Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

1980s Hollywood in relatively short of amount of time created many science fiction action films that would become classics of the genre. Their commercial success was reflected in inevitable and predictably inferior sequels. One of those was Predator 2, 1990 film directed by Stephen Hopkins, second film in the franchise started with Predator three years earlier.

The plot is set ten years after the events depicted in first film, in 1997 (then future) Los Angeles. City is affected by heat wave, but its inhabitants suffer even more because of brutal war between Colombian and Jamaican drug dealing gangs whose heavily armed and ultra-violent members turned the streets in actual battlefield, with often outgunned and outmanned LAPD barely able to stop the carnage. One of such battles ends with members of Colombian gang, despite having automatic weapons at their disposal, being killed in rather gruesome way. LAPD Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (played by Danny Glover) investigates and concludes that their killer was armed only with bladed weapons. When similar thing happens to member Jamaican gang, Harrigan is convinced that the killer doesn’t belong to the gangs and further investigation shows that the weapons are made of material unknown to science. Harrigan is told to turn investigation to federal task force led by Special Agent Keyes (played by Gary Busey), an official who apparently knows more than he would disclose and who does everything in his power to prevent the detective from inquiring further. Harrigan nevertheless gradually learns that the killer is actually humanoid-like creature from space (played by Kevin Petter Hall) that comes to Earth, apparently drawn by conflict, in order to hunt most violent and dangerous humans as prey. Harrigan, whose team members have died encountering the monster, is nevertheless determined to bring him down and turn the hunter into hunted.

While making Predator 2, Jamaican-born director Stephen Hopkins was faced with difficult task – on one hand, he had to put into sequel all major ingredients that made the previous film successful, while on the other hand, he had to bring something original. He succeeded to a certain degree. New film generally adopts basic plot structure of the first – protagonist and his team are brought to dangerous, ultra-violent setting which is made even dangerous with arrival of invisible, deadly and seemingly invincible monster; protagonist needs some time to figure out what is going on and discover a way to defeat it, which he does in spectacular one-on-one showdown at the end. Predator 2, on the other hand, replaces the primordial jungle setting of the first film with urban jungle, making the film look and sound different. Los Angeles of the near future is depicted as utterly dysfunctional and violent megalopolis, very much like Detroit in RoboCop. Hopkins also cleverly uses streets, rooftops, industrial buildings and subway station to stage spectacular and, at times, inventive action scenes, although some of the viewers would be deterred form enjoying the film because large quantities of violence, even with some scenes toned down in post-production editing to avoid MPAA censors. On the other hand, Predator 2 had larger budget than previous film and it reflected in better special effects, becoming one of the last to use old-school optical techniques before CGI becoming dominant. New film also used opportunity to establish proper continuity with the old one, make new Predator different from the previous, introduce some of new alien weapons and some brief but tantalising details of Predator’s world, culture and centuries-old interactions with humanity (some of which should be addressed in 2022 prequel Prey). Hopkins puts emphasis on quick action and Predator 2 is never boring.

However, while technically satisfying, Predator 2 leaves much to be desired as an action film. Unlike in the classics of the genre, including the original Predator, script by brother Jim and John Thomas discards important element that make those films work – establishing and building characters audience would care for before the mayhem starts. Protagonist, who unlike Schwarzenegger’s character in original film, lacks muscles and military training and looks like middle-aged man way over his head, is reduced to cliché of angry street-smart vendetta-driven policeman. Being played by obviously overqualified Danny Glover only brings bad comparisons with somewhat similar, but better molded character of Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon. Same goes for members of Harrigan’s team who are underwritten or disposed of so quickly that otherwise fine actors like Ruben Blades, Maria Conchita Alonso or Bill Paxton are left little to do with them (although Paxton does his best trying to work as some sort of comic relief). Gary Busey is wasted in semi-villainous role of arrogant and half-mad federal official who wants to capture Predator alive. Shakespearean actor Calvin Lockhart makes much better impression in the brief role of King Willie, Jamaican drug lord who meets spectacularly gruesome end. Thomas’ brothers, despite problems with characterisation, indulge themselves in vague attempts of social commentary, trying to extrapolate dark present of early 1990s urban America into even darker future and try to replace Cold War nightmare with War on Drugs. This includes annoying character of ranting tabloid television reporter, played by controversial TV host Morton Downey Jr. (whose celebrity more or less ended at the time and whose presence would mean nothing to today’s audience). Music score by Alan Silvestri is adequate, although it mostly replicates the sounds of the first film. Predator 2 had mixed or poor reviews and had less impressive box office results than its predecessors, which postponed next proper sequel for two decades. In the meantime, its underwhelming reputation began to improve, due to comparisons with even more underwhelming spinoffs of Alien vs. Predator series.

RATING: 6/10 (++)