Up until today, I cant remember the last time I watched Predator 2 in its entirety. Whenever I see it on TV, on Demand, or on the Jesusflix, I usually catch the first fifteen minutes with arguably one of the greatest action-movie gunfire battles ever. The rest of the movie? Well, lets just say it does not live up to its opening, but surely not for a lack of trying.
Apparently Los Angeles in the late 90s wasn't destined to be a nice place. We can get additional confirmation from watching Demolition Man. But anyways the gangs in L.A. are fierce, the drugs are flowing with ease, and the cops are outmanned and outgunned to do anything about it. Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) causes much consternation with his superiors when he goes against orders and enters a downtown building filled with gang members. Fortunately for the police, an unknown party takes out the coked-up rapscallions leaving behind lots of blood, a skinned body, and the fresh scent of Predator-ing.
As Harrigan and his team, including Bill Paxton (!) and Maria Conchita Alonso, investigate the matter, they are pulled off the assignment by the no-nonsense captain as it is under the control of a federal taskforce, including a somewhat subdued Gary Busey and the always welcome Adam Baldwin. The first half of the film then consists of Harrigan being a loose cannon, going against direct orders, and muttering things under his breath. Shockingly, one of those things was not Im getting too old for this shit. In fact, a lot of the movie up until things get all talky could be construed for a lost Lethal Weapon installment, minus Riggs of course, with the Predator substituted for a South African diplomat, a Chinese Triad, or Gary Busey. Huh.
This film gets a bad rap but primarily coming off of McTiernans damn excellent original. I was shocked when watching it again just how violent it was with the gunfights, skinned bodies, and senseless violence galore. Sure, you can tell that much of the more over-the-top gore was excised for the ratings board but a lot made it through. But even with enough violence to shake a parental group at, the film seems almost cobbled together from other action movie staples with a bit of Predator action at the end to justify the title.
Director Stephen Hopkins film basically suffers the same fate as his NOES installment: namely, its interesting and looks pretty but the story doesnt do the rest of it any favors. Especially when the story comes to a screeching halt at the beginning of the final act of the film. Up until that point, the Predator is largely unknown by Harrigan and his crew but leave it to good ol Gary Busey to deliver exposition including a recap of the first film in a manner only he can pull off. The effects however are top-notch but the Predator is shown way too much in the final reel, complete with 80s action movie quips like shit happens. Yep, even the Predators are aware of Forrest Gumps contribution to the human race.
I hear that the AVP films are far worse which is a shame because the reveal at the end of this one could have lead to a bunch of entertaining movies: some random action star battling a Predator in the locale of the filmmakers choice. I feel that this movie tried to be that but was too bogged down in either explicit or subconscious references to other movies of its era.
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