OK, so figured its time for another post and this is actually one I thought I had already done but apparently haven't so far on this blog which is of the sci-fi action film, Predator 2.
And Predator 2 was never that well received on its release and is often seen as inferior to the original but over time it has apparently gained a cult following. So, as far as my opinion goes how does Predator 2 fair against the great Arnie original? Well, let's find out!
And before I start, here is the usual warning...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!
PLOT
So, as of late I've been quoting a bit of the plot from Wikipedia to save a bit of time, so I've done the same below:
"In 1997, Los Angeles is suffering from both a heat wave and a turf war between heavily armed Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels. A Predator watches a shootout between the police, Jamaicans, and Colombians, observing as Lieutenant Michael R. Harrigan charges into the firefight to rescue two wounded officers and drive the Colombians back into their hideout.
The Predator assaults the Colombians, causing a disturbance that prompts Harrigan and detectives Leona Cantrell and Danny Archuleta to defy orders and enter the hideout, where they find the slaughtered Colombians. On the roof, Harrigan shoots the crazed gang leader and catches a glimpse of the camouflaged Predator, but dismisses it as a consequence of the extreme heat and his acrophobia. At the station, Harrigan is reprimanded by his superiors for his disobedience and introduced to Special Agent Peter Keyes, leader of a task force investigating the cartels, and Detective Jerry Lambert, the newest member of Harrigan's team.
Later that evening, Jamaicans invade the Colombian drug lord's penthouse and murder him before they are murdered in turn by the Predator. Upon their arrival, Harrigan's team note the similarities between the current crime scene and the earlier Colombian massacre until Keyes' team arrives and removes them. Danny returns to conduct a solo investigation, finding one of the Predator's spear tips before the alien kills him.
And from here an enraged Harrigan swears revenge over who was responsible for Danny's death as he delves deeper into what is going on, he soon finds out enemy is not at all what he thought it would be..."
THOUGHTS
As a sequel to the original, Predator 2 failed to live up to the expectations of the original as it was deemed as loud, noisy, overly violent and of course way over the top in its cheesiness. However over time, Predator 2 has enjoyed a better reception from audiences and is often now considered one of the most underrated sci-fi action films of its time and quite frankly I couldn't agree more as Predator 2 despite any of its faults, is a lot of fun and has a lot going for it.
The film for starters had taken the concepts of the Predator being a hunter and expanded on them in interesting ways such as giving it a slightly more moral center as it doesn't kill children or indeed pregnant women (more on that later!). However, let's not mistake that the Predator is still a ruthless killing machine in this film and fair racks up the body count (26 in total, which I actually thought it would be more!).
WARNING: PLOT SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!
But this film really did build on the ideas of the first film and it also cleverly shows how the Predator can adapt to its surroundings particularly where Keyes has him trapped in a meat factory covered in UV light that blocks his sight but the Predator changes his vision to adapt it, so he can take out Keyes men. It also shows the Predator being able to improvise when it comes to cauterizing his wounds later on in the film too. So, the film is definitely not short on presenting new ideas for the Predator's development as a creature.
PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section contains strong language and spoilers!)
As for the performances, the cast are all mainly very good and do a fine job with their roles.
Starting with Danny Glover, who is excellent in his role as Harrigan, a feisty LA cop, who becomes hellbent on finding the Predator especially as it claims so many victims that include even some of his own team.
And Glover has quite a few noteworthy scenes such as the one where Harrigan gives his pep speech to Jerry on his first day. So, Harrigan says to Jerry "No one requests to come down here unless they're looking for a reputation. And there's no room for showboats or anyone looking to prove himself. Now, I won't stand for it. Now don't get me wrong, we need good cops down here and they say you're good at what you do. But the team comes first. You live by that and you'll be okay, and we'll all be there for you. Remember, the door swings both ways. That's it". And just before Jerry leaves the room, Harrigan says to Jerry "Hey kid, welcome to the war!".
Another good scene is when Harrigan confronts Keyes at the headquarters and he grabs him and pins him against the wall and says angrily "Listen, shithead. I don't give a fuck who you really are or what you want with this asshole... because now it's personal, and he's a dead man!!". Keyes however tries to reason with Harrigan and says "The concept of what you're dealing with here is way over your head. I'm warning you...!". Harrigan then angrily shouts back "You don't know what you're dealing with... and I'm warning you: stay the FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!" and he let's Keyes go and smacks his hands near him in a threatening manner and storms off.
