Predator 2

No one’s going to argue that Predator isn’t a classic.  You’re goddamn right it is.  Expertly directed, lots of stoicism, great effects (a bunch of which still hold up), it’s spiritual, primal, inspirational and action…al.  What about the sequel that came out three years later though?  Well I’m not gonna fuck around here, it’s fucking badass.

The predator is in LA and he’s taking out gangbangers, crime bosses and cops.  Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover (Pure Luck)) is on the trail to find out who the new player is.  During the hunt he and his crew (Ruben Blades (Color of Night), Maria Conchita Alonso (Extreme Prejudice), Bill Paxton (Near Dark)) keep crossing paths with government operative Keyes (Gary Busey (Surviving the Game)) who’s also looking for the predator.  The difference is Harrigan and co. want to kill the sonuvabitch and Keyes wants to capture it to study. 

I guess the overarching idea was we’ve already experienced the predator in the jungle so it only makes sense to bring it to the concrete jungle.  And normally I’d be cautious about transplanting any sort of monster from its original environment to the big city (if the city isn’t where that monster usually hangs out).  It doesn’t always work well.  The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Friday the 13^th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan are the two that immediately come to mind where the creature/villain looks like a buffoon strolling around crowded streets n’ shit.  But there are cases where it works marvelously.  Aliens and Dawn of the Dead are prime examples. 

And you know what?  Add Predator 2 to that list.  Yes, a South American jungle makes more sense for the whole concept of a caveman-esque desire to hunt and kill a human.  And while a city setting doesn’t offer as much purity to that basic premise it does make things a bit more complicated with all of the people, different locations, weapons available and vehicles.  But to be totally honest LA is probably my favorite location for an action movie and it sure played on the ol’ heartstrings influencing my judgement.

Anyway, I don’t know if Harrigan is a real good cop but he’s definitely a crazy one.  He’s not afraid to hang out the side of his car while speeding towards some scumbags in a firefight and then skid that fucker sideways so others can use it for cover.  That’s some suicidal shit.  Sure, he plays by his own rules but I think he takes it further than most other cops in action movies.  The protocol for this type of character is that when a bad guy comes after him he has to pull off an unorthodox procedure in order to survive.  Like Cobretti in Cobra goes on a car chase because the bad guys initiate it, or Steven Seagal in [insert movie here] has to use Aikido to take people down when they attack him.  Here Harrigan blatantly goes against orders constantly so he can proceed with his investigation.  It’s really weird too considering he gives this speech to Bill Paxton towards the beginning about being a team player which he clearly is not.  I still like this character though because he’s one tough bastard who can seriously go toe to toe with the predator (Glover’s a pretty big dude).

When it comes to the action sequences it’s all about the opening and the ending.  To kick things off we’re thrown in the middle of a Columbian gang/cop shootout already in progress.  The bad guys are winning too with several cops down and everything in sight completely destroyed from the scuffle.  This scene is sorta like what you would see in a spoof of action films.  Cop cars are blowing up in slow motion, the villains are out and out evil with a giant room packed to the brim with guns and coke, our hero (Harrigan) crashes into the frenzy and doesn’t think twice about pulling off some insane shit to save the day, the news crews are ducking for cover telling you it’s “Dante’s hell”, etc.  Don’t get me wrong, this opener is a total fucking spectacle and I love it.  But at the same time it’s kinda extreme.

The ending I won’t go into too much but it goes on for a while which is cool and they somehow manage to make Harrigan and the predator look almost evenly matched.  I really dig how the location keeps changing too.  They start in a meat warehouse, then move to the rooftop, then an apartment building and finally the predator’s spaceship.  With all of these changes it helps to make the movie feel bigger than it really is.

At times things can get a little muddy like the subway sequence that’s done in all strobe light.  That’s fine for mood setting like in Alien but when you’re supposed to know what’s happening in a fight scene it doesn’t work.  And the part where the predator goes after the Jamaican drug lord is built up well but gets awkward when they transition to the predator holding the dude’s decapitated head (I think you need to see it to get it).

