day (come on, it was made in 1987!) This is one film that once the dying starts it doesn't stop until the final scene. This is a must have for everyone, especially film buffs out there - it really is an enduring classic!

Reviewed by Krista Day for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).