Then there is the scene where Harrigan watches Keyes men fall into the Predator's trap as he changes his view mode to see them to take them out and Harrigan tries to warn Keyes on the headset. So, Harrigan warns Garber "You're boys have been made, Grarber! Pull them out!" and he grabs the headset and says to Keyes "Keyes, he's behind you! Third floor structure. Right there!". Keyes however says "Who, is this? Clear this line!" and Harrigan tries again "He sees the lights! Turn them off! Shit!" and Harrigan then decides to go out and grabs one of Garber's men at gunpoint to open the door to the unit they are in. So, as Harrigan leaves, Garber warns him "You don't know what you are doing! You'll ruin everything!" and Harrigan shouts as he leaves "FUCK YOURSELF!!".
WARNING: BIG SPOILER COMING UP IN THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS!
And last of all is the climactic fight scene between Harrigan and the Predator where they fight each other on the Predator spaceship and as the Predator appears to have the upper hand as it about to finish off Harrigan, Harrigan stabs him in the chest with the Predator's throwing disc. So, in the scene, Harrigan shouts at the alien "That's right, asshole! SHIT HAPPENS!!". And after the Predator dies from his wounds, he is suddenly surrounded by a group of Predators, leaving Harrigan stunned and asks "OK, who's next?!".
And lastly after Harrigan escapes the Predator's spaceship (now having turned almost white from ashes he was buried as a result of the alien spaceship taking off!) he is met by one of Keyes men, who angrily tells him "Harrigan! What the fuck happened in there?! Goddamn it! We came so close!" as the police sirens are heard in the background. And as he runs off, Harrigan says to himself "Don't worry, asshole. You'll get another chance!".
Gary Busey is also pretty good in his role as Keyes, the FBI agent who gets in Harrigan's way but at the same time understands better what they are dealing with here in the Predator than Harrigan does.
And Busey's notable scenes include the one where Keyes men grab Harrigan outside the meat factory where he has followed the Predator and they take him to Keyes, who is inside monitoring the Predator's movements.
So, in the scene Keyes tells Harrigan "How many times do I have to tell you? You don't know what it is you're dealing with!". Keyes then shows a video screen to Harrigan and says "There's your killer. Wonderful isn't it? Pheromone signatures left by his body. These are scent molecules". Keyes then explains "Ten years ago one of his kind stalked and eliminated an elite special forces crew in central America. There were two survivors. They indicated that when trapped, the creature activated a self-destruct device that destroyed enough rainforest to cover 300 city blocks. Remarkable weaponry. That's right lieutenant. Other-world life-forms". Harrigan looks puzzled and asks "What?" and Keyes spells it out for him "A fucking alien!" and then tells Harrigan "You're the lion and this is his jungle!".
And last of all is the following scene where Keyes meets his end at the hands of the Predator as he tries to save Harrigan. So, in the scene Keyes blasts the Predator with some liquid nitrogen gas and he springs up and says to the Predator "Guess, who's back?! Too late to go home now!" and he blasts him with the spray and says to Harrigan "Get out of here, Harrigan! I'm gonna save your ass! Its between me and him!". However the Predator then throws his throwing disc, which cuts Keyes literally in half on the floor!
Bill Paxton next does well enough in his role as Jerry, aka the lone ranger, a cocky young cop, who is new to LA and Harrigan's team but his character is pretty annoying as he keeps trying to chat up every woman in sight and tells some really lame jokes.
Bill however still has some good scenes such as the one where Jerry meets with Harrigan in a bar having tailed Keyes, he shows him some video footage he captured of Keyes and his men. And in the scene, Harrigan says to him "You done real good, kid. Now tomorrow, start a tail on Keyes. Everything he does, everywhere he goes. Who knows? You might just get lucky". And Jerry says cockily to Harrigan "Luck, Lieutenant is my speciality" and Harrigan looks a bit annoyed at him and says "Yeah, I bet it is".
Jerry then notices a pretty girl eyeing him up nearby at the bar and he tidies himself and says "Now if you will excuse me, Lt, I have some serious police business to attend to!" and he walks towards the girl and on the way is stopped by Leona, one of Harrigan's team who asks him "Jerry, how are your balls?" and Jerry says "Fine! How are yours?!" and he butts in on the guy the girl is talking to and says "You mind?! This is my sister!" and he puts his arms around her and says "Wait, your not my sister are you?".
