Movie Fight Club
March 28th, 2014




Proposed: John McTiernan is the most under-rated director of his generation, having helmed three instant classics (Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October, The Thomas Crowne Affair), one of which is in the running for Most Influential Movie of the Decade. Even his middling work (Predator and Last Action Hero) is really, really good.

So why is his greatness over-looked? Two reasons:

(1) McTiernan eschewed any particular visual style and instead concentrated on economy of storytelling. There are truly great visuals in his movies (see the opening series of shots in Thomas Crowne where the camera zooms down on the Met from space; a shot which seems cliched now, but predates Google Earth by nearly ten years) but these visuals don’t have any particular signature to them. Instead, you can tell a McTiernan movie by how skillfully it moves the story, builds tension, and uses every knife it lays out on the coffee table.

(2) Because of his legal troubles, McTiernan’s late-career period went fallow. So when he should have been directing some of his best work, he was caught in the maw of the legal system. And it’s not unclear if he’ll ever work again and if he does, what will be left of his ability.

Discuss.



  1. Sonny Bunch March 28, 2014 at 10:10 am

    Please retract your statement that “Predator” and “Last Action Hero” are middling. “Predator” is just as economical (and just as good) as “Die Hard.” And “Last Action Hero” was about 10 years ahead of its time. It was meta and ironically self-aware before being meta and ironically self-aware was cool.

  2. REPLY
  3. Mister Crow March 28, 2014 at 10:14 am

    Let us not forget that “The 13th Warrior” was one of the better versions of Beowulf (compared with “Beowulf” & the better “Outlander”).

  4. REPLY
  5. Kevin hudson March 28, 2014 at 10:10 pm

    Thanks to Sonny & Mr. Crow for defending Predator & 13th Warrior.
    I’m not saying that they were Sven Ole Thorsen’s best post-Conan work, but he did spend 6 months in character as “Russian Soldier”, and as Daniel Day Lewis said somewhere on the internet “I modeled my performance in Lincoln based on notes that Sven gave me about what he did to prepare for ‘Viking on the beach’. The man is a Boss.”
    BTW — for some reason my violence will put my 1 year old daughter to sleep in a heartbeat. We’ve watched 13th warrior dozens of times during late night sessions of walking and SHHHHH-ing. I’m almost willing to bet her first sentence will be “Put your foot on it…and stand!”

  6. REPLY
  7. Jason O. March 30, 2014 at 9:27 am

    Predator is at least as entertaining as the two best action movies of the 80s, Die Hard and Aliens. Forgive me for this short comment, but I must get to da choppa.

  8. REPLY
  9. AOHenry March 31, 2014 at 10:22 am

    I love “Predator”. It was Jesse before he took himself too seriously not to mention Arnold and Carl Weathers proving he could be great as someone other than Apollo Creed.

    Many years ago while consulting to a major healthcare company on ways to reach younger people about health plans I suggested a video game based on “Predator” that would help teach techniques for coping with and reducing stress. Everyone in the room looked at me for a beat, then continued on as if I hadn’t mentioned the idea.

    Strangely enough they’ve welcomed me back as a consultant several times since then. Of course they still have not come out with the Predator game. Maybe I should mention it to the ACA crowd.

  10. REPLY
  11. Nedward April 9, 2014 at 2:38 pm

    How about the health benefits of covering one’s self in Central American mud–that was clever IMHO

    I think if McTiernan were Ridley Scott’s brother or cousin he’d already be on the 3rd or 4th Oscar/EW cover by now

  12. REPLY
  13. Damian P. March 31, 2014 at 11:36 am

    As someone who saw “Last Action Hero” on opening night in 1993, and was the only person in the (one-third-full) theater laughing for most of it, I’m thrilled to see it finally getting the cult following it deserves.

  14. REPLY
  15. Mitzi Pepall April 9, 2014 at 11:51 am

    I love the remake of Thomas Crowne. I watch it every time it comes on TV. (Rene Russo is wonderful and completely underrated.) The climax in the museum with Nina Simone singing Sinnerman is great.

    I didn’t realize Hunt for Red October was by the same director. I loved that movie too. Maybe I’ll give Predator a chance.

  16. REPLY
  17. Nedward April 9, 2014 at 2:35 pm

    Calling “Predator” middling ought to incense everyone who cares about the free & open web, and also about related issues such as combating the global pussification of Men; for the moment I’ll leave aside the theological debate over AGW– that’s Alien Global Warming– which can of worms some have irresponsibly chainsawed open (“Only in the hottest years this happens– and this year, it grows hot”). Now, what is the most sensational way to raise the consciousness of/put pressure on the corporate board of Jonathanlast.com for a struggle session leading to the resignation, show trial, tar-and-feathering and hopefully defenstration of Last, for maximal self-criticism

COMMENT