Movie Review – Predator 2 (1990)

In 1987, the world was blown away by Predator, an action / sci-fi film that introduced us to the Predator, a space alien who came to Earth to hunt the deadliest of all species — human beings.  In this case, the Predator battled against a team of special forces soldiers led by Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger).

The end of the film had Dutch defeating the Predator and living to tell about it.  But we know that the Predator creature was not the only one of its species.  It’s part of a race of creatures that routinely visit the Earth for the purpose of hunting.  Since the first film was so successful, it was just a matter of time before we would see the Predator creature returning in a sequel.  The biggest question was where in the world would the creature strike?

Released in 1990, Predator 2 returned the deadly Predator creature to Earth.  Instead of fighting its prey in a dense jungle, this Predator chose to strike in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.  Set several years ahead in time, this version of Los Angeles is overpopulated, overrun with drug gangs, and it’s one of the hottest and most violent places on Earth.  It’s a hunting ground just ripe for the Predator.

Directed by Stephen Hopkins and with music composed by Alan Silvestri, Predator 2 stars Danny Glover in the lead role as L.A.P.D. Lieutenant Mike Harrigan.  Supporting him in the film are Gary Busey as Special Agent Peter Keyes, and Bill Paxton as Detective Jerry Lambert.  Kevin Peter Hall reprises his role as the Predator warrior.

Predator 2 begins in downtown Los Angeles.  The year is 1997 and crime is rampant.  Columbian and Jamaican drug cartels own the streets and have frequent gun battles with one another.

The film opens with the Columbian and Jamaicans having yet another shooting war on the streets of Los Angeles.  The L.A.P.D. cops are merely bystanders at this point as they’re easily outgunned by the two drug gangs.  Police Detective Lieutenant Roger Murtaugh, errrr, Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) arrives on scene and helps coordinate a daring rescue of two heavily wounded officers.  His brave technique works and several gang members are killed.  The rest of the Columbians retreat into their hideout and rearm themselves, waiting for the police.

While this is happening, a Predator (Kevin Peter Hall) is in the area and watching the fighting below him.  The Predator finally makes his move and attacks the Columbians inside of their hideout, easily killing most of them.  By the time the LAPD infiltrates the building, most of the Columbians are dead.  Harrigan reaches the building’s roof and shoots the Columbian leader, causing him to fall off the building to his death.  After killing the gang leader, Harrigan sees the camouflaged form of the Predator, but he shakes it off as just heat waves.  It’s summertime and the city’s streets are baking with heat.

Inside of the building, police detectives Leona Cantrell (Maria Conchita Alonso) and Danny Archuleta (Ruben Blades) have discovered that not only were the Columbians killed, but they were slaughtered.  One of the dead bodies is naked and suspended from a ceiling, some forty feet in the air.  The question is who attacked them?  Nobody was seen either entering or leaving the building.

Outside of the building Harrigan is reprimanded by Deputy Chief Phil Heinemann (Robert Davi) for refusing to follow his orders.  His team was told to wait outside of the building until backup arrived.  We then see the arrival of an unmarked helicopter and the disembarking of a small team of federal officers.  They carry some cases and quickly enter the building.

Later, at the police precinct, Mike Harrigan is introduced to Special Agent Peter Keyes (Gary Busey), the leader of a federal task force investigating the drug cartels.  Harrigan knows that there’s something else to the story, but he remains silent.  He is reminded by his force that Harrigan’s detectives are to assist with the federal officers and their investigation.  Later, Harrigan is also introduced to Detective Jerry Lambert (Bill Paxton), a hotshot detective that just transferred to his unit.

That evening, a gang of Jamaican cartel members invade the apartment home of a Columbian drug lord.  They hang him upside down and hold his girlfriend captive while ritualistically killing him with a knife.  Suddenly the Predator arrives in the apartment and he easily kills all of the Jamaicans.

The gunfire draws the attention of the media and the police.  Despite being ordered on the radio to remain outside, Harrigan still takes his team inside of the building.  In the apartment they find the naked bodies of the Jamaicans, just like how they found the dead Columbian inside of the building earlier that day.  They also discover the Columbian drug lord’s girlfriend.  She’s cowering in a corner and talking nonsense.  When Keyes finally arrives, Harrigan’s team is ordered out of the area.  Harrigan is suspicious of Keyes, so he has Lambert follow him and report what happens.  Lambert tracks the federal officers until they board an unmarked helicopter and fly away.

