Predator 2

Predator 2
Directed by	Stephen Hopkins
Written by	Jim Thomas John Thomas
Produced by	Joel Silver Lawrence Gordon John Davis
Starring	Danny Glover Gary Busey Maria Conchita Alonso Ruben Blades Bill Paxton Calvin Lockhart Kevin Peter Hall
Cinematography	Peter Levy
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	November 21, 1990
Running time	108 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35,000,000
Box office	$57,169,413 (worldwide)

Predator 2 is a 1990 science fiction action film starring Danny Glover and Gary Busey. Written by Jim & John Thomas and directed by Stephen Hopkins, the film is a sequel to the successful 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Apart from actor Kevin Peter Hall in the role of the Predator and a very brief cameo appearance by Elpidia Carrillo, the film has an entirely new cast. The movie received mixed reviews and gained a moderate return at the box office. Since its initial release however, the film has, like its predecessor, gained a strong cult following.

Plot

In 1997, Los Angeles is suffering from both a sweltering heat-wave and a vicious street war between police, Colombian, and Jamaican drug gangs. Engaged in a protracted shootout with the Colombians are police detectives Leona Cantrell (Maria Conchita Alonso) and Danny Archuleta (Ruben Blades) as they await the aid of their boss, veteran Lieutenant Michael Harrigan (Danny Glover). After an intense firefight, Harrigan's aggressive tactics force the criminals to withdraw into a nearby building. A series of explosions rock the structure, followed by mysterious gunfire. Harrigan proceeds inside against orders, only to find the Colombians have been mysteriously slaughtered. He follows the one survivor to the roof of the structure and shoots him. After the Colombian falls from the roof, Harrigan catches sight of what appears to be the hazy silhouette of a large man, but waves it off as an effect of the heat.

At the police station, Harrigan is introduced to Special Agent Peter Keyes (Gary Busey), leader of a federal task force purportedly investigating the cartels. Harrigan is also introduced to a new officer for his team, Jerry "The Lone Ranger" Lambert (Bill Paxton).

Later, Jamaican gang members attack the Colombian drug lord at his home, ritualistically murdering him. The Predator takes advantage of the situation and kills the Jamaicans one by one, leaving only the Colombian's girlfriend alive. Arriving at the scene first, Harrigan and his team enter against orders, observing one of the Predator's weapons stuck in an air-conditioner before Keyes and his team arrive. Harrigan now suspects that a new "player" has joined the street war. This "player" is actually a Predator on the hunt. Enraged at his defiance, Keyes threatens Harrigan, saying he will 'disappear' if he interferes again. Harrigan and Archuleta discuss plans to return to the crime scene later for further investigation into the murders. Archuleta arrives before Harrigan and attempts to retrieve the weapon, which has gone unnoticed by Keyes' team. Unfortunately, the Predator has also returned to the scene and, revealing itself to Archuleta, attacks and kills him.

Harrigan is devastated, vowing to his superiors and Keyes to destroy the perpetrator responsible for his friend's death. After Cantrell and Lambert trail Keyes to a slaughterhouse, they visit a pathologist to investigate the weapon Archuleta had found. She discusses its origins, noting the weapon's material does not correspond with any element on the periodic table. Harrigan decides to set up a meeting with the Jamaican drug lord King Willie, hoping he will know who is attacking them. Willie believes that whoever, or whatever, is involved in the killings of his men is not of this world. More confused than ever, Harrigan leaves - and the Predator immediately attacks and beheads King Willie.

Leona suspects that the killer is toying with Harrigan, as Danny was murdered shortly before Harrigan arrived, while King Willie was killed moments after he left. Cantrell and Lambert, planning to meet Harrigan, are traveling by subway when a group of thugs threaten innocent passengers. They pull guns on each other, causing Lambert and Cantrell to pull their own weapons. As a tense standoff ensues, the Predator suddenly breaks in through the cabin's roof and attacks in the dark. During the confusion, Cantrell herds the passengers to safety across the next subway cars while Lambert challenges the Predator, keeping it busy. After stopping the train and getting the passengers to the surface, she doubles back to find Lambert has been killed. She searches the empty cars until she encounters the Predator, who scans her body with thermal scan technology. Viewing a fetus within her abdomen, the Predator refrains from attacking.

Harrigan arrives at the new crime scene and discovers Cantrell is still alive. He also surmises that only armed civilians and officers were attacked. Following a blood trail down the subway tunnel, he witnesses the Predator mutilating Lambert's body. Harrigan pursues the creature, only to be captured by Keyes' special team.

Keyes finally reveals to Harrigan what he's dealing with, and that he and his team have been following encounter sites with the "other world life form" ever since Alan "Dutch" Schaeffer (the protagonist of the first film, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his special forces team were attacked in the jungle ten years earlier. Keyes and his men are determined to capture this creature for study, realizing its value as a potential means for immense technological advance. Armed with cryogenic weaponry intended to immobilize the creature, they have set a trap for it in a vacant slaughterhouse which the Predator has been raiding for food. The team wear thermally insulated suits to prevent the Predator from detecting them via infrared. However, the Predator simply switches its helmet's scanner through a number of different ranges of electromagnetic wavelengths that are available to it, before settling on the ultraviolet spectrum where it is able to see their black lights. The Predator attacks the government team, killing everyone except Keyes. Harrigan, who foresaw trouble, is able to escape custody and heads to confront the Predator.

