“Predator 2,” released
in 1990, may be one of those rare ones.
The original “Predator”
starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as a soldier in Central America fighting against
an alien murderer who is hunting down humans. Steve Newton mentioned in his
review, “The best thing about John (Die Hard) McTiernan’s 1988 jungle actioner
was definitely not the thespian talents of Arnie, nor those of his non-actor
co-stars Carl Weathers and Jesse “The Body” Ventura.” It was the amazing
make-up and special-effects of the Predator, things like its heat-sensitive
field of vision and the way it camouflaged itself before it was going to kill a
human.
All of the great special
effects of the first film have become even better for “Predator 2,” and
replacing Schwarzenegger’s one-note tough guy look we’ve got actors who can
really act, mainly Danny Glover and Gary Busey. Along with the supporting cast
of actor/musician Ruben Blades, Maria Conchita Alonso, Robert Davi and genre beloved
Bill Paxton gives as well.
Newton noted, “Under
the direction of Aussie Stephen Hopkins–who helmed A Nightmare on Elm Street 5
and filmed all the action sequences as second-unit director on Russell
Mulcahy’s Highlander–the pieces come together for a horror/sci-fi gem that will
please most action-oriented fans.”
Like the first movie, “Predator
2” takes place in a different type of jungle, the urban jungle of 1997 L.A.,
where drug gangs take over the dirty streets and deadly shoot-outs with the
cops happen all the time. Newton said, “Glover plays Detective-Lieutenant Mike
Harrigan, an effective but volatile crime-stopper who comes up against Federal
Agent Peter Keyes (Busey) while on the trail of voodoo-practicing Jamaican
pushers.”
Newton continued, “It
seems that a lot of these dreadlocked baddies have been found skinned and gutted
and hanging from ceilings like slaughtered deer–courtesy of the Predator and
his arsenal of built-in weapons.”
When a handful of
Harrigan’s men have the same result, his personal hatred takes him on a conflict
path with both the Predator, played by Kevin Peter Hall, and Keyes, who’s been
hunting the Predator for years and is crazy over taking it alive. Newton ended
his review by saying, “The ensuing maelstrom of gory violence teeters on the
brink of overkill, but Glover’s steady performance is the beacon that keeps
Predator 2 from sinking.”
In actuality, I know
that this film isn’t as good as the first, but I consider this to be one of
those enjoyably bad movies that somehow makes it a good movie. I still say that
people should watch it and see for themselves because they will have a fun,
entertaining, hilarious time watching it, especially with the setting changing
from a jungle in Africa to L.A. Just see it to know what I mean.
The Predator looked
like the perfect opponent for the Xenomorph alien, which didn’t take long for
people to notice it. As early as 1990, the first “Alien vs. Predator” story
appeared in the Dark Horse Presents comic series. Throughout the 90s, there
were so many Alien vs. Predator merchandise, including comics, novels and video
games. At the end of this movie, we see the Predator skull trophies on display,
and one of them is a Xenomorph alien skull. It was the perfect set-up for a
crossover, but not until 14 years later when the movie was finally made.
How did that crossover
turn out? Well, you have wait until Monday when we look at it. Trust me, I’m
not really looking forward to it either, but let’s just wait and see how it is.
Now that I have talked about both of the “Alien” and “Predator” franchises, new
it’s time to see how it was when they were brought together. Like I said, we
will look at that Monday in the next entry of this year’s “Halloween Month.”
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