Predator 2 (1990)

PREDATOR 2 (1990) is brilliant & that's a FACT!!! A sequel that's so good & so well made it's nearly as good as Predator (1987)!!! Yes & that's saying something as Predator is a CLASSIC & i love both movies. Grew up watching the predator films from video & adore these movies they are both fantastic Sci-fi Classic's. PREDATOR 2 has a new fantastic setting the boiling pot urban jungle of war torn Los Angeles & oh my it's a war zone. The Excellent Danny Glover is a tough LA cop called Harrigan who is in the middle of a crime wave of murder & gangs & an invisible predator all tearing up the sweltering hot Los Angeles city streets, Predator 2 is BRILLIANT, the atmosphere is dark & moody & the cinematography is stunning like a gothic urban playground it looks fantastic!!! The music is outstanding again just like the first film but this has more of a voodoo jungle vibe & tone & it works perfectly,i really do love this childhood classic of mine it's EASILY a 10/10 film & nearly better than the first it's so close right next to Schwarzenegger's predator!!! A PERFECT SEQUEL & PROBABLY BETTER!!! One of my top 10 best films

South Central LA seven years into the future has turned into even more of a cesspool than before. Luckily, there's angry/yelling-man Lieutenant Mike Harrigan to sort crap out.He's angry/yelling at the lack of backup while he's breaking protocols, he's angry/yelling at his captain while he's disobeying orders. he's angry/yelling at the CIA while breaking jurisdiction and getting his officers killed.This part was supposed to go to Schwarzenegger (who said no to the script and the director), so to compensate, Danny Glover did alot of steroids? No muscles, just the anger issues.Director Stephen Hopkins, hot off directing Nightmare On Elm Street 5 (the 2nd worst performing in the series), just gave the following direction:"Be angry. Like, you've just snorted a line that was cut with caffeine. Off your wife's back while she's screwing your boss. Here, hold still while I inject you with some more steroids. I just watched Born On The 4th Of July with Tom Cruise. You want to be good as Tom Cruise? Boy, that kid can run. You should run,too. Not fast, because you're too old for that crap. Just run angry. And can you yell a bit more?"So it's Predator 1 in the city instead of the jungle. Only we're starting from scratch again, so it's mostly everyone running around clueless about what is hunting them, and the predator is using the cloaking device, and it's a big reveal! Only you already knew it was a predator and you've seen them before.There's a minor subplot of drugwars, which is the Jamaicans vs Colombians that makes no sense and goes nowhere everyone dies], but mostly it's a secret CIA group hunting the predators they all die as well] with angry/yelling man getting in their way, until he chases one back to the spaceship, kills it, then gets a memento before they leave. End scene.As per usual, alot of the blame can be laid at the feet of the executives. They forced multiple rewrites to cut the budget. They refused to hire the same director because he wanted more money than what he got for the first Predator movie (he had just finished directing Die Hard). By this stage, Arnold pulled out because of the bad script and bad director (also, he wasn't offered enough money). Turnaround for the entire movie was 8 weeks (4 shooting, 4 editing) on a shoestring budget with an inexperienced director, who in his own words, said "I'm pretty immature, really, so it was kind of a laugh".The movie was only greenlit after the comic series were successful, which led directly to AVP, despite this awful mess.Starring:-Pretty much the SFX crew from the first movie, including the original costumes. The spear gets stolen at the end of shooting.-Tom Boyd, everybody's favorite oboe soloist, whom we haven't heard from since 'An Early Frost'.-About 5 dozen stuntmen who double as nearly every small part role. Seriously, you want small parts in big movies? Be a stuntman-Totally not too many chiefs with 8 producers-Hal Rayle, voice of the predator, was the voice of Raphael in the original TMNT TV series-Teri Wiegel, Playmate November '86 (not a stretch to have her having sex in this movie). She tried doing legit movies, until shortly after Predator 2, she was in a car accident and couldn't work for months, forcing her and her husband to sell their house. A Playboy co-worker suggested adult films, and the rest is history, with 88 adult movies-Elpidia Carrillo, Anna from the 1st movie, only one of two characters in more than one Predator movie. Her speaking part was cut, so she only has a background cameo in one scene. She is actually a serious actress in Hollywood and Mexico.-Kent McCord as Captain Pilgrim. Sounds like a poorly thought-out superhero. He had previous experience on the beat as Officer Jim Reed from Adam-12 (60/70s cop comedy/drama)-Adam Baldwin, whose one scene was to try and get angry/yelling man to not be so angry or yelling. No prizes for how that went-Robert Davi, His role as captain was to tell off angry/yelling man every time he broke multiple laws, but let him keep his badge. Starred in the 90s TV series "Profiler"-Bill Paxton, as a smartass, wise-cracking glory-hunter with incredibly bad lines and complete lack of chemistry with fellow actors. It's actually a relief when he gets killed, cementing his main-claim-to-fame, as the only person to have the triple death count from Alien-Terminator-Predator-Gary Busey, as angry/yelling man no. 2, head of the FBI tracking the predators, but seemingly oblivious to everything about them-Danny Glover, who's been too old for this crap for 31 years, has 8 movies coming out in 2018. He's angry and yelling and sometimes running.-Kevin Peter Hall, who gets top billing, even though he's in a full body suit and someone else does his voice. Again. After Jean-Claude Van Damme was fired for being too short and too whiny (Kevin is 7'2" (2.18m))

Predator 2 lacks the suspense of the original. It makes up for it somewhat with pure action - shooting, explosions, slicing, dicing and heads ripped out of bodies. Going from Arnie to Danny Glover is an inevitable let down. I just didn't care as much about Roger Murtaugh tussling with a predator then I did the Terminator. It is very fast paced, which is both a plus and a flaw, as it never gets too boring but has no real tension leading up to the kills and is just keen to amp up the body count. Also has hammier acting and a sillier feel, mainly thanks to Gary Busey and Bill Paxton chewing that scenery real good. Has its moments, but not enough of them. One to watch when just in the mood for action and nothing else. If you want something truly exhilarating though watch the original.

So you find Predator 2, you expect action filled scenes of stalking in the jungle, punchlines, the whole nine yards. What do you get? a movie nothing like the original set in L.A. how did the predator end up in L.A. Who cares! If you expect anything close to the first installment look else ware. One thing I believe that made the first movie so great was that it didn't have much plot. It simply relied on the uneasiness of the scenery,setting, etc. Would I recommend this movie: No