Movie Info
Movie Name: Predator 2
Studio: Silver Pictures
Genre(s): Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): November 21, 1990
MPAA Rating: R
We built this city on rock ‘n roll!!!
It is a heat wave in Los Angeles, and the gang war is getting worse. The police are caught in the crossfire, but a new threat has come to the city. A predator (Kevin Peter Hall) is using the gang war as a cover for its hunting, and Lieutenant Michael Harrigan (Danny Glover) witnesses the results of an attack. As Harrigan investigates the occurrence, he learns a special task force is using the drug war as a cover to investigate the creature. Led by Peter Keyes (Gary Busey), the team is tracking the alien, but now Harrigan is coming face-to-face with the toughest enemy he’ll ever encounter.
Directed by Stephen Hopkins, Predator 2 is the sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger 1986 hit. The movie was poorly received upon its release but still was taken in by fans of the franchise.
I loved Predator and was excited when Predator 2 was finally released. With a different setting, new weapons, and the potential for gore, Predator 2 should have been bigger and better than the original…which it wasn’t.
This is just like the ending of Blade Runner…except a lot crappier.
Predator 2 was a disappointment after the fun of Predator. It had a lot of potential with even more advanced graphics and the opportunity of new weapons, but the makers missed out on most of this (there were some fun weapons). The city setting allegedly is what put off Schwarzenegger from returning (that and the lure of T2), but it could have been fun since the city is an “urban jungle”. The idea of predators attempting to hunt on different terrains are in line with the idea that they are intergalactic culture of hunters. The idea that the United States is after the predator also makes sense, but Busey and his “team” are a waste of time.
With plans to bring back Schwarzenegger’s character and a cameo cut with Elpidia Carrillo (also from the original), the movie featured no returning characters except Kevin Peter Hall who played the predator in the first film. Danny Glover just isn’t Arnold. He tries to play the role as a tough guy, but just seems kind of old and out of shape. If they were going to change the “prey” they should have changed it completely. A female or a street smart prey would have been a cooler target. Glover just wasn’t different enough in personality to make it feel like a different enough battle.
1990 reaction “Whoa, cool…an alien skull!”…Now “AvP sucked”
The one cool thing that Predator 2 did was it advanced the mythos of the predators. In the story, we learn more about the predators and that they have visited Earth for years. It also is revealed that the predators hunt all over the universe. In a quick cameo, the movie set-up rumors and sent fanboys into a frenzy by showing an alien skull on the wall with the predator’s trophies. Alien vs. Predator turned out to be a bust, but at least the movie was smart enough try.
Predator 2 is one of those movies you can watch, but it just feels like an average action movie. The effects, the acting, the story is all average. This is too bad because Predator had a lot of energy. If you want average, check out Predator 2…It does succeed at that. The Predators returned in Alien vs. Predator in 2004 and Predators in 2010.
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