Later that night after the police and federal officers have left, Danny Archuleta returns to the apartment building to retrieve some evidence that was spotted earlier.  The detective easily infiltrates the building and recovers the strange artifact.  Unfortunately for him, the Predator is still camouflaged and inside of the apartment.  The space warrior grabs and then easily kills Archuleta.

Harrigan is furious about the murder of his fellow detective and old friend.  He vows to get his revenge against this murderer.  When he confronts Keyes about the situation, Keyes simply informs Harrigan that he what he’s dealing with is way over his head, that Harrigan really doesn’t know what he’s up against out there.  When Harrigan’s team takes the evidence recovered by Archuleta to a forensic scientist, Dr. Irene Edwards is surprised that the item is very light weight and it is not composed of elements on the periodic table.

Mike Harrigan then meets with King Willie (Calvin Lockhart), a voodoo practitioner and the leader of the Jamaican drug cartel, at a secluded area.  King Willie tells Harrigan that the killer is really a supernatural being, something that is always on “the other side.”  He warns Harrigen to prepare himself for an upcoming battle.  After Harrigan leaves, the Predator arrives and decapitates King Willie.

After the death of King Willie, Dr. Edwards continues researching and discovers that some of the blood at the scene of the crime came from a slaughter house, the same place where Lambert followed Keyes and his team.  Harrigan tells Lambert and Cantrell to take the subway and meet him near the slaughter house, and then the three of them will investigate it.  He reminds them to be careful as Keyes’s team might also be in the same area.

Meanwhile, Harrigan goes to the cemetery to visit the gravestone for Danny Archuleta.  The Predator is also there, but he does not attack Harrigan.  Instead, the Predator taunts the police detective by leaving behind part of Archuleta’s necklace.  Danny finds it but does not see who placed it there.

Underground, Lambert and Cantrell are on a subway train when they stop a group of punks from robbing one of the passengers.  Suddenly the Predator attacks the subway train and begins killing people.  Lambert attempts to keep him distracted while Cantrell forces the rest of the passengers to the front of the subway train.  She hears the Predator attack and kill Lambert.  Cantrell then hits the emergency brakes and stops the subway.  She then sends the passengers fleeing up the tunnel while she goes back and looks for the Predator.  The Predator finds and catches Cantrell, but it doesn’t kill her when it uses its thermal vision to see that she’s actually pregnant.  Cantrell collapses into shock and the Predator flees the scene.

When Harrigan arrives at the scene, it’s still chaotic as the police try to sort out what happened.  Cantrell is alive and transported to a hospital.  Lambert is missing but his badge has been located.  Harrigan then begins looking for more evidence down the subway’s tunnel when he spots the Predator ripping the head off the corpse of Lambert.  He chases the Predator back to the surface where he spots the creature climbing to the top of a building.  Harrigan then takes a police car and races down the street, keeping up as the Predator runs across the rooftops.

When Harrigan finally stops his car and attempts to climb and keep chasing the Predator, the detective is suddenly stopped by Keyes’s men.  The special agents take Harrigan into a mobile command center where Peter Keyes explains that the Predator is really a creature from outer space.  He mentions how creatures like this have been spotted in “hot spots” around the world, including a recent encounter with American special forces soldiers down in Central America (a reference to the events in Predator).

This time things are different as Keyes and his team have been heavily researching this space creature.  They have cameras around the city that can “see” the Predator’s pheromones when it’s using its camouflage mode.  They also know about the creature’s powerful self-destruct device as well as its capability of thermal vision.  His team has been tracking the creature and they have learned that the Predator returns to the slaughter house every two days to feed.  Keyes is intent on capturing the Predator alive to study its biology and technology.  To do so they’ll be wearing special suits that will mask their body heat, rendering the agents “invisible” to the Predator.

When the Predator is once again tracked to the same slaughter house, Keyes sets his trap into motion.  He leads a team of agents into the slaughter house and attempt to surround and capture the Predator.  His plan fails when the Predator switches its vision and notices the lights emitting from the team’s flashlights.  It’s a massacre as the Predator viciously attacks the team of agents, killing most of them.  The battle triggers the building’s sprinkler system, and the water deactivates the Predator’s cloaking system.

When the Predator goes into action, Mike Harrigan escapes from the mobile command center and rushes to the slaughter house to help Keyes and his men.  There’s a brief fight and Harrigan wounds the Predator by shooting it several times.  When the Predator lies motionless on the ground, Harrigan approaches it and removes its mask.  When he comments on how ugly the creature looks, the Predator suddenly wakes and goes to fight Harrigan again.  Suddenly Keyes pops up and tries to freeze the Predator, but the Predator fights back by throwing a razor-sharp disc and slicing Keyes in half.