That last bit I don’t totally blame the filmmakers for though.  They had to keep cutting shit out in order to attain an R rating and that’s always a tough pill to swallow.  Even still, this is a nasty fuckin’ movie in terms of violence.  Not only do a lot of people die but most are killed in horrible ways.  People are impaled with the predator’s spear, a guy gets cut in half with the predator’s flying disc thingy, another gets shot and then falls off a building, and one naked guy gets hung upside down and stabbed through the chest with a knife.  Hell, those last two aren’t even predator kills but just regular human on human murders.  And the classic aftermath that the predator leaves behind with folks hung upside down and stripped of their skin is the icing on the cake.  What’s amazing is that this isn’t a gory film at all.  They give you just enough to get the idea and then move on leaving behind a lasting impression.      

This is also one of the hottest damn pictures I’ve ever seen.  It’s right up there with Body Heat and Falling Down.  The sun looks like it’s always blazing outside, there’s a yellowish tint that comes through every once in a while and everyone has pit and/or back sweat stains.  This was done on purpose though to make it seem more like a scorching jungle and I think it’s also supposed to be a reference to climate change (or global warming as it was commonly called back then).

You might think the climate change thing is weird to throw in your Predator sequel, and it is, but that’s because even though this came out in 1990 the movie is actually set in 1997.  Why set it seven years into the future?  Who the fuck knows?  It’s such an unnecessary touch that I can’t help but respect and marvel at how inexplicable it is.  I guess they felt that flashlights on the guns and the nitrogen weapon that Keyes uses wouldn’t be believable in 1990?  I dunno.

One aspect I really like about this movie that they continued from the first is they put off showing the predator for as long as possible.  Showing only predator-vision and its light bending invisible cloak was such a smart move.  I think it adds a lot of tension and suspense that wouldn’t be there if we kept seeing it uncloaked walking around all the time.  You get the feeling, again just like the first movie, that there’s this monster constantly lurking out there but it doesn’t exactly take center stage.  The story evolves to eventually become about the predator but it doesn’t start out that way.  At first it’s about trying to stop gangs from taking over the city, then there’s the realization that something else is going on and then the predator finally becomes the focus and shines at the appropriate time.  It’s effective as hell.

Wisely the filmmakers decided to keep the main theme from the first picture and also use Alan Silvestri (Eraser, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Father of the Bride Part II) again to do the score.  It sounds like a lot of it is the same from the original but it’s a little hard to tell.  It doesn’t really matter because new or old, Silvestri’s music helps to elevate the material.    

Stephen Hopkins directed this one.  He had pretty much only done A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child before this which I guess was fine.  All the Elm Streets are fun but they blur together for me.  He does a great job here with his clear and fast paced style.  The story is always moving forward and doesn’t lull really at all.  They brought back the same writers from the first installment (Jim and John Thomas) and that was a good choice.  You can tell these guys understand what’s going to work with this creature and what new touches can be added to keep things somewhat fresh (new weapons, new environment, etc).

If you’ve been putting off seeing this because you’re a Predator 1 elitist or you heard it was bad then I strongly encourage you to take a look.  It’s a fucking blast.  Over the top?  A little.  But I think just enough to be charming.  Plus it’s early 90’s to the goddamn max and that’s oodles of fucking charm in my opinion.  It’s smarter than you’d probably think something like this would be but at the same time it’s certainly on the dumber side of the action spectrum.  But really, it’s a shame that this one got quietly swept under the carpet.  Yea I know there’s no Arnie and it doesn’t have McTiernan’s surgical precision but Danny Glover and Gary Busey tearin’ it up on the grimy streets of LA ain’t half bad my friends.       

One last thing, isn’t it pretty fucking crazy that Bill Paxton has been in an Alien movie, a Predator movie and a Terminator movie?

Also, Predators was alright but I’ll take this one any day of the week.