Predator 2

Plot

It’s 1997 LA, and the war between the police and the Colombian population has hit an all time high.

The FBI have been called in, as there have been multiple fatalities on both sides, and it looks to be witchcraft related.

Rogue, no rule taking cop Mike Harrigan thinks there might be something else at play – and it could be supernatural.

Direction

Directed by Stephen Hopkins, it was filmed in 1990 – but set in 1997. It has a very 1980s aesthetic feel to it. There is some good “Predator” action, especially in the third act.

Cast/Characters

Danny Glover plays Mike. He is the ‘plays by his own rules’/’guns blazing cop – who will stop at nothing to find out what is going on in his town.

Gary Busey plays FBI agent Peter Keys – who arrives in town to help with the warfare – and what is killing everyone.

Ruben Blades plays Danny, Mike’s partner and best friend. Bill Paxton plays Lambert, another new cop in town, and Maria Conchita Alonso plays Cantrell – one of Mike’s other no nonsense cop buddies.

Breakdown

First time viewers to this in 1990 would have questioned whether they were in the right cinema, as it is set in the (then) future – and also in the war between the police and the Colombians taking up the first 10-15 minutes. Thankfully snippets of “predator” vision help with knowing we are watching a predator movie. I found this went on for too long, and I was eager for the real portion of the movie to get going.

We’re soon introduced to ‘bad boy cop’ played by nice guy action star Danny Glover – seemingly taking the Riggs approach to police work as apposed the the Murtaugh we’re used to seeing him as. Ironically we also have a couple other Lethal Weapon stars in Gary Busey (as mentioned earlier) and Steve Kahan (Captain Murphy from LW) playing alongside him. There are some other great powerhouses of 80s like Reuben Blades, Robert Davi as well.

As the film goes on there isn’t a great deal of character development, but to be honest it doesn’t feel like we need it. There is however, an issue with the time passage the characters experience – with seemingly days or weeks passing without it being properly acknowledged (Lambert mentioning he’s been following Keys for three days, and Harrigan visiting his friends grave only minutes of screen time after he is killed off.)

The final arc, in which we (and Mike) discover that the FBI knows about the Predator, and then Mike’s showdown with it is as good as its predecessor. Mike takes both a beating from it, and even kills one (not before giving one of Dutch’s throwback lines ‘ you are one ugly motherf******).

Mike’s survival, and earning the respect of the other Predators, is considerably more badass that Dutch’s survival.

It is also in this act we get the confirmation that Predator and Aliens exist in the same universe. (One that once had 2 Bill Paxton’s and now the real world doesn’t even have one any more. RIP sir).

It is great that we get the same score by Alan Silvestri, which gives it the same feel, with a ‘new look’.

Overall

While not as solid as the first film, it still holds up. A strong recommend.

4/5