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Predator 2 (1990)
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The Spike
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 9:28 pm    Post subject: Predator 2 (1990) Reply with quote

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Very undervalued sequel suffering because of the first films success.

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 amongst 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. Also cutely is that director Stephen Hopkins and writers Jim & John Thomas have actually got the Predator cleaning up the streets of L.A., in fact another two hours of Predator hunt and kill tactics and crime in L.A. would have been completely eradicated! 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), Rub??n Blades (Once Upon a Time in Mexico) & Maria Conchita Alonso (The Running Man), whilst Kevin Peter Hall dons the Predator suit and suitably kicks arse again. It's not genius, it's not even ground breaking, but Predator 2 is a fine and entertaining genre piece that sadly seems to forever be undervalued on internet sites.

8/10 "who's next"?

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 16, 2014 9:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You know, if I weren't such a cockeyed optimist, I give up trying to find something in your reviews to argue with. Sad

Lucky for me, they're fun to read, so I'll just keep pluggin' away until I can find a fight hiding in one of them somewhere. Twisted Evil

Meanwhile — yes, Predator 2 is a rip-roarin' good time, with a good cast. They were especially smart to cast Gary Busey as the guy who shoots off his big mouth and does NOT live to regret it. Gary can be real likable or real unlikable, depending on what the script's stage directions say in parentheses.

I was sorry to hear that this movie "seems to forever be undervalued on internet sites." Boy, if I ever get my hands on those guys who don't like all the movies I like, I'm gonna rip their spines out and polish their dried skulls to a high gloss!

That'll teach 'em, huh? Twisted Evil

(Sorry. Too much disagreeing seems to disagree with me . . . )



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Doctor Kaiju
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 09, 2014 11:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This movie could have been better for me. Not very fond of the Jamaican drug dealers, that part rubbed me the wrong way, they seemed to be a caricature. Why not Bloods & Crips?

It did have some good parts and is worth a watch, especially with beer.

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Tom
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 09, 2014 11:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like the entire Predator Universe. Predators took a few viewings to see the connections and how it fit the realm, but it does and I like it.

Predator Two is vital to both the Predator and Alien universes. I immediately liked it and I'm fond of many scenes. My favorite is the trophy case.

To me, Predator one was predictable. I liked it but it had a feel in it that I knew what was going to happen. Predator 2, I felt, brought the threat to home. Kudos to the courage to set it in a city. Even though the city setting was a bit over dirtied, I found the circumstances depicted were relatively realistic.

I would like to see more movies with creatures in a city setting.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________

An awesome action adventure, with an awesome trailer!
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______________________ Predator 2 - trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 2:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



First a man-hunting alien took on Arnold Schwarzenegger and got his ugly butt kicked.

Then another extra-terrestrial sportsman thought he could take on half of the Lethal Weapon team and do better. It didn't go too well for him, either.

But it went well for us. We got a slam-bang sequel to the sci-fi action hit, with tough L.A. cops doing what tough international mercenaries did in the first one.

Die horribly.

But they certainly entertained us while doing so, and we got a rockin' climax inside a Predator spacecraft, along with another great score by Alan Silvestri, the talented man who thrilled us with three great scores for the "Back to the Future" trilogy

The scene at the end when Danny Glover sees the alien's display case is a favorite of mine. This IMDB trivia item is interesting.
________________________________

Putting the Alien (1979) skull on the trophy case on the Predator ship was the idea of Stephen Hopkins' as a way of showing off all the different species and creatures that the Predators have hunted and killed.

It was also a nod to the Dark Horse Aliens vs Predator comics which were quite popular at the time. Since Fox had owned the Alien film series, it was easy to obtain the rights to use the Alien head in the film. This excelled popularity of the Aliens vs. Predator series crossover throughout the 1990s, and was promptly followed by more comic books, novels, video games, toys, and eventually movies.

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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2019 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
_______________

______________________ Predator 2 Trailer


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The sequel to the 1987 modest hit switches everything to a very different locale and even a very different time — the near future of 1997 L.A.

There's no Schwarzenegger or even his hypothetical brother, instead we have a police squad headed by big Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon). Other cops are played by Ruben Blades, Maria Conchita Alonso and new hotshot Bill Paxton. Top cops (the bosses) are played by Robert Davi and Kent McCord (as if continuing his role from Adam-12).

Then there's a secret government squad headed by Gary Busey (also from Lethal Weapon), including Bill Baldwin. Crime, as to be expected, has escalated way out of control. But, on top of all this, a new player is in town — you guessed it, another Predator alien (Kevin Peter Hall, reprising), looking for serious fun in blowing away both criminals and law-enforcement types, as well as collecting some spinal columns and heads.

___________

This sequel comes across as particularly violent, somewhat sadistically so in its tone. There are no sympathetic characters, even among the good guys — Paxton is the most obnoxious, but he conversely is the only one who behaves with any vulnerability, such as hiding his insecurities with his brash attitude (like he did in Aliens), so only his demise may engender some emotional resonance. Everyone else is simply expendable, just lined up for the slaughterhouse (one scene even takes place amid hanging meat).

Glover, as big a guy as he is, does not appear to be the perfect warrior epitomized by Schwarzenegger in the previous film, so his success in the final battle does not seem plausible. After this one, there was a long wait until the AvP sequels, followed finally by Predators in 2010.

BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10



BoG
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Krel
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PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2019 2:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like the movie, but it turned the Predator into just another indestructible monster. The Hero's problem in the first movie was that by time they figured out what they were facing, they had used up most of their ordinance, but the Predator was vulnerable. Not so much in the second film. The Predator in the subway car should have been killed. Bill Paxton could see the visual distort, and was firing dead center. But it appears that Predator was bulletproof.

