Predator 2

Plot synopsis:
Los Angeles, 1997. The temperature in the city stands in the high 90s. In the streets, the LAPD and Colombian gangsters are fighting a pitched battle that the police are rapidly losing. Efforts to rescue two wounded cops have failed and backup is unavailable. Lieutenant Mike Harrigan bursts onto the scene. Harrigan arms himself and drives his car directly at the front lines, giving his comrades the chance to save their wounded friends. The Colombians seize the chance and retreat into a nearby building that serves as their stronghold.While the Colombians arm themselves they are attacked by an invisible enemy and slaughtered. Only the gang's leader, El Scorpio, makes it out, shooting wildly at Harrigan and his team. The hysterically terrified El Scorpio escapes to the roof, with Harrigan behind. On the roof, El Scorpio spots a distorted human figure and raises his guns to shoot. Harrigan shoots the man, who falls off the roof and is killed.In the room where the gangsters were arming themselves, Danny notices that one of them has been stripped naked and hung upside down about 40 feet above the floor. Marveling at the strength needed to perform such a task, Danny turns away and the body is pulled up by unseen hands. Outside the building, Harrigan is met by his captain, Heinemann, and told that he disobeyed direct orders. Harrigan argues with him, citing the war they're fighting an losing in the streets to better armed Colombian drug dealers who also have greater numbers. Adding to the mayhem is another faction, Jamaican gangsters, who are also fighting the cops and use brutal terrorist acts against their Colombian enemies.Back at his precinct, Harrigan is lectured by his other captain, who informs him that a federal investigation, lead by a man named Peter Keyes, is not to be interfered with. Keyes claims that his team is trying to stop the Colombian and Jamaican gangs from establishing an empire on the west coast. Harrigan agrees not to interfere in Keyes' work. Harrigan also welcomes a new member to his team, Jerry, a smart-mouthed and cocky detective.In a luxury apartment, Ramon Vega, the leader of the Colombian gangs is having sex with his girlfriend when they're interrupted by Jamaican gangsters. They hang him upside-down and cut his heart out as part of a voodoo ritual. They are suddenly attacked by an invisible enemy using superior weaponry. All of them are viciously slaughtered. When Harrigan and his crew arrive on the scene they enter the apartment against orders and find several bodies hung from the ceiling, skinned. Vega's girlfriend is the only survivor. Keyes enters the room and orders them all out. His own crew begins to examine the room, using unusual gadgets. Also in the room is a sleazy reporter, Tony Pope, who films much of the carnage. Everyone is ejected from the room and the woman who survived is taken away in an ambulance.Danny and Harrigan agree to meet at the scene later that night and conduct their own investigation. Danny arrives first and looks around the room. Seeing what appears to be a trail of claw-marks leading up a decorated column, he climbs up. In the rafters, he spots a small object embedded in an air-conditioner. He pulls it loose and examines it; it appears to be a spear-tip of some sort. Suddenly, he hears Harrigan's voice nearby and loses his footing and falls. An arm catches him and Danny looks up to see a large figure holding him by the ankle. The figure drags him back up and kills him. As he dies, Danny's necklace falls to the floor and is splattered with his own blood.Harrigan finds himself in Captain Heinemann's office. The captain reprimands him harshly for Danny's death and continuing to interfere with Keyes' investigation. Harrigan leaves the meeting angry and confronts Keyes in the station's lobby, telling him that he's motivated by revenge and will find Danny's killer himself. Strangely unoffended, Keyes tells him that the magnitude of the situation is beyond his comprehension. At the police forensics lab, Harrigan has a doctor examine the spear tip he recovered from Danny's body. The doctor determines that the metal isn't found on the Periodic Table of Elements. She also tells Harrigan about how Danny was murdered: by a sharp-edged weapon that cleaved Danny's heart.Harrigan tells Danny's wife, Leona, to arrange a meeting with King Willy, the leader of the Jamaican gangs, with the intention of sharing information about their mutual nemesis. Harrigan also meets with Jerry, who has done some surveillance on Keyes. The survivor of the attack in Vega's apartment was taken away in a helicopter and Jerry has been unable to find her. As he and Harrigan leave the bar, they are met by a large limo filled with Jamaican gangsters. Harrigan joins them and is taken to an alley