OK I have to admit that whatever score I put on this movie I am going to get accusations of it being too high or too low. I think this is a very divisive movie (there are more divisive movies on this list but we’ll get to them!). So, let me try and explain why after I give you a little background information. It was released in 1990 three years after the original movie and after the first movie was on for $100m at the box office (I know it made $98m so don’t write and complain- coz I am not listening) this cost around $35m to produce and went on to make $57m at the box office which may explain why there was never an out and out third movie and it lent on the alien franchise for future releases. This has the same writers of the first movie and when approached to write the sequel they said ok here is not one not two but six ideas for the return movie. The money men decided the idea of a predator in the urban jungle was good enough to win the decision and off they went to fill in the rest of the details, Arnie was approached to bring back his character ‘Dutch’ for the movie and he said. Nope! Rumour is he didn’t like the script and probably more importantly had signed a large deal to appear in Total Recall. So, what was the deal with the story then.
Well in the urban jungle of LA two rival gangs do battle one a voodoo warrior gang from Jamaica and of course a drugs gang from Columbia (apparently apart from drugs they play football in Columbia as well but no one in Hollywood believes that). Well the gang warfare become very violent and aggressive and the body count starts to grow and the LAPD are proper confused. Then another ‘Special’ force turns up and tries to keep the scene’s under wraps which is never going to happen in movie land now is it. This means that all four elements are brought together to realise that there is a fifth part of this puzzle in the guise of an Alien with a taste of killing anything in a species that is partial to a bit of violence themselves. Then it takes them out. So, do you carry a gun and get killed or not carry a weapon and have nothing to protect yourself. Well these are tough times in LA!
This movie has some names in it for example - Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Rubén Blades, María Conchita Alonso, Bill Paxton & Robert Davis. Those with a keen eye would have spotted the Aliens connection already let alone the other thing that I will mention. But first it made a smidge of a profit at the box office or just about broke even after taking marketing into account but was not that well received thereafter. The tomato people have this at 29% where IMDb have this at 6.3/10 and that may highlight my point that people love and hate this movie and I am the exception that is on the fence. I like the who’s in Aliens game you can play Gary Busey appears sane for most of it and anyone that doesn’t like Danny Glover’s acting can have a long conversation with me about that! There are lots of elements that should make this a good movie so why does the rotten lot give it less than thirty percent. Well the first thing that springs to mind is that Predator 2 is not Predator and it never will be! So those that loved the original movie just won’t give this movie the time of day and that is because of what it isn’t rather than what it is. If you sat and watched this movie before the first one the chances are you would prefer this one to the other but the world saw the first one first and preferred it hence it will never be the first movie. Its like falling in love at school and growing together with the man or woman of your dreams you’ve been through everything together. So, when a new model appears on the scene, he/she maybe better younger and prettier but your head is not for turning!
For me there is a minor issue with this movie which I will get to after I remind you all that this is scored in the seventies for me and I do rate this film and would suggest you watch it and watch it with an open mind and give it a chance. If you have seen it before clear your mind and give it another go but get your Arnie size chips off your shoulders before clearing your minds of what it isn’t and just accept it at face value and you will enjoy it more than you did before.
What is my beef with this film? It has nothing to do with film, writers, actors or director (well maybe the director) and it is this. At the end of this movie *Minor Spoiler warning* but there a scene within the Predator’s ship and there is a type of trophy cabinet full of skulls of different victims of the Predator. There is a skull that looks like an Alien from the movies Alien & Aliens and because of the hype that this caused with the fans they decided to make the Alien vs Predator movie which I had to own and as a result I’ve had to review and its not good. In fact, its pants but I have it and even tried to be nice about it on here which was a real struggle all because of the nerdy geeks spotted something that looked like something else in a movie. OK I’ve got that off my chest (and on the subject of chests) I move onto the next movie.
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