And last of all is the scene where Jerry and Leona try to diffuse a situation on a subway train carriage just shorty before the Predator gate crashes his way onto the train and does another killing spree. And before he does, a bunch of passengers pull guns on each other and Jerry and Leona pull theirs and Jerry says to the passengers "OK everybody! Just loosen your sphincters! We don't any rush-hour Rambos here!". And then the Predator crashes into the carraige from above and starts killing anyone in his way and eventually get's to Jerry, who runs out of bullets and then grabs a machette nearby and says to the Predator "OK, motherfucker! Let's dance!!!" before he meets his inevitable end.
Ruben Blades also does pretty well in his role as Danny, one of Harrigan's team as well as one of his closest friends.
And I will mention just one of Blades scenes which is the one where Harrigan and Danny review police reports of the first gang shootout massacre by the Predator. So, Harrigan asks Danny "OK, so what we got here?" and Danny says "What have we got? Five low life Scorpions make it into the building, the next minute they're all shish kebab, not one bullet wound". Harrigan then says "Well, it wasn't for drugs or money, there's a shitload of that for the taking. Maybe King Willie brought in some outside talent. He's making his big move". Danny then suggests "A pro would have split the moment he heard the action. More than one we would have seen them. Whoever did this waited until the last minute, and then took out five guys armed with machine guns by hand -ha!-, then got by us. Maybe we should give him a job and put him on the payroll!".
Maria Concitto Alonso is also pretty good in her role as Leona, another of Harrigan's team who we later discover is (SPOILER!!!!) pregnant with Danny's child.
And Maria's most notable scene in the film is when Jerry foolishly tries to chat up Leona at the police station. And Harrigan and Danny both watch from their office with amusement as Danny say to Harriga "See he's trying it on with Leona!" and Harrigan smiles and says "Yeah, that's his first big mistake!" and laughs. And Leona says to Jerry playfully "You know I heard about you" and Jerry says "Yeah?" and Leona says "Like how your last partner got shot" and Jerry says "Well..." and she suddenly grabs his crotch and says firmly "You try that cowboy shit with me, fucker and you can kiss these goodbye!".
Calvin Lockhart also does pretty well as King Willie, the Voodoo Jamaican gang boss, who Harrigan meets briefly with in alley to find out more about the Predator.
And Lockhart in the scene as Willie tells Harrigan who he thinks the Predator is and where "I don't know what he is but I do know where he is. He's from the other side. You can't see the eyes of the demon until he comes calling! This is dread man. Truly dread!". And Willie turns away from Harrigan and says "You go now, policeman. There is nothing here for you!" and Harrigan leaves and not long after we heard a noise from above and then something splashes down in the puddles of water below as we see the outline of the Predator stalk his way toward Willie in his cloaking device. Willie then takes out two swords and quotes a line from the Bible and says "His foundation lies in the holy mountain. Sela!" but before we know it, we hear Willie scream and then the Predator carries off Willie's severed head in his hand.
Adam Baldwin is probably a weaker link in the cast as Keyes second in command, Agent Garber, who is tasked with surveillance of the Predator as they try and capture him in a meat factory albeit unsuccessfully. Baldwin however does what he can to be fair and it is just a small underwritten role that he has to work with.
And Baldwin's most notable scenes (not that many though!) are first of all when Keyes warns Harrigan to back off his investigation of the Predator (although Harrigan is unaware of who he is at this point, the Predator that is). So, as Keyes walks off, Harrigan shouts after him "Who the hell are you, Keyes?!" and Garber stands in his way and threateningly says "The last guy you wanna fuck with!" and Harrigan backs off a little.
WARNING: BIG SPOILER NEXT!
And last of all is the final scene of the film where Harrigan survives his encounter having defeated the Predator and escaping the spaceship walks back outside and is confronted by Garber. So, Garber angrily says to Harrigan "Harrigan! What the fuck happened in there?! HUH??!!" and Harrigan pushes him away and there is an angry silence and we hear the police sirens in the background which scare off Garber who says "Goddamn it!! We were so close!" and he runs off.
And last of all Kevin Peter Hall reprises his role as the Predator, albeit a new Predator who stalks Los Angeles and embarks on a killing spree as it hunts down anyone that stands in his way. And Hall does another fine job as the Predator as his large and intimidating presence works just aswell here as it did in the first film with Hall himself being 7ft 2in in size. Hall also plays the Elder Predator at the end of the film, who gives Harrigan the flintlock pistol as a trophy. Hall sadly died the year after the film's release in 1991 at the age of 35, having contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion he was given for having sustained injuries in a car accident.