where he meets King Willy. Willy, a voodoo practitioner, mysteriously tells Harrigan that the enemy they both face comes from a netherworld he can't understand. Harrigan leaves without answers. Just after he goes, the predator jumps to the ground behind Willy and walks through a small pool of water. The water causes an electrical disturbance on the predator's body and it becomes visible. It challenges Willy to blade combat and Willy loses. The predator carries Willy's severed head away and is seen cleaning the tissue off the skull for a trophy.Harrigan calls Jerry and Leona at the forensics lab. The doctor tells them that the only lead she has is from evidence collected at the scene of Danny's killing: whomever killed him left traces of debris that came from a slaughterhouse. Harrigan and Jerry recall that Jerry had lost track of Keyes in LA's meatpacking district. Harrigan tells them to meet him there.Harrigan goes to the cemetery to pay his respects to Danny. While he's there, he sees Danny's necklace hanging from a tree limb. Startled, Harrigan, looking around for his enemy, grabs the necklace and realizes the predator is stalking him specifically. Moments before, a small boy plays in the cemetery with a toy gun. The predator targets the boy but does not kill him when it realizes the boy poses no threat because he's unarmed.On the subway to the slaughterhouse district, Jerry and Leona encounter a group of gang members harassing a passenger. The passenger pulls a gun on them and the gang members do the same, prompting several other commuters to pull their guns as well. As Jerry and Leona try to defuse an impending slaughter, the predator jumps onto the roof of their car and enters it. It wades through the passengers, killing anyone who possesses a weapon. Leona is able lead most of the passengers out of the car and to the opposite end of the train. While she does, she sees Jerry shooting at an invisible target. Jerry's bullets have no effect and he leaps at the predator with a large knife. Leona pulls an alarm that stops the train and she guides the passengers out of the platform. She walks back to the last car and finds Jerry and a couple of commuters hung upside and dead. The predator suddenly appears and grabs her. Looking her over with it's infrared vision, it sees that she's pregnant.Harrigan arrives on the scene and sees the carnage. Jerry's body is gone and he walks down the tunnel, searching. He spots the predator ripping Jerry's skull and spinal column from his body. Harrigan chases it to street level. He steals a police car and chases it several blocks until he's stopped by Keyes' men. Taken to a high-tech command center, Keyes explains that the predator is an alien that uses advanced weaponry. He tells Harrigan about a commando team that encountered another of these creatures in a Latin American jungle 10 years prior. Keyes says that they believe the alien can only track it's prey using infrared technology and that his team, intending to capture it and study it, will wear special suits that will insulate their body heat and make them invisible. At the same time, they will dust the slaughterhouse with radioactive particles that will make the alien visible. Their ultimate goal is to freeze the alien with frozen nitrogen. The predator comes to the location every couple of days to eat the beef there. Keyes tells Harrigan to stay in the command center and observe.Keyes and his team move into the slaughterhouse. Their equipment functions well at first, until a couple of team members step on a creaking stair. The predator, hearing the noise, uses a small control panel to adjust it's vision enhancer, which changes several times until it's able to see the beams from the lights the team are using. Harrigan tries to warn Keyes that they've been spotted but the team is attacked by the predator, which kills nearly all of them. One of the teams sprays a smoke detector with nitrogen, setting off the warehouse's sprinkler system. Harrigan leaves the command center, arms himself and blows down the door just as the predator fires a blast from it's laser cannon at Keyes. Harrigan shoots at the predator, damaging its laser cannon. The alien tries to activate it's cloaking system but the water falling from the ceiling prevents from becoming invisible. Harrigan shoots the predator several times with a shotgun, blowing it onto its back. He approaches it slowly and removes it's helmet, studying it briefly before it wakes up suddenly and throws Harrigan backwards. The predator finally corners Harrigan and is about to kill him when Keyes intervenes, trying to blast the monster back with frozen nitrogen. Keyes tells Harrigan to retreat just as the alien throws a smart disk, cutting Keyes in half. The predator retreats to the roof of the building, using