Predator 2
Year: 1990
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Starring: Danny Glover & Kevin Peter Hall
Runtime: 108 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 31/08/22
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Starring: Danny Glover & Kevin Peter Hall
Runtime: 108 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 31/08/22
When Predator released in 1987 it was received moderately well and was a massive box office success. A sequel was of course going to be on the cards, and with its grander scope and more complex narrative it seemed as though 1990’s Predator 2 was going to deliver more of what people loved about the original film, whilst also fixing the issues they had with it. It’s a great shame then that Predator 2 is not only a bad sequel, but it’s probably one of my least favourite films of all time.
1997 Los Angeles and drug wars between rival gangs have reached breaking point with the streets of the once beloved city now a warzone. As police desperately try to calm the situation, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) begins to discover that some gang members are being killed in grotesque fashion with victims being skinned alive and having their skull and spine torn out of their bodies. Desperate for answers and a way to end this drug war, Harrigan and his squad close in on this dangerous new killer, only to be met by a force more powerful than they could possibly imagine.
1997 Los Angeles and drug wars between rival gangs have reached breaking point with the streets of the once beloved city now a warzone. As police desperately try to calm the situation, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) begins to discover that some gang members are being killed in grotesque fashion with victims being skinned alive and having their skull and spine torn out of their bodies. Desperate for answers and a way to end this drug war, Harrigan and his squad close in on this dangerous new killer, only to be met by a force more powerful than they could possibly imagine.
Predator 2 sucks, there’s really no way I can put that across in a way that isn’t so blunt, because it really does suck. The chosen solution to address the original films skimpy story and shallow characters is to have a story that can’t decide if it wants to be a police procedural, an anti-drug PSA, Die Hard, or a sequel to Predator. Suffice to stay it doesn’t stick the landing with any of them as the characters, though given more depth than the original film’s cast, are still one note and completely forgettable. Perhaps even worse is that these characters are actually incredibly irritating, they’re all stereotypical police officer caricature’s and not very good ones at that.
The film couldn’t be more tonally different to the original if it tried. Rather than going for the moody and claustrophobic atmosphere that worked so well in the first film, Predator 2 chooses to lean into camp and over-the-top shenanigans. Right from the word go we’re seeing the world through the Predator’s (Kevin Peter Hall) eyes. It then cuts directly into a street shootout between cops and gang members, whilst Glover’s Harrigan does his best John McClane impression as he ploughs into the middle of a gunfight blasting people away with a shotgun and a Desert Eagle. If at this point you’re still taking the film seriously, like it wants you to, then Predator 2 is definitely the right film for you, but for everyone else it feels like something out of the more modern Fast & Furious films. It’s loud, dumb, and lazily slapped together.
It's also hard not to notice how goofy the guns look. As the film is set in the near future, the guns all seem to have weird hi-tech attachments on them which are usually twice the size of the gun itself. Harrigan’s shotgun has what looks like a sniper scope on it, it’s just so brainlessly stupid that I was speechless. Not really sure what they were going for with this aesthetic, but it just doesn’t work.
One of the biggest problems the film faces is that the Predator is given way too much screentime. He’s on screen from the moment the film starts and often has more time in the open than Harrigan’s cop buddies who we’re supposed to be getting attached to. Part of the reason why Predator was so effective as a powerful force in the original film is because the audience rarely saw him, he was slow and methodical picking people off one at a time. In Predator 2 he frequently ploughs through dozens of armed gang members in seconds without taking a scratch and it loses all believability as a result. Oh he also talks in Predator 2, not really sure why and it only happens twice but he speaks a full sentence in English!
The film couldn’t be more tonally different to the original if it tried. Rather than going for the moody and claustrophobic atmosphere that worked so well in the first film, Predator 2 chooses to lean into camp and over-the-top shenanigans. Right from the word go we’re seeing the world through the Predator’s (Kevin Peter Hall) eyes. It then cuts directly into a street shootout between cops and gang members, whilst Glover’s Harrigan does his best John McClane impression as he ploughs into the middle of a gunfight blasting people away with a shotgun and a Desert Eagle. If at this point you’re still taking the film seriously, like it wants you to, then Predator 2 is definitely the right film for you, but for everyone else it feels like something out of the more modern Fast & Furious films. It’s loud, dumb, and lazily slapped together.
It's also hard not to notice how goofy the guns look. As the film is set in the near future, the guns all seem to have weird hi-tech attachments on them which are usually twice the size of the gun itself. Harrigan’s shotgun has what looks like a sniper scope on it, it’s just so brainlessly stupid that I was speechless. Not really sure what they were going for with this aesthetic, but it just doesn’t work.
One of the biggest problems the film faces is that the Predator is given way too much screentime. He’s on screen from the moment the film starts and often has more time in the open than Harrigan’s cop buddies who we’re supposed to be getting attached to. Part of the reason why Predator was so effective as a powerful force in the original film is because the audience rarely saw him, he was slow and methodical picking people off one at a time. In Predator 2 he frequently ploughs through dozens of armed gang members in seconds without taking a scratch and it loses all believability as a result. Oh he also talks in Predator 2, not really sure why and it only happens twice but he speaks a full sentence in English!
The original Predator was more functional than artistic in its cinematography and editing, but even that goes out of the window here with Predator 2 with the majority of cuts not flowing into each other. One example late in the film sees Harrigan chasing the Predator with a car, in one shot Harrigan stops the car, in the next he’s standing outside of the car looking up at the Predator, and then in the next he’s back in the car driving again. We aren’t shown Harrigan leaving or entering the vehicle, and these three shots were all pointless as nothing happens in them anyway. It’s not artistic, and it’s not functional, so why is it there?
Even the score this time around isn’t any good, Alan Silvestri returns but none of the songs in Predator 2 are half as memorable or contribute as much to the story as anything in the first film did.
Predator 2 is a mess of a film. It’s horrendously dull, haphazardly put together, and doesn’t understand what made the first film fun. Whilst the original wasn’t perfect it had some really great elements, elements that went on to inspire countless other action films. Predator 2 meanwhile isn’t memorable or notable for anything. I’d rather forget that it exists entirely. An early example that Fox just didn’t know what to do with the Predator property, something they arguably wouldn’t truly fix until 2022’s Prey, the fifth mainline film in the franchise.
Even the score this time around isn’t any good, Alan Silvestri returns but none of the songs in Predator 2 are half as memorable or contribute as much to the story as anything in the first film did.
Predator 2 is a mess of a film. It’s horrendously dull, haphazardly put together, and doesn’t understand what made the first film fun. Whilst the original wasn’t perfect it had some really great elements, elements that went on to inspire countless other action films. Predator 2 meanwhile isn’t memorable or notable for anything. I’d rather forget that it exists entirely. An early example that Fox just didn’t know what to do with the Predator property, something they arguably wouldn’t truly fix until 2022’s Prey, the fifth mainline film in the franchise.