Hall has numerous good moments in the film as the Predator of course although precious little dialogue which was delivered by another actor Hal Rayle who does of course deliver the Predator's most notable line where Harrigan takes off the Predator's mask to reveal its gruesome features. And Harrigan looks at the Predator with disgust and says "You are one ugly mother..." and the Predator comes back to life and grabs Harrigan and says "Motherfucker!" and throws him aside.
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
Moving onto the director, Stephen Hopkins takes over the helm here, who had previously worked on Nightmare on Elm Street 5 the year before. Hopkins does a fine job here overall and the film rarely lags in terms of pacing although maybe in the mid-section of the film it does slow a little bit. Hopkins also confidently handles the action scenes of the film and creates some moments of suspense here and there especially with the alley way scene as the Predator stalks Willie and later on during the meat factory sequence. So, overall Hopkins does well here even if he had a tough act to follow in John McTiernan's remarkable work on the original.
As for the music score, it is once again composed by Alan Silvestri, who reprises the film's main theme but this time around also adds in some new compositions and he adds in even more jungle drums than he did in the first film! The score overall is pretty good though and it suits the film perfectly even if it isn't as memorable as the score in the first film as it does retread on alot of the themes from the original.
FLAWS (warning this section may contain spoilers!)
As for flaws...yes Predator 2 does have some worth mentioning.
For starters, the film is often guilty of being very cheesey, particularly in its opening sequene of the gang shoot-outs and we see the Colombian gang get high on coke before they fight on only to get massacred by the Predator. Its a pretty silly and rather cringing moment in the film especially the ridiculous expression on the gang leader's face!
The same can also be said of some of the film's dialogue such as the scene where Keyes tells Harrigan about the Predator and how it is on "safari" and he talks about "Tigers, bears, oh my!". Yeah, its another silly and cringe inducing bit of dialogue but at the same time Gary Busey almost get's away with it due to his delivery of the line but all the same its still very cheesey.
I also thought that Jerry was a pretty annoying character, the cocky Lone Ranger, who joins Harrigan's team but for the most part all he does is chat up any women he encounters and as I mentioned, tells a bunch of lame jokes that aren't funny. And I felt that the film could have easily done without this character and he just serves up to be a bit of comic relief in a way but he just feels unecessary.
Then there is the meat factory sequence, which to be fair is actually very good but it is essentially a carbon copy of the sequence from Aliens where Lt Gorman leads the mission and panics and does nothing when the aliens attack the marines. And here in Predator 2, its much the same as Garber commands the mission at the meat factory while Keyes is out suited with his men tracking the Predator's moves and Garber panics and does nothing when they are attacked and Harrigan leaves to help them just as Ripley takes control of the RV to rescue the marines in Aliens.
Further to this point, it was probably a stupid idea for Keyes men to use such powerful UV lights in the meat factory for them to see because it really does allow the Predator to get a lock in on them when he switches his view mode to see them. If they tried to use something a bit smaller with subtler light may be it could have fooled the Predator or made it more difficult for them to trick him but I guess it just shows how they underestimated the Pred's technology.
And last of all I found it a bit daft how Harrigan was able to quickly find his way out of the Predator spaceship he stunbled into or rather FELL into from above as he stumbles blindly out of it at the end before it takes off. Also its a bit unlikely he would be safely out of the blast range of it taking off by the time he eventually got out of there but ah well it is only a movie after all!
Anyway, that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up Predator 2 for me remain a very underrated sequel to the original as it is very entertaining and has some good ideas and concepts that further develop the Predator as a antagonist with his moral code (to a lesser extent!) and its ability to heal itself, not only that it also introduces the Alien vs Predator concept into the movies, which was already a comic book series that began in 1989, so its a nice touch when we see the alien skull as a trophy on the spaceship.
The film also has some pretty good performances, particularly from Danny Glover, who does a fine job in the central of Harrigan, the rebelious cop who is out to find the Predator and the supporting cast also do well particularly Gary Busey in the role as FBI agent, Keyes. The film's score is also pretty good from Alan Silvestri and the film's special effects are pretty good for their time and the re-design of the Predator is good even if its forehead is a bit too big this time round!
The film isn't without fault of course with it being very cheesy at times with cringe inducing dialogue and scenes to be found aplenty and it also rips off Aliens in its meat factory sequence. However if you can forgive all that, then Predator 2 is still an enjoyable film and a better sequel than it is given credit for.
So, I will rate Predator 2:
8 out of 10
And that's it for now and will be back soon with another post.
Unti then its bye for now!
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