Los Angeles, '97. Members of two battling Hispanic-American gangs are suddenly mysteriously found massacred, hanging upside down, but there are no suspects. LAPD Officer Harrigan takes it personally when his partner is also killed. His investigation leads him to agent Keyes who reveals that the murderer is actually an alien, the Predator, who uses unknown technology to hunt people down and disguise himself with an invisible cloth. Keyes' men set up a trap in a warehouse, but the Predator escapes and kills them all. Harrigan then takes a gun and attacks the Predator personally. Harrigan follows the alien to its spaceship and kills it. Other Predators show up, but let Harrigan go, leaving in the spaceship.
While it took three films for the the "Alien" franchize to debase itself, already the first sequel of the "Predator" undermined the series, showing that sometimes certain stories can only sustain themselves in one film. While it has some fans, "Predator 2" is a chaotic rehash of the 1st film, just relocated from a jungle to an urban area, presenting a routine narrative that doesn't have much going for it, simply because it has no inspiration. The new main protagonist, Danny Glover, is one of the few competent ingredients in the film, delivering a reliable performance as police Detective Harrigan, yet little else is of interest here in the rushed storyline. The Predator's murders are banal, exploitative and vile, with several bizarre ideas (the alien holding a victim's skull with a spine (!) attached to it, boasting on the top of a building, while a lightning bolt strikes him from the sky) whereas one of the most misguided moments is when the Predator "speaks" the infamous line: "Shit happens!" There is also no reason for the movie to be set in the "future", in the (then) distant year '97, save for the throw-away moment where a forensic expert puts the Predator's weapon under computer analysis. "Predator 2" has two good sequences, though: the first one is the effective, genuinely suspenseful subway attack, where Detective Leona stops the train through an emergency break, and then proceeds to walk back to the last wagon, where the alien was seen. The second one is the finale, where agent Keyes set-up actually quite a clever trap for the antagonist, deducting the Predator can only see through an infrared heat-sensor, so he sends his men dressed up in temperature neutral suits, and sprays the warehouse with particles that confuse its sensors. More of such moments would have been welcomed. "Predator 2" is a solid, but underwhelming, disorganized sequel without a clear point.
Grade:+
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