A short battle follows, in which Keyes is apparently killed. Harrigan is able to shoot down the Predator and remove its mask, but the Predator revives moments later and attacks Harrigan. Keyes, still alive (although horribly scarred by a plasma attack), arrives to battle the creature, using a specialized liquid nitrogen cannon. Keyes demands that Harrigan retreat, as the Predator pulls out a "smart-disc" weapon and throws it at Keyes. The weapon slices Keyes in half. Harrigan and the Predator exchange attacks, as the battle moves to the rooftop. The Predator gets knocked over the side and, hanging from a ledge, attempts to activate the self-destruct device contained in its wrist-mounted computer. However, Harrigan steals the Predator's smart-disc weapon and uses it to cut the Predator's forearm off, destroying the self-destruct device in the process. After falling through the window of an adjacent building and tending its wounds the Predator retreats, followed closely by Harrigan, down an elevator shaft to a basement that turns out to be an underground-stationed spaceship. The two have a final duel, ending with Harrigan killing the Predator. The Predator's clan-mates appear and carry away their fallen warrior, while the elder Predator aboard gives Harrigan an antique flintlock pistol as a sign of respect. Harrigan escapes the ship just as it blasts off into space. The remainder of Keyes' team arrives, furious that they failed in capturing a Predator. The film ends with Harrigan commenting that they will "get another chance", implying that the Predators will return to Earth someday.

Cast

See also: List of characters in the Predator series

• Lieutenant Mike Harrigan
  Danny Glover
• Special Agent Peter Keyes
  Gary Busey
• Detective Leona Cantrell
  Maria Conchita Alonso
• Detective Danny Archuleta
  Ruben Blades
• Detective Jerry Lambert
  Bill Paxton
• King Willie
  Calvin Lockhart
• Tony Pope
  Morton Downey, Jr.
• Anna
  Elpidia Carrillo
• The Predator
  Kevin Peter Hall

Production

"Broad concept's the same. The difference is, this is a different individual. A different individual of the same species. As is a snake is a snake is a snake, but different snakes are different. Their colorings are different, different parts of their characteristics, their facial structures, subtle differences."

— Stan Winston describing the Predator in Predator 2 and explaining the reason for the varying designs and looks of the Predators.

Due to excessive violence, Predator 2 was the first film to be given the newly instituted NC-17 rating in the U.S. The film was eventually rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America after being re-cut to its final theatrical length. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred as "Dutch" in the 1987 film, was asked to reprise his role in the sequel. Schwarzenegger was outspoken against the sequel's concept, feeling that taking it into the city was a bad idea. Schwarzenegger had to decline and decided to sign on for another sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The character was rewritten as the role of Peter Keyes (Gary Busey). Returning to the role of Anna in the sequel, Elpidia Carrillo was slated to be in two scenes but was cut back to a brief appearance on a video screen in the government agents' surveillance trailer. Her character is showing damage to the Central American jungle caused by the explosion at the conclusion of the first film.

In Predator 2, the main Predator was designed to look more urban and hip than its predecessor. Design changes included tribal ornamentation on the forehead, which was made steeper and shallower, brighter skin colouration and a greater number of fangs.

Reception

The movie received mixed reviews, with Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert suggesting it represents an "angry and ugly" dream. Since its initial release, the film has, like its predecessor, gained a cult following. The worldwide box office revenue totaled $57,169,413 in ticket sales. Although this surpassed the cost of the film's budget, it was considered an overall disappointment in comparison to its predecessor's performance.

New facts about Predators

File:P2-The Alien Skull.png

The famed Alien skull of Predator 2.

Predator 2 established several new facts about the predator creatures, painting them less harshly than in the original film. The predators are portrayed as hunters who follow a code in which they refuse to kill unarmed, ill or pregnant prey. This was hinted at in the 1987 film when an unarmed Anna (Elpidia Carrillo) was never attacked, and when the Predator removed his armor to face Dutch in a fair fight.

In Predator 2, The Predator takes aim at a child carrying a toy gun, but when he scans it and realizes it is a toy, he backs off. During the Subway chaos in the middle of the film, Officer Leona is caught by the Predator with her service gun, but upon scanning her body, he finds a fetus inside her and doesn't kill her. At the end of the movie, after Harrigan (Glover) kills the creature, he is suddenly surrounded by additional predators. Presumably because their comrade was defeated in a fair match, they let Harrigan leave and even gave him a trophy (a flintlock pistol) in honor of his victory.

Near the end of the film, an Alien skull can be seen in the predator's trophy collection. The first time the Alien and Predator franchises were combined was in November 1989 when Dark Horse Comics released Aliens vs. Predator. This combination would also later be explored in video games, and the films Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007).

Novelization

The novelization provided a small amount of information regarding the fate of "Dutch" from the first film. Keyes recalls memories of speaking with the battered Major while infirmed in a hospital, suffering from radiation sickness. "Dutch" is said to have escaped from the hospital, never to be seen again. Furthermore, the novel also tells a great deal of the story from the Predator's point of view, such as its humiliation of having its mask removed by Harrigan, and reasoning for not killing Cantrell due to its discovery of her pregnancy.

External links

• Predator 2 at IMDb
• Predator 2 at AllMovie
• Predator 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Predator 2 at Box Office Mojo
• Predator: The Hunted - fan site; contains all Predator info