The 10 Most Badass Quotes From The Tough Guys Of Predator

With the last entry being lackluster, it seems like the Predator franchise is still struggling to find its place among the blockbusters of today. Luckily, the first film still holds up as a brilliant clash of genres. Using a simple premise and a combination of ideas, the movie is part 80s action film, part monster horror film, and most importantly, part satire of masculinity.

These ideas are crafted and conveyed in a multitude of ways, but the most notable is the way the members of the squad talk to one another. They sound inhuman, taking every opportunity to make themselves seem powerful, dangerous, or just plain badass. It is this bravado that makes the movie so full of quotable lines and iconic moments. Here are the ten most badass quotes from the jacked commandos the movie follows.

10 “What’s The Matter, CIA Got You Pushing Too Many Pencils?”

While many of the lines on this list are inherently cheesy (in the best way) or badass on their own, some are made so by the context they are used in. This one, for example, is a nice fun prod by itself, but add on the fact that Arnold says it while seemingly arm wrestling a man in mid-air and it becomes ridiculous (again, good way).

When Arnold’s character of Dutch sees Carl Weather’s character Dillon, the two are happy to see one another, with a hint of animosity. They lock arms as a greeting, but it then turns into a slight test of strength. Dutch clearly has Dillon outmatched and rubs salt in the wound with this line.

9 “Get To The Choppa!”

Another contextual line is maybe the most quoted line of the whole film. Seems like, on at least one occasion,  everyone has dawned their best Arnold voice and yelled: “get to the choppa!” What those vaguely Austrian sounding impressions don’t do justice is just how badass the moment surrounding the line is.

Dutch’s whole team is dead, and the only person left with him is the woman they picked up at the encampment early on. An energy blast from the predator’s cannon nails him, sending him crashing to the ground, injured. Immediately, Dutch yells the line at the woman, and she goes. He only has one ally left in this mess, and he screams at her to leave him without a second thought.

8 “I See You”

Maybe the most insane of the squad is Bill Duke’s Mac, a feat that is impressive considering nearly everyone on the team is a sociopath warmonger. Mac has a calmer demeanor and delivery to his threats and lines that make them feel eerier, and him more dangerous.

One of the prime examples of this is when he cups the mouth Dillon and points up into the jungle, whispering “up there, past them trees.” Sure enough, he is pointing right to the predator, cloaked in invisibility. He then says the line, not to Dillon, but to the monster.

7 “There’s Something Out There Waiting For Us, And It Ain’t No Man. We’re All Gonna Die.”

This line, delivered by Sonny Landham’s tracker character Billy, is made impactful by the line before it. After Billy says he is scared, in true action-cheese fashion, one of the other soldiers calls him a liar (with harsher words), saying “you ain’t afraid of no man.”

Billy responds with this line, proving his comrade right, but also terrifying him with this new claim that they are dealing with something beyond human. Unfortunately for everyone but Dutch, Billy was spot on.

6 “Stick Around”

Something that is easily forgotten about Predator with all its iconic imagery and lines centered around the alien hunter, is that the movie’s opening set-up is an action sequence that puts many action films’ finales to shame. Right after briefly meeting the squad, they assault an encampment of enemy forces, making quick work of all of them. It’s the real introduction to these men, and the perfect way to set up how dangerous they are, only for them to be then be hunted.

In the midst of the action, we get a classic Arnold moment that could fit into almost any of his 80s action roles. When an enemy gets the jump on him, he spins and throws his machete, impaling the man and pinning him to the wall. The line is just a sweet one-liner because the movie wouldn’t be complete without one.

5 “Got That?”

Remember earlier when we mentioned that Mac was crazy? This is the line that tells everyone watching. After Dillon makes too much noise moving positions, an annoyed Mac pulls him aside, away from the other men. He threatens Dillon with the full line: “I don’t care who you are back in the real world. You give our position away one more time and I’ll bleed ya, real quiet. Leave ya here, got that?”

The tension between the two is palpable after this moment, as Dillon believes just as much as the viewer does that Mac will do exactly what he said he’ll do.

4 “Come On! Kill Me!”

Another Dutch line yelled when wounded. This time, Dutch is on the ground, screaming at the predator as it moves towards him to finish him off. The line comes when Dutch realizes the alien is dangerously close to setting off a trap. Unfortunately for him, the galactic hunter is just smart enough to figure out what is happening at the last second, and go around.

Sure, it’s a ploy to get his enemy to fall for a trap and not a genuine request to have his spine pulled out, but the image of a mud-covered Dutch screaming for this creature to kill him is one of the most badass of the movie.

3 “I Ain’t Got Time To Bleed”

During the encampment attack, every soldier on the squad is given an opportunity to showcase their bravado and natural talent for killing people with big guns. The best of these moments is easily Jesse Ventura’s.

He already gets to tote and fire a mini-gun that looks like it should be strapped to the side of a helicopter, but then just to add to it, when one of the other men points out that he’s bleeding, he drops this iconic line. A line that is simultaneously completely nonsensical and right in place for the moment.

2 “What The Hell Are You”

After finally crushing the thing that has wiped out his whole team, Dutch stands over it and asks this simple question, but that’s not what this place on the list is referring to. No, this is in reference to when the dying predator simply repeats the line back.

We’ve seen at this point that the creature can mimic and repeat human phrases it hears with some kind of technology, but it is unclear why it does so then. Is it simply mocking Dutch one last time, or is it genuinely asking, as it can’t believe this human was capable of defeating it? We’ll never know because right after the line the alien gives a maniacal laugh and self-destructs, proving it was just as full of overconfidence and bravado as the muscle-clad squad it hunted.

1 “If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It”

The most iconic line of the film is also the most badass. Insanely quotable, and applicable to nearly every future monster movie, this is the line that marks a turning point in Predator. At this point, the fight has been extremely one-sided, with the predator picking off the squad one by one, but when Dutch finds its blood, he says this line, reassuring his team, and the viewer, that all is not lost.

Sure, it’ll be a while before he actually manages to prove it, but this declaration sets the stage that this is not strictly a hunt, it is a fight. A winnable fight.