With this installment, I am flying solo. After watching Predator 2, its just not time for LugNut (nickname for my son) to see it yet. In a few years, he will get to check it out. So join me as we travel to Los Angeles for Predator 2.
After the success of the first Predator, it became apparent that the studio was game to do a sequel. By this point with sequels in a film series, they tended to play it a little safe and rehash the original with some tweaks. With Arnold's Dutch surviving that original film, it seemed like a sure thing we could get his involvement again. But honestly, it wasn't meant to be as a producer says he wanted too much money. What could a Predator 2 without Arnold look like?
Well, we know what happened next. They brought in Danny Glover. At the time, Lethal Weapon was pretty successful. So, it felt like a no brainer to have Glover as a detective. It allows things to be different. It honestly opens up the world and lets the film add to the franchise as a whole. If Arnold had been in it, would it have felt like a retread? I think yeah. It would have been Predator but with a changing of the setting. With Predator 2 as it is, it has a whole lot to make it stand out - the City scape and its people are really big highlights. There will probably be even those that consider Predator 2 to be a superior film.
My first time seeing Predator 2 was on TV with my Dad. Yeah, it was edited for content. But at the time, I never knew that. I ended up loving it as much as the original. The City Hunter is a really cool companion to the first's Jungle Hunter. It feels like a whole other creature. Plus, he had some cool gadgets that added to the world building of the Predator. We have the spear gun, the smart disc, spear, and the first aid kit. And then, there was the whole aspect of the Lost Tribe at the end of the film. Super solid.
On this rewatch of the film, I noticed something different. There's a whole media angle that I never thought about. With this watch, all the media felt like something out of Verhoven's original ROBOCOP. So, the film is like Lethal Weapon meets Robocop's Media meets Gang War meets Predator. It's incredibly layered and if it could have taken place later on, I'd consider it to be canon with Robocop.
And then, there's the whole Peter Keyes stuff. I get that we needed to show that the government was acknowledging the Predators. Gary Busey as Keyes just strikes me as a little wrong. Like a small miscasting. But that might just be me because I'm not really a Busey fan. The cool thing is that with all of that stuff, it opens the world up wide open. And that's a nice thing, especially as we will later see it again in the franchise. Is it done well then? Yes and no, stick around and find out.
Predator 2 is a fun, interesting film. It delivers on all cylinders. It builds on what made the original so successful while standing on its own. Yeah, there may be some things here and there that I don't like. But overall, it's on par with the first film.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
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