a breathing mask. It throws its large hunting spear at Harrigan and misses. Harrigan uses the spear to push the alien and himself off the building, where they both hang onto a ledge. The predator activates a timer connected to a small nuclear charge. Before the charge can go off, though, Harrigan uses the alien's smart disk to sever it's arm, deactivating the bomb. The alien falls down the side of the building and crashes into an apartment bathroom. It uses an elaborate first aid kit to heal it's wounds and again retreats. Harrigan follows it, falling into a cavern below the building where the alien's spacecraft has been hidden.Inside the spaceship, Harrigan finds a small shrine of sorts with skulls of humans, animals and aliens. The predator once again attacks Harrigan who fights it off and kills it with its smart disk. After it falls dead, several more predators appear and carry their fallen comrade off. The last one to leave looks over Harrigan briefly and tosses him a flintlock pistol, a trophy from a previous hunt. Engraved on the pistol is the original owner's name and the year 1715. Harrigan hears the ship starting up and runs out to cover just before the blast from the engines fills the cavern. As Harrigan walks out of a tunnel he meets one of Keyes' assistants, who, upon seeing the haggard Harrigan, leaves him.

Tags: comedy, neo noir, gothic, murder, cult, violence, good versus evil, action, suspenseful

Review:
Lines weren't meant to become one-liners, they were just so memorable that they ended up that way."You can't see the eyes of the demon, until him come calling." "Okay P-ssy face, it's your move." "Danny Boy."And of course..."Want some candy?"Granted, those aren't as good as the classics from the first Predator, like:"You son of a bitch!" "I ain't got time to bleed." "Knock Knock." "Stick around." "If it bleeds, we can kill it." "You are one ugly mother f---er."and of course..."AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"Last but not least, the music score from Predator 2 is one of the best ever.
But when a secretive government task squad, headed by Peter Keyes (Gary Busey), enters the picture and takes increasingly odd actions, it seems that something even more bizarre may be responsible (a fact also given away by the film's title, it's relationship to the Predator series, and obvious shots involving the titular character early in the film).For my tastes, Predator 2 is an example that breaks the supposed trend that "sequels are never as good as their predecessors".
Additionally, we have Gary Busey, one of the odder actors in Hollywood (just watch his comments on the DVD extras)--a fact that to me always pleasantly comes through in his characters, and the incomparable Morton Downey, Jr., basically playing his "real life" television talk show personality, is even present as a "guerilla" journalist.The music, special effects and every other technical aspect are also excellent.But what makes this film even better is the brilliance beneath the obvious aspects.
Underrated, interesting sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger hit has Danny Glover trading in his user friendly Roger persona to play a rougher, tougher, more kick ass cop who fears heights and goes one on one with a new Predator, who has some new tricks to share with the world when he lands in LA during a wave of both crime and heat.
Glover and his team begin to hunt the new gang until they are joined by a FBI unit who seem to know more about the gang than they let on.This follows on from the first movie well - not a forced sequel picking up from the last, but a different film that ties it's action in with previous events.
The plot is basically the same as the first - an unseen attacker attacks armed forces in the jungle - except here it's in the urban jungle, and it's actually pretty good.The plot has the core of the predator doing battle, but now has another string of the FBI/Gary Busey conspiracy which makes the film much more interesting.
First of all the original revolves around Arnold S.(although I still find it to be Arnold's best movie, and also like Carl Weathers and Sonny Landham) who is this 80's action-man stereo-type one-dimensional feel-no-pain killing machine who nobody in their right mind can identify with and second the jungle is much too obvious a studio set.The second Predator on the other hand is set in an anarchic future in the asphalt-jungle, midst a drug dealers-police violent confrontation(I loved the war-zone-city vision), and hunted by government agents(this being an excellent pretext to display some stylish shooting-techniques and unusual angles, and also explain the creature's nature and motives) who want to capture the beast(Gary Busey-another brilliant performance) to study it for it's killing potential.