After the first movie came out, they did a comic book sequel. It took place in New York City, and I love the ending. The ending was a battle between the Predators on one side, and the Police and street gangs on the other side. They find out that water shorts out the Predator's invisibility device, and start blowing off the tops off the fire hydrants, so the water rains down. The battle ends when the Predators figure out that it is no longer a hunt, but a street fight, so they quit and leave.

David.
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PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2019 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

That's fascinating, David. The movie establishes that there are multiple predators on Earth, but they only show up in the last few minutes. A battle between the humans and the predators is interesting!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I've always wanted to know about the Predator social system. How does these simple-minded hunters happen to possess such advanced technology? Their society must possess individuals who have a high intelligence and who don't give a rats ass about killing intelligent life forms for sadistic pleasure.

What about the Predator race's scientist, politicians, teachers, and others who have worked to advance the race?

The Predators we see in the movies are like rednecks who love to go camping every weekend and shoot everything they can — and then mount the heads on the walls of their basement rec rooms and brag about 'em to their beer drinkin' buddies! Shocked

There's more to this race than just the brutal bastards who rip out spines and polish skulls! Where are the members of this race who designed and built the starship that got them here? Shocked

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
________________________________

~ The filming of the alley scene was very troublesome for the filmmakers, due to the rough neighborhood.

The alley was littered with garbage, most of which was used in the film, and plagued with large rats. Local residents angered by the noise created by the film crew would throw bottles and paper bags filled with feces from windows at the crew in the alley below.

Worst of all, the film crew found a dead body hidden among the garbage.

"The most horrible places I've ever had to film in were the alleys in downtown Los Angeles," Shane Mahan commented, "and Predator 2 was shot in a lot of those disgusting alleys. They were dirty and depressing and gross, with people peeing on walls. We'd be rigging something, and there would be rats there."


Note from me: Good Lord, the shooting locations had more gore and horrible things than the movie did! Shocked

~ Several of the alien hunting party members were played by players from the Los Angeles Lakers. Danny Glover was a big fan, and when the production needed several very tall people to play the background Predators, he asked them to help out.

Note from me: I read that and immediately got a mental image of a Predator football team back on the home planet. The quarterback could avoid getting sacked by sudden turning invisible! Laughing

~ With more time than the original "Predator (1987)," Stan Winston, Stephen Hopkins, and Lawrence G. Paull came up with ideas and designs with more exotic weapons (the retractable spear, the detachable pincers, the Smart Disc, the net, et cetera.) for the Predator to use, to differentiate this film from the previous one.

Note from me: Truly, these dudes were armed and dangerous! Cool

~ The spear weapon that was used in the film disappeared and was reported stolen after filming was completed.

Note from me: The thief could have several replicas made and then occasionally put one on eBay as "the missing Predator spear". If the studio charged him with theft, he could just prove that each one was fake (and keep the real one hidden).

~ Stephen Hopkins was given the task of directing "Predator 2 (1990)" after greatly impressing the studio when directing "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)." He had been given just four weeks to shoot, and a further four weeks to edit the film. This meant that he had to shoot on one stage while the crew dressed the other, allowing them to shoot almost continually.

Note from me: I'd love to know what the rush was all about! It seems dumb to expect the filmmakers to hurry the production and perhaps do a poor job. Confused

~ Respirators were required during the slaughterhouse sequence, due to the debris and chemicals that had filled up inside the set.

Note from me: The aliens had trouble breathing Earth's air, and in that scene the humans did too! Laughing

~ According to screenwriters Jim Thomas and John Thomas, a Predator sequel had not been planned, and they had to wait to see how successful the Predator comic book series would be. After the series was a hit, producer Joel Silver was finally able to convince Fox to make the sequel, which was immediately greenlit.

Note from me: Fox was eager to make the sequel . . . but they were also eager to make it quickly! I don't get that. Rolling Eyes

~ The Predators seen on the ship make a special appearance in the humorous behind the scenes "Danny Glover's Predator Dance Party" video.

Note from me: "Coming soon to a Broadway theater! Predators; The Musical! These guys eat CATS for breakfast"


_______________ Predators dancing to Thriller


__________

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Krel
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 11:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
Note from me: Fox was eager to make the sequel . . . but they were also eager to make it quickly! I don't get that. Rolling Eyes

It was probably some kind of accounting thing. If they didn't have the movie finished within a certain time span, it would cost the studio more, or incur penalties.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2020 10:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Yes, that would explain it.

Still, it doesn't seem wise to invest millions in a movie production and then short-change the filmmakers by not allowing them the time needed to do a good job. Confused

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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ralfy
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 13, 2022 9:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Why Arnold Schwarzenegger Never Did a Predator Sequel"

https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/why-arnold-schwarzenegger-never-did-a-predator-sequel/


Quote:
However, Hopkins suggested James Cameron played a part in swaying Schwarzenegger’s decision. “He said to Arnold that he wanted him to do Terminator 2 and he didn’t want both [sequels] to happen,” the director claimed. “He didn’t feel it would help Terminator 2 if Predator 2 happened with Arnold in it, and Jim was preparing it for a long time.”

Some suggested Schwarzenegger chose to star in Kindergarten Cop and the opportunity to play against type. Alternatively, the idea of a buddy cop film, so soon after Red Heat, also may not have appealed. Whatever the truth, Schwarzenegger’s decision appeared a shrewd one when Predator 2, which was heavily cut to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating, earned negative reviews and was only a moderate box office success.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 14, 2022 12:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________________________

Thanks for the info, ralfy! Very Happy

I enjoyed Predator 2, and I think Danny Glover did a great job. The ending is great, with the team alien hunters showing up and acknowledging Glover's win by tossing him a trophy item — an 19th century pistol!
Shocked
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