If you’ve followed my Facebook page for a while you’ll no doubt be aware of my love of the movie Predator (1987). Although none of the sequels have lived up to the original film (don’t get me started on the last one!) the first sequel holds a special place in my heart and just happened to be on the Sky Monsters channel on Sky recently.
Predator 2 (1990)
There are a lot of franchises that I wish Hollywood would call it a day on. Terminator, The Fast and Furious and Transformers are just a few that I’d be happy to never see another movie materialise from. Predator however, isn’t one.
The Predator (or Yautja to use the correct terminology) is such a great creature, and the idea in general is so good that I’m forever waiting for them to make a film that is as good as the creature itself.
There’s still so much potential in the franchise but for some reason they just don’t seem to be able to get it right!
If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s a sci-fi/action/horror and the first sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger driven, testosterone fuelled original.
It stars Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), Bill Paxton (Twister), Maria Conchita Alonso (Total Recall), Gary Busy (Point Break) and Kevin Peter Hall (Harry and the Hendersons) who once again plays the Predator.
This is what it’s about according to the internet:
Los Angeles is enduring a heat wave and a crime wave, so the pressure on police officer Michael Harrigan (Glover) to solve a strange string of murders is mounting. Harrigan thinks the culprit can be found among the warring gangs and drug cartels, but FBI Special Agent Peter Keyes (Busey) knows the horrible truth: Their killer is a fearsome extraterrestrial with keen hunting abilities that include superior night vision and the power to make itself invisible.
Unsurprisingly this movie isn’t as good as the original but as far as sequels go it’s a good one and definitely worth a watch.
Although it was written by the same two writers as the first film, Jim and John Thomas (snigger), it’s actually loosely based on a 1989 Predator comic called Predator: Concrete Jungle, written by Mark Verheiden.
Apparently the original plan for the movie was to get Arnie back. His character “Dutch” would’ve now been working for some top secret government agency, who, after the events of the first film were tasked with keeping tabs on the “extra-terrestrial threat”.
Dutch wouldn’t have been alone though. Both Patrick Swayze and Steven Seagal were considered for the co-starring role which eventually went to Danny Glover as a lead role, thanks to Swayze sustaining an injury and Seagal having very different ideas as to how the character should be (unsurprisingly he wanted him to be a martial arts expert).
Allegedly Arnie’s salary would’ve gobbled up most of the budget anyway, so they went in a different direction altogether. As fate would have it, not returning for Predator 2 freed Arnie up to make a sequel to one of his other films - Terminator 2: Judgement Day. We all know how that turned out.
This movie builds on certain elements of the first film and kind of establishes the idea that the Predator is drawn to heat and conflict, a great idea that they seemingly did away with after this instalment.
Set 10 years after the events of the first film (and actually 7 years in the future from when it was made), Predator 2 has a few new tricks up it’s sleeve. It has some memorable scenes (specifically the one on the subway train) and this time pits the Predator against a tough, no nonsense cop caught in the middle of a drug turf war in Los Angeles during a heat wave.
It’s also got some fun new characters like Jerry Lambert (Bill Paxton), Agent Keyes (Gary Busey) and King Willy (Calvin Lockhart).
Predator 2 might not be as good as the first film, but to its credit it dares to be completely different in terms of the story and the setting, and that’s a risk sequels rarely take these days.
For me this is how a Predator film should be - violent, gory, thrilling and certified 18.
I just hope the upcoming Predator sequel/prequel, “Prey”, due for release later this year is a return to form for this awesome franchise that seems to have lost its way.
Seen Predator 2? Let me know what you think and how you rate it against the other movies.
Fun fact: Bill Paxton is the only actor to be killed by the Predator, Terminator and the Xenomorph from Aliens.
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