The voodoo-gang's whole mystique, the hard music score, the attention for detail - the south-American influenced interior design of the drug-lord apartment or the interior of the alien ship(there are some hidden treats for the trained eye, like the alien skull and other interesting trophies) and not at least the creature's design are just a few examples for the stylish quality of this much better than the original sequel.
The same goes to the director of the first, John McTiernan, who dodged a bullet directing in the same year "The Hunt of the Red October".This sequel honors the saying of "Second parts were never good," and supposed the beginning of the end for the alien character of "Predator", since the poor have not taken advantage of good way in any of the sequels that have been made , They are all a garbage, and when they put it so that it was faced against Alien, already was the height of absurdity.In this returns Kevin Peter Hall from the first one, but newcomers as: Maria Conchita Alonso ("Running Man"), Robert Davi ("Raw Deal", "Licence to Kill"), Gary Busey ("Lethal Weapon") complete the recurring roles.A piece of garbage.
But of course, everyone could've seen this coming, because that's how sequels tend to be like; very, very pale in comparison to the original.This time we have the Predator not in the jungles of Central America, but now in the streets of Los Angeles that has become over-run with a gang war between the Jamaicans and the Columbians.
We've already seen the Predator before and we already know what it looks like, so the movie is basically wasting time trying to keep us guessing.But what really killed this movie for me was Danny Glover.
Los Angeles is imploding with mayhem as gang wars fill the streets, an under pressure police force try to restore order, but both parties have another foe to worry about, a Predator is in town, and he's about to up the ante.Gone is Arnold Schwarzenegger, gone is John McTiernan, and gone is the jungle setting, so following in the foot steps of the ultimate beefcake movie that was Preadtor 1987 was an unenviable task it seems.
Yet I personally feel that Predator 2 stands up to scrutiny as a fine entry into the sci-fi/action genre, locating it among the urban decay of L.A. works real well, and pitting the Predator against a tough grizzled (but hardly giganticus beefcakeus) cop (Danny Glover) gives us a smart brains against brawn story.
There is plenty of bloody snotty gore to appease fans of that persuasion, and it's nice to report that the characters on show do actually impact as part of the story.It has a fine cast that reads like a who's who of action films, Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), Bill Paxton (Aliens), Robert Davi (Die Hard), Gary Busey (Under Siege), Rubén Blades (Once Upon a Time in Mexico) & Maria Conchita Alonso (The Running Man), whilst Kevin Peter Hall dons the Preadtor suit and suitably kicks arse again.
Amidst a territorial gang-war, a sophisticated alien hunter (Kevin Peter Hall , he had studied African tribal dances in order to get into the feel and flexibility and to give him a personality) stalks the citizens of Los Angeles and the only man between him and his prey is veteran LAPD officer, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover ,at one point Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to co-star in the film, but chose to do Terminator 2) , being only helped by his underlings (Maria Conchita Alonso , Ruben Blades , Bill Paxton).
Interesting script by Jim Thomas and John Thomas , the original storyline of the film was to have taken place in New York City, but writers quickly changed it to Los Angeles because of budget concerns , as the scene where the Predator raises the skull during the lighting storm was to have taken place atop the Chrysler Building .
And amongst them: Stephen Hopkins, who has consistently given me the most entertainment out of the crappy movies he's made.Let's make things clear, Predator 2 is most definitely NOT better than it's previous film.
The Predator itself is given much more of a personality this time, with the kills being more obviously trophies rather than just butchering everything and it is given much more of a background and don't forget, this is the film that gained widespread popularity about the concept of these creatures verses the Aliens with the now infamous 'trophy room scene'.The film races along like most movies of the era, i.e. very good and is possibly one of the last action films to be purely an action film before CGI really started to poke it's nose in about a year later.It would have been interesting to see Schwarzenegger in the film for curiosity's sake, even for a cameo but people just don't seem to see the genius of casting Danny Glover.
