प्रेडेटर २

Underrated, interesting sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger hit has Danny Glover trading in his user friendly Roger persona to play a rougher, tougher, more kick ass cop who fears heights and goes one on one with a new Predator, who has some new tricks to share with the world when he lands in LA during a wave of both crime and heat.

Danny Glover may not be Schwarzenegger but he is quite good in his role as the cop.

The action is well mounted and the big difference of having the Predator in a city VS the jungle makes for some very interesting atmospheric moments and what not. There's also some SEX! Something that was sadly missing from the first film. The first film is better but this is still a worthy action film in its own right.

"Seems he has a taste for beef."

"I didn't think he was a vegetarian."

10 years after the events of the last film, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) is a hard edged and stubborn cop who leads a team of detectives in keeping the battles between the Jamaican Voodoo Posse and the Latin American gang the Scorpions at least somewhat under control. When a group of Scorpions is slaughtered in an elaborate and over the top fashion including being stripped and skinned, Harrigan's investigation is stonewalled by Special Agent Peter Keyes (Gary Busey) who claims he's with a DEA task force but Harrigan is skeptical. As Harrigan and his team investigate the murders of not only the Scorpions but the Voodoo Posse, he soon finds out the killer is an alien trophy hunter.

After the success of the first Predator, 20th Century Fox approached Jim and John Thomas, the original films screenwriters, about the possibility of a sequel. The duo pitched a number of takes for possible sequels with the concept of the Predator in a city garnering the most interest. The Thomas' goal for the sequel was to expand upon the character of the Predator as well as showing off an expansion of its weapons (including its spaceship) and building on lore for its species. Stephen Hopkins was selected as director by Joel Silver based on his work on Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, and Hopkins had originally sought either Patrick Swayze or Steven Seagal for the role of Harrigan with the intention of teaming them up with Arnold Schwarzenegger's character Dutch, but Schwarzenegger declined to return and Hopkins opted for Danny Glover in the lead to make him more of an everyman while Dutch was rewritten as Peter Keyes. Released in November 1990, the film was overshadowed by films such as Dances with Wolves, Three Men and a Little Lady, Rocky V, and Home Alone and was edged out of the box office with $57 million in box office against its estimated $20-30 million budget. The movie has gone on to find appreciation by franchise fans and even Hopkins and Glover have spoken favorably about the movie in retrospect. While Predator 2 doesn't match its predecessor, it's a valiant effort with a lot of solid craft and passion.

Much like how the first movie started out as a typical Rambo/Commando style action movie, Predator 2 ties in with another staple of 80s action cinema: the cop film. With the multitude of cop films released throughout the decade featuring the likes of Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson, and etc., it makes sense as a logical step for the Predator series in taking the audience through what seems like one genre only to throw that genre on its head and throw an alien trophy hunter into the mix. While Danny Glover has played cops before, notably as Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series, Glover plays a decidedly more hard edged cop who's of the mindset it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. It's a really solid role for Glover and makes him a formidable foe for the Predator (know as City Predator in some circles of the fandom) and he's definitely firing on all cylinders in the movie. The movie also gives him a solid supporting cast with Ruben Blades, Bill Paxton, and Maria Conchita Alonso playing the fellow detectives who help him track down the murderer in high profile gang slayings, but unlike the first Predator that was more of an ensemble film with most of the characters getting equal screentime to develop character, the movie does feel like it's more centered around a single lead (Glover) this time around. The Los Angeles setting is put to good use with the gang culture, dark alleyways, and subway systems of the city used for memorable setpieces and it definitely helps give the film a unique feel that separates itself from its predecessor. While Hopkins does go a tad over the top in some scenes (such as the scene with the Predator holding his spear aloft to a lightning strike) it's the fun kind of over the top that's still enjoyable. Gary Busey's Peter Keyes character is one of the weaker points in the film, while I'm aware the character was a rough stand-in for Schwarzenegger's Dutch, even if Schwarzenegger had returned I'm not convinced this plot point would've worked. For me Keyes and his team felt like a rehash of the Weyland-Yutani stuff from the Alien films with their goal being to capture and study it and I think it doesn't work as well with The Predator because of its nature as a more intelligent antagonist than the comparatively more animalistic Xenomorphs.

Predator 2 doesn't match the level of the first film, but with a unique enough take on the Predator and with a solid ensemble filling out the cast we do get some memorable sequences. While Hopkins maybe goes a little too over the top in some sequences and the Peter Keyes subplot feels really unnecessary, Predator has enough good points to warrant a viewing and is better than most are willing to give it credit for.

Sequels are tough, but I think Predator 2 actually does a pretty solid job. We take the alien super hunter out of the jungle and throw him into the city, replace the commando Arnold and sub in seasoned veteran cop Glover. It's not perfect but I think it mostly works, people are solid here and the predator is always a fun character to watch. Can't say anyone needs to go out of their way for this, but there are worse things to toss on if you need some background noise.

"Predator 2" is ultimately a fairly satisfying action film from director Stephen Hopkins... "Director Stephen Hopkins", that should give you your first indication of how different this film is from its predecessor. Unlike McTiernan, the no-nonsense, straightforward action director who directed the first installment, Hopkins is famed for less straightforward films, such as "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers". The first few minutes of the film willserve to solidify the fact that this film is entirely different from its predecessor, with the exception of the title character. Aside from Kevin Peter Hall, who returns to play the Predator, the cast is entirely different from that of the original.

This film is set in 1997 in L.A. where rival gangs have turned the streets into a war zone and where the Predator is loose and off killing/skinning people... But the story doesn't really matter. The good news about this film is that this L.A. feels more like Gotham city than the real Los Angeles, and the comic book atmosphere really does work here. All the characters are overblown and cartoonish and the cast is fun to watch, especially Glover and Paxton.

However, the film's quality is diminished by a very uneven script, a pretty bad score, and some questionable directorial choices. But it's still an enjoyable action romp and the Predator itself is a bit more interesting here in terms of its movement and weaponry.

"Predator 2" is one of the few sequels that truly separates itself from its predecessor. However, in going for the atmosphere it goes for, "Predator 2" earns comparison to those films that are similar to it, and in that sense is merely a pleasant, good film. Compared to the original it lacks the suspense or excitement of its predecessor. This is a good film, but maybe it should be forgotten as part of the Predator franchise, as it negates "Predator"'s fearsome nature by replacing it with cartoonish violence and broad characterizations.

6/10

A Predator comes to earth and presumably after hearing about one of it's colleagues' demise at the hands of Dutch Schaffer in the South American jungle, opts for a jungle of a different sort: Los Angeles in 1997, which is a violent place, cops and gangbangers battling it out on the streets. There, he runs into a hard-nosed cop (Danny Glover's Lieutenant Mike Harrigan) who sniffs a cover-up after a suspicious killing of some gangbangers and a sketchy federal agent (Gary Busey's Peter Keys; Busey does sketchy better than most, if you ask me) who is involved in the cover-up. Of the Predator, no less.

I enjoyed Predator 2 and thought Glover did a great job. He must have known that stepping into the Governator's shoes was going to be tough going. He nonetheless puts in a great performance, hunting down the alien game hunter basically all by himself.

Some great action sequences and other memorable scenes - the finale showdown is as spectacular as you would imagine. It's hard to follow in the footsteps of a film as iconic as "Predator" was, but "Predator 2" is, I feel, unfairly maligned.