Predator 2 (1990) Review

Predator 2 (1990) Review

Unlike the Alien franchise, the Predator franchise doesn’t follow a main character throughout. This time, it’s set in L.A. in what-was-then the near future of 1997, amid a turf war between two drug cartels, and police lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) is the lead, tailing the “new player in town” that’s killing members of both cartels. Of course, it’s another extraterrestrial hunter, which actually gets called a predator at one point. Harrigan is joined by his partners Leona, Danny, and their newest recruit Jerry, played by Bill Paxton, who also portrayed Hicks in Aliens. A shifty special agent, Peter Keyes, played by Gary Busey, comes between Harrigan and his investigation. Harrigan comes to discover the thing doing all the killing isn’t from this planet, and when things hit too close to home, it becomes personal, and he hunts down the hunter. 

Predator 2 is one of the most underrated sequels I can think of. As yet another hybrid of sci-fi, horror, and action, it succeeds, and delivers much of the same as the first, but more of it. It’s not as good as the first Predator overall, but it does manage to deliver decent human characters while also satisfying the craving of wanting to see more of the creature and more violence. 

This is a very mean movie. Everyone is always angry, they’re frequently yelling, getting violent, and it’s often over-the-top. In the first Predator, there were moments like that, such as when Dutch sees one of the hostages executed, but mostly it’s about fun one-liners, suspense, and bursts of action. This time around, the violence is more blatant, the swearing is constant, and not as many of the characters are as likable. Danny Glover is a great lead, though. He’s not as imposing as Arnold Schwarzenegger of course, but he’s likable and badass in his own way. Gary Busey is great too, as is Bill Paxton, though the latter doesn’t have as much to work with, and has a lot of bad jokes reminiscent of Shane Black’s character in the first movie. The worst character is news reporter Tony Pope, who is meant to be annoying, and even annoys the other characters. 

But let’s talk about the creature. In ways, it’s even better than in the first movie. It was a bit of a mystery what exactly this hunter was the first time we saw it, but when Predator 2 starts, we already know what’s hunting the humans, so the mystery is gone. This time, it’s a different predator, with a sleeker design and new weapons, including a spear, net gun, and disc blade. Toward the end of the movie when Harrigan injures the city hunter, we see him repair his wounds, just like what the jungle hunter did in the first movie, but this time it’s shown more, and that’s how it is throughout most of the movie: we see a lot more of the creature, but it still has a fearsome presence nonetheless. 

The first act establishes the characters and situation pretty well, with a bombastic action sequence literally being the first thing that happens. The second act is a little slow; the parts with the predator killing cartel members and cops are exciting, but Harrigan’s investigation isn’t that compelling. We as an audience know what’s killing everyone, so watching him piece it together feels a little tedious. But, once it hits the one hour mark and Harrigan finds out Keyes knows about the existence of the predator and is planning to capture him, the third act kicks off and delivers what we’ve been waiting for: gory predator action, a suspenseful pursuit, and an epic final duel. 

This sequel was written by the same brother writing team of Jim & John Thomas that wrote the first movie, but was directed by Stephen Hopkins, who never directed another high-profile movie like this. He does a good job, though, with some inventive shots and effective coverage of action, though the sequence on the subway with the strobing lights always bothered me, seeming like an obvious and cheap method to dually hide the creature and make the whole thing seem scarier, or maybe it was a visual reference to the first Alien. There are also some really dumb moments, like the little kid offering the predator some candy, or Bill Paxton throwing a golf ball at the predator in vain. 

To follow up Predator was certainly no easy task, but I think Predator 2 did a commendable job. It’s not able to be as original or as suspenseful, and repeats a number of beats, but deepens the lore of the creature and delivers another satisfying helping of extraterrestrial action and horror.