Sequels without the original characters never seem to do well as the recent 28 WEEKS LATER show ( It's a much better film than is given credit for ) but I think the producers deserve some congratulations for trying something different Certainly this movie gets off to an explosive start with the LAPD in a shoot out with a Latino drugs gang and it's safe to say that both the pyrotechnic and stunt team earned their money with this shoot .
Okay it doesn't have Arnie blowing away lots of bad guys but when you compare it to these dire ALIENS V PREDATOR movies it's actually quite good and hopefully now its reputation will go up slightly.
It is my childhood movie and the last good Predator film and worthy sequel of all time.
I think this film is highly underrated and no where near as bad as some say about it.Why I love this film as much, that I love the original film?: because of action, it is sequel to the first movie, Kevin Peter Hall stars in this movie actor from the first movie , it has Predator movie theme score, more Predators showed up at the end.
It has since become a cult film among fans.Amidst a territorial gang war, a sophisticated alien hunter stalks the citizens of Los Angeles and the only man between him and his prey is veteran L.A.P.D. officer, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan.This electrifying action sequel unleashes the deadly invisible Predator in another jungle -- the urban jungle of Los Angeles.
Gary Busey and Ruben Blades co-star in this action-packed, high-tech thriller.Predator 2 is a 1990 American science fiction action film written by Jim and John Thomas, directed by Stephen Hopkins, and starring Danny Glover and Kevin Peter Hall.
The film is a sequel to 1987's Predator, and Kevin Peter Hall again plays the role of the Predator.10/10 Score: Bad Ass Seal Of Approval Studio: 20TH Century Fox, Silver Pictures Starring: Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades María Conchita Alonso, Bill Paxton, Robert Davi Director: Stephen Hopkins Producer: Joel Silver, Lawrence Gordon, John Davis Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 48 Mins.
The first PREDATOR was a violent, well produced action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the leader of a band of army commandos who are hunted by an alien creature in a South American jungle.
Black and white is not as interesting, to me anyway, as the varied shades of gray that the original film created.The fact that PREDATOR 2 has many well produced action sequences, but very little character development, should come as no surprise considering that it is directed by Stephen Hopkins (LOST IN SPACE, JUDGMENT NIGHT, BLOWN AWAY, THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS).
Danny Glover steps into the lead role, but seems out of place as an action film tough guy (his character in the LETHAL WEAPON series, the closest comparison, had much more nuance).
Most of the things that made the original Predator movie great are missing in this follow up, Arnold Swarzenegger, the Jungle setting and John "Die Hard" McTiernans direction.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsDefying the laws of sequels somewhat,Predator 2 does not feature it's originals lead star,Arnold Schwarzenegger.Interestingly,he pulled out of playing in it and left the leading action man duties down to Danny Glover,Mel Gibson's sidekick in the Lethal Weapon films.And what we have is a film that is certainly very action packed,but at the same time gratuitously violent and gory and also unfairly depicts all it's violent drug lord characters as being of either Columbian or Jamaican origin.The predator creature effects are still very impressive though,and director Stephen Hopkins commandeers a mesmerizing visual feel throughout the film.It seems to pass by a lot more quickly than the previous film too.***.
And then this bloody alien shows up,The rest of the cast are great, too, 'Predator 2' is more interested in character than how much a guy can bench, so here the muscles are replaced with mouths: Bill Paxton essays one of his most memorable roles as brash country cop Jerry 'The Lone Ranger' Lambert, Maria Conchita Alonso is perfect no-bullshit action-heroine fodder as Glover's partner Cantrell and Gary Busey performs his usual eye-rolling, wisecracking shtick to perfection as shady Special Agent Keyes, a role originally intended for Arnie's big comeback.
Aside from Kevin Peter Hall, who returns to play the Predator, the cast is entirely different from that of the original.This film is set in 1997 in L.A. where rival gangs have turned the streets into a war zone and where the Predator is loose and off killing/skinning people...
