Predator 2 - 3/5

With a villain/creature as insanely bad ass as Predator, its only natural that one would want to see him take on some new settings. So from the jungle, this mean monster heads to the urban jungle and all kinds of awesome and ridiculous action occurs. Although not quite the surprise and sleekness of the original, "Predator 2" carries some great moments although it falls at times to its own ridiculous moments and some hit or miss directing.

Lieutenant Harrigan has way too much to deal with. Los Angeles is in the middle of a drug war between two rival gangs and his little squad of officers is caught in the middle. What he doesn't expect is that the ultimate hunter wants to be caught in the middle of it. A Predator is out for blood in the heat wave of Los Angeles with a team of government agents on its tail trying to capture it for its technology. Now Harrigan is caught in the middle of a lot of shit storms with not a lot of room for give and take.

"Predator 2" is a mixture of great moments interspersed with ridiculously over the top concepts and a rather hit or miss story. In general, the idea of a Predator in the city is bad ass and the film uses this rather well. The Predator tears apart a subway. The Predator bounds across buildings being chased. The Predator generally reeks havok on tons of people. Its a nice touch to have these moments and it carries the film for the most part.

Although some of the other plot moments do tend to be almost too over the top. The government agency out to capture the Predator is basically like a poorly run men in black organization that uses some powers and technology that makes you scratch your head (they track it with pheromone sensors....wtf?!) and the two gangs are a bit over stereotypical. There moments bog down the pacing of the film overall and prevent it from being a smarter film.

The action is intense and once we rid ourselves of some of the lesser characters in the intense body count this film has (why did you kill Bill Paxton you bastards! He was annoying but so damn charming!) the film starts to move like it should have and did at the very start. Danny Glover (as Harrigan) may not really hold a torch to the hero that was Arnold in the first, but he does a fine job keeping us going with our villain whom has become the highlight of the film.

"Predator 2" is flawed in many ways, but take it with a grain of salt and just enjoy it for the action packed Sci Fi ride that it is and its a fun way to spend your movie watching time. Its great to see such a badass creature in this new environment and that in itself is worth seeing the film for.

BONUS PRAISE: (SPOILER ALERT) At the end of the film, when Harrigan defeats the Predator and the other Predator's appear to essentially give him praise for a fight well fought, they throw him an old gun from 1715 showing us how long the Predators have been around. Now this opens a whole new book of franchise options (I like to believe that the Predators helped America win their independence...ahaha) despite the fact that the reason they give him the gun is vague as hell. I love that vague aspect to this film and its another reason that this film kicks at least some minor ass. Not to mention the Predator score pops up here. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider