35 Years Anniversary Review Of Predator 2

Action movies are not the same anymore as they used to be. What do i mean by that? There was a time when action movies really lifted the genre to new grounds during the 80´s and 90´s and it seems it´s becoming more difficult in modern days to reach the same level. There are a few exceptions where the action franchise managed to strike back such as The Expendables franchise, but if you look at the overall picture there are not many titles that have made the same impact. Back in the 80´s for example it was completely different when the action genre really lived up to expectations with classics such as First Blood, Lethal Weapon, RoboCop, The Terminator, Aliens, The Road Warrior, Cobra, Commando, Rambo - First Blood II, The Delta Force, Die Hard, we could go on for hours if we really wanted to mention every 80´s action film you should see. But just looking at these titles you realise what an incredible time the 80´s was for this specific genre. So for a moments let´s talk about one of the real true action classics of this time period that i did not mention earlier and that is the 1987 science fiction action film Predator from director John McTiernan. Predator really gave the action audience everything you could wish for with lots of big guns. lots of explosions, big muscles, knife edge sharp dialogue, really perfect characters for this film and a really cool looking alien. Predator tells the story of a team of commandos ordered to do a mission in Central America to save a local cabineet minister whos helicopter was shot down in the jungle. What this team of commandos don´t know is that there is something far more dangerous out there waiting for them. Predator is one of the best Arnold Schwarzenegger films of all time and have so many classic action scenes. If you have not seen Predator you simply have to, it is one of those films that are timeless. In 1990 a sequel of Predator was released this time with actor Danny Glover in the lead role instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger, where the alien visit the city of Los Angeles instead of the jungle in Predator 2. This year in 2025 it will be 30 years since this sequal was released in cinemas so i decided to do a 35 years anniversary review of Predator 2. Is this sequel still good today after so many years or have this film aged poorly and lost some of the magic it once had?

In 1997, Los Angeles is experiencing a heat wave and a turf war between heavily armed Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels. L.A. Police department is really struggling with the war between all the criminal gangs and Lieutenant Mike Harrigan ( Danny Glover ) is making sure him and his team are cleaning up the streets as good as possible. But when the city of Los Angeles gets a visit from the alien known as The Predator ( Kevin Peter Hall ), no one is safe in this city anymore and Mike Harrigan is about to face his toughest battle so far.

Predator 2 have always divided fans of the original film and while some think this is a really good sequel to Predator there are some fans who feel this film does not hold up as a sequel. I am actually on the side that think this is a really good sequel to the original film. Is it as good as the original film? No, but being a sequel i think is pretty damn good one for actually doing something different and actually making this film work. So what does Predator 2 bring to the table that i really appreciate? First of all the action scenes are really fast, hard hitting and there is a lot of violence in this film. If you are going to have a manhunt between humans and an alien in Los Angeles there should be a lot of violence. You have massive gun scenes, explosions, bodies being ripped apart, you can pretty much say this sequel really wanted to be even more gory than the original film in certain scenes. They really managed to make the Predator hunting scenes work really effective in this film, giving us a different approach of the Predator adjusting to the city life. I love several of the crazy characters that this film has as well, especially at the police district where these cops don´t take shit from anyone. Just look at the female character Leona Cantrell ( played by actress Maria Conchita Alonso, who can also be seen in the Schwarzenegger classic The Running Man ), she reminds me of the classic female character Vasquez in Aliens. Leona will rip your balls off without even regretting anything, shes that kind of tough cop that we need on the streets. Then you have the more funny wacky character Jerry Lambert ( played by legendary actor Bill Paxton ) who is full of charming dialogue and personality. Legendarry actor Danny Glover does a really good job on his lead character Lieutenant Mike Harrigan, a man who have no fear and will kill without a doubt. Another thing Predator 2 does really well is showing us the struggling issues the criminal gangs are facing with this alien wiping them out. Doesnt matter what guns they have, they could easily all be executed by the Predator. Of course the Predator himself ( Kevin Peter Hall ) does an excellent job in this incredible costume. Predator 2 is a hell of a good time if you love a combination of science fiction, horror and action. Director Stephen Hopkins did a really good job making this film a worthy sequel and it´s actually one of my favourite sequels of the 90´s in general. I don´t need to explain anything else just go watch Predator 2 on streaming or physical media, this is how a sequal is supposed to look like.

Rating: DDDD