This sequel in my opinion is a good action slasher movie as the original, I love this film to death.
I love the third act of the film which is more interesting.I understand Arnold is not in here, but Danny Glover and Gary Busey did a great job with there characters.
Ably supported by well known faces like Danny Glover and Bill Paxton Predator 2 is better than a bad movie but not as good as a great one.
This was never going to live up to the original.The first film,being the master piece that it was,would never have been as popular as it is if Arnold had not being apart of it.So in this movie we have to settle for Danny Glover!Why him?He spends the whole film prancing around in his old man pants looking very old age pensioner like.The Predator,being the main star,is given some major screen time.The predator design can't be faulted,he looks amazing.His spear is his only problem,its too big and bulky to be used by an efficient killing machine.The plot.....now here is where we kinda fall off the wagon.In theory its a solid enough idea.The predator is drawn to LA by the heat wave and conflict between the police,the Jamacions and the Colombians.The predator spends no time in dealing with the Colombians,next up are the Jamacians in a pretty thrilling sequence of events.Then Mr Glover's friend buys the farm and Mr Glover takes it upon himself to find the killer.you can probably guess the rest.There's a pretty decent subway sequence,and a very "Aliens" like Slaughter house sequence.Then the film plummets into a lack of ideas.a cat and mouse chase scene takes place to kill some time before arriving at the predators space ship which looks as if it was thrown up on a sound stage in about five minutes.overall its OK.The acting is nothing special.The plot runs out of ideas and there's a cameo from an alien.
Knock, knock...Stick around....bluurrrghhh!) And far less macho posturing as well, making this film one of the very few movie sequals that manages to be better than the original.Danny Glover is very well cast in the role (albiet he seems to have laryngitus) and is supported well by Bill Paxton if not by Maria Alonso (Who still cannot act) Although we have a few hollywood sterotypes (the yardies, generic SA drug gang) everything fits in well here.The Predator of this movie is younger and brasher than the one in the first, eager to get trophies he feels are worthy of his alcove and quite happy to kill anyone else carrying a weapon in his presence.The chase scene and ending to this film were both very satisfying:(After following the predator out of the destroyed bathroom in the old folk's apartment: Harrigan: "It's OK!
Those suits were human technology to avoid detection by the Predator, the Predator's suit is technology to be stealthy against the humans.If you don't like a cool alien killing all kinds of people, shootouts, gritty city settings, and excess blood and explosions, what are you watching an action movie for in the first place?
It's the year 1997.It's a war in the streets of LA.Drug lords have taken the control.Suddenly an invisible alien starts killing people in the streets.Predator is back!The late Kevin Peter Hall performs the creature again.Danny Glover plays lieutenant Mike Harrigan.And he has to stop the space creature.Predator 2 from 1990 is a sequel for the classic movie from 1987.There Arnold Schwarzenegger played Dutch who was fighting against the ugly creature in the jungle.The sequel can't get even close to that.Danny Glover is a great actor and he does a fine job in this movie.But Predator 2 just doesn't have what the original had.There is some great action in this but that's all there is.The original was so much more.Watch Predator 2 at least for the great action scenes..
As people have said, there is more Predator time on screen, the action sequences are exciting, new weapons, all these things really add to this being a great movie.
While Danny Glover was solid in his role as Harrigan, this film couldn't capture the original coolness of Predator 1.
Don't get why this is only a 6.3 on here, it's really good!Different to the original sure, but it complements it nicely, with some stand out performances by Danny Glover and Gary Busey, plus it's the only other film where Kevin Peter Hall plays the Predator.Some of the set pieces - like the metro and the meat packing facility - rival anything from in Predator 1, and this is a on the whole a very worthy follow up.
i watched the sequel now for the third time and i must say it's still doesn't bore me because it's a unique movie.First,you have Danny Glover a real acting pro.Second,there's a great atmosphere (example:An alien hunter in the asphalt jungle what do you want more).Third,you have the best special effects you have ever seen.