The Predator then escapes from the slaughter house, but Harrigan pursues it on top of a nearby roof.  The two of them have a brief battle until the Predator needs to stop for a moment and breathe through a mask.  When it does so, Harrigan runs into it and knocks the creature off the roof.  The Predator clutches the edge of the roof and activates the self-destruct mechanism on its arm.  Knowing what’s about to happen to downtown Los Angeles, Harrigan grabs the Predator’s disc and slices its arm in half, destroying the bomb before it can detonate.

After having its arm sliced off, the Predator falls down the side of the building until it grabs a large pipe and uses it to crash into the next building.  The creature lands inside of an apartment’s bathroom where it does emergency field surgery to tend to its arm wound.  As the Predator tends to its arm, Harrigan makes his way down the building, across the gap while on the pipe, and into the next building.  He chases the Predator through the building and into an elevator shaft.  Harrington goes down the shaft and ducks into a hole at the bottom when a descending elevator is about to crush him.

At the bottom of the elevator shaft is not merely a hole into the basement but really an access point into the Predator’s spaceship.  The ship appears to be deserted.  Harrigan looks around and he discovers a small room with a series of skulls, the Predator’s “trophies” from its hunts.  Several of the skulls are human while another looks like a dinosaur skull and yet another skull looks like one of the aliens from the Alien films (Alien vs. Predator, anyone?)

The Predator suddenly appears and has its final battle with Harringan.  The police detective kills the Predator by shoving the disc into its chest.  After the Predator dies, more Predators uncloak and reveal themselves.  They carry away the body of the colleague, and one of the Predators gives Mike Harrigan an old flintlock pistol from 1715 as a souvenir.  Harrigan then flees from the spaceship when he feels the engines begin to rumble.

Predator 2 ends with the Predators’ spaceship flying out of a tunnel and out into space, and then Mike Harrigan encountering Garber (Adam Baldwin), one of Keyes’s men.  Garber is furious that Harrigan failed in capturing the Predator.  Before he can say anything else, the police are approaching so Garber turns and flees.  Harrigan smiles and says out loud that the Predators will return again.

So is Predator 2 a good movie?

Yes and no.

Parts of Predator 2 are highly entertaining, such as the shootout between the drug gangs and the police in the beginning of the movie.  Some parts of the movie are rather intense, such as when the Predator attacks the subway train.  And, sadly, many parts of Predator 2 are simply mediocre, filled with repeated material from the first movie along with a rather large helping of plot holes.

Predator 2 is not a bad movie, but it’s certainly not a good one either.  The action / sci-fi film hovers somewhere between the two, in that gray zone of personal interpretation.  Action fans will be amused with this movie, and so will fans of monster movies as well.  The Predator monster is featured throughout the movie and has plenty of screen time, especially in the second half.  This time around we also see that the Predator has a basic understanding on English, and this time we get to see more of the spaceship as well.

But that’s really about it.  Not a whole lot is added to the general storyline.  The main concept here is that the Predator creatures have been popping up frequently in areas that are “hot” in both temperature and amount of violence.  In this case it’s set in Los Angeles in the summer versus, say, Chicago, or even between drug gangs in Miami or other cities around the world.

One of my biggest problems with Predator 2 is that it features Danny Glover in the role of LAPD detective in Los Angeles, and he goes around shooting people.  This movie was released in 1990.  In 1987 and 1989 he played the role of LAPD detective Roger Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon and Lethal Weapon 2.  So what’s separating Danny Glover from this role as an LAPD detective who is also in dangerous situations?  Not much of anything.  In other words, been there, done that.  Oddly enough, Predator 2 also features Gary Busey, and he played the role of the primary villain in Lethal Weapon.

Predator 2 (1990) – movie trailer

In the end, Predator 2 has plenty of action and violence, but the story is rather mediocre.  There’s also very little that has been added to the story of the Predator creature as well.  Sadly, Predator 2 could have been much better with its plot, its location, and some of its characters as well.  Danny Glover was fine in the lead role, but his character was just too similar to the character that he played in the Lethal Weapon movies.

 

King Willie – “There’s no stopping what can’t be stopped, no killing what can’t be killed.”

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Predator – “Want some candy?”

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[Harrigan runs through an old woman’s apartment, chasing the Predator]
Lieutenant Mike Harrigan – “It’s all right! I’m a cop!”
Ruth – “I don’t think he gives a shit!”