PREDATOR 2 (1990)
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Genre: Sci-fi Action
Country:
THE MOVIE:
Predator 2 is the first official Predator sequel and was released only three years after the original movie. It is a very different film from its predecessor and the only real links it has to the original are the titular monster and the actor who plays him. Danny Glover plays the lead in this movie and ultimately goes mano-a-mano with the Predator. I really like the choice of casting Glover in Predator 2. First of all, he’s just a good actor and he brings a refreshing reality to the movie. He’s a regular guy who is trying to catch this extraterrestrial killer and you find yourself rooting for him. He's definitely more of an underdog than Ah-nold. Predator 2 also features a great ensemble cast that features Maria Conchita Alonso, Ruben Blades, Bill Paxton and Gary Busey.
No longer a Schwarzenegger vehicle, the movie is free to give us a little more of what we want: The Predator. To that end, it shows us a little more about the alien species and their technology. We learn that the Predator's operate under a kind of code of honor and they refuse to kill pregnant women or children.
Roger Ebert has said that Predator 2 shows us “an ugly and angry dream” and I think he’s on to something. This movie manages to combine the nihilistic ‘80’s police movie (complete with rogue cop facing off against his by-the-book superiors and car trunk full of heavy duty weapons) with the ultraviolent R-rated ‘80’s sci-fi movie. It's like Cobra meets Alien. There’s tons of violence, bare breasts, gratuitous swearing, and even Morton Downey Junior as a sleazy reporter. Although the movie was released in 1990 it is actually set in 1997 (10 years after the original) in an LA that sees crime out of control as Jamaican and Colombian drug gangs battle each other in the street. The script is like some white conservative guy’s nightmare of urban life, with gangs of foreigners taking over the streets (I kept waiting to see Tom Tancredo screaming “This is why we need to build a wall!!!”).
He's in town with a few days to kill...and to go to Disneyland.
Predator 2 is one of those movies that is fairly mediocre for the first half but makes up for it with a rockin’ last third which involves a botched government attempt to capture the alien and Glover's exciting rooftop pursuit of the creature. They ultimately crash through an apartment building and end up in the Predator ship underground. On the ship we have a famous single shot that caused many a nerdgasm back in 1990. On the ship is a trophy room with many skulls of different beasts. One skull is that of an Alien as depicted in James Cameron’s Aliens. This was cinematic proof that the Aliens and Predators existed in the same continuity and caused people to call out for an AVP movie, which didn’t happen until 2004.
THE MONSTER/EFFECTS
There weren’t many great design or effects strides between 1987’s Predator and its sequel. This predator looked very much like the one in the original. With the main difference being a slight elongation in the mask. At the very end, we see a group of eight or so Predators on the ship with a variety of masks and facial structures. Some of the masks resemble the more elaborate ones used in Alien vs. Predator.
One of the cool things that Predator 2 does is introduce us to some new Predator weapons and equipment such as the Smart Disc, the Net Gun, and the Spear Gun. Most of which have played a role in later movies featuring Predator characters. This movie also gives us a better look at the Predator medkit as we see the Predator treating the stump of his arm after it has been cut off in battle.
Ruben Blades, about to beat the Predator down with a rendition of Pedro Navaja.
DVD AVAILABILITY
Available in a regular or 2 disc variety. I also recently saw a big AVP mega collection at Best Buy, with deluxe versions of every Alien and Predator movie through AVP 1 and a cool diorama of an Alien and Predator duking it out.
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT
The whole last half hour of the movie is awesome.
Nerdgasm!!
MINORITY REPORT
Kudos for having basically all the movies heroes be either black or Latino (salsero Ruben Blades and Maria Conchita Alonso have supporting roles) which was unusual for 1990.
At the same time, Jamaicans and Colombians are made into urban stereotypes (and why do so many of these Colombians speak with Mexican accents? And how can those Jamaicans even see to drive with all the smoke in that car?) I guess it all balances out.
SEQUELS
Until recently, his was the last Predator movie, although the series spun off into the Alien vs. Predator series with Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Predators was released summer of 2010.
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