Predator 2
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| Predator 2 | |
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| Directed by | Stephen Hopkins |
| Produced by | Joel Silver Lawrence Gordon John Davis |
| Written by | Jim Thomas John Thomas |
| Starring | Danny Glover Gary Busey Ruben Blades Maria Conchita Alonso Bill Paxton |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | November 21, 1990 |
| Running time | 108 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | unknown |
| Preceded by | Predator |
| Followed by | Alien vs. Predator |
| IMDb profile | |
Predator 2 (1990) is a science fiction movie starring Danny Glover and Gary Busey. It is a sequel to the successful Predator which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Apart from suit actor Kevin Peter Hall, and a very brief cameo appearance by Elpidia Carrillo, the film had an all new cast. The movie was poorly received upon release when compared with the original, although it has grown into a cult classic since on video and DVD.
Taglines:
- Silent. Invisible. Invincible. The Ultimate Hunter.
- Hunting season opens again …
- The Ultimate Hunter.
- This time he's coming to a different kind of jungle.
- This Time … Los Angeles, 1997.
- He's In Town With A Few Days To Kill
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film is set in "the near future" (1997), during an unusually high heat wave in Los Angeles. A vicious street war between rival drug gangs armed with military-grade weapons (Jamaican and Colombian drug cartels) dominates the city. A gang war has erupted in the streets, with cops Leona (Maria Conchita Alonso) and Danny Archuleta (Ruben Blades) awaiting the aid of professional and hard-trained cop Michael Harrigan (Danny Glover). After an intense firefight between cops and criminals, the injured are rescued from the crossfire, and the criminals withdrawing into a nearby building, where they have set up a supply area and load up for a final showdown with the police. A series of explosions rocks the inside of the building, followed by random gunfire. Harrigan investigates, only to find all but one of the criminals dead, with no apparent bullet wounds. The last criminal falls to his death, and Harrigan leaves the site with his comrades, but not before spotting a nearly transparent silhouette that appears to be a large person, which he disregards as an effect of the intense heat wave. Harrigan's crew determine that a new "player," armed with state-of-the-art (or better) weaponry has entered the Jamaican/Colombian drug war.
Back at the station, Harrigan is introduced to Special Agent Peter Keyes (Gary Busey), leader of a federal task force investigating rumours that Jamaican drug lords aim to take over the West Coast from their Colombian rivals. Harrigan is also introduced to a star-transfer from another district, Jerry Lambert (Bill Paxton), whose carefree attitude coupled with his competence as a cop makes him a valued, if sometimes overbearing, ally.
Jamaican criminals attack a key honcho of the Colombian drug gangs. The intruder takes advantage of a situation and kills every Jamaican at the site, leaving only a prostitute, who is discovered, repeatedly murmuring "The devil came for them..." in Spanish. Harrigan, having disobeyed orders pending Keyes' arrival on site, is threatened by the federal agent, telling him he is in over his head. Harrigan tells his comrade Danny they will come back later to investigate when Keyes' team has left the site, to retrieve what they think is a spear tip of some sort. Danny gets there first, however, and upon retrieving the item, is killed by the mystery attacker.
Harrigan is devastated and vows to destroy the individual responsible for his friend's death, with Leona and Lambert's aid. He encounters Keyes again, this time threatening and telling him to stay out of his way. Keyes only responds by telling Harrigan that he still has no idea what he's facing. They see a medical consultant, the lead pathologist in the city, whom explains the origins of the spear tip; she is only able to tell the team that Danny was killed when his heart was cleaved in two, "boned like a fish," and that the spear tip's molecular structure does not correspond with the elemental table, although it is nearly weightless and cuts like fine steel. Harrigan sets up a meeting with King Willy, the Jamaican drug lord leading the Voodoo Gang. Willy seems to be slightly insane, but insists that the man killing everybody is not of this world, speculating he is some demon, and that he cannot be killed. Harrigan leaves, and Willy is killed seconds later by the Predator, who was listening to their conversation.
Leona believes that the person responsible for the killings is aiming for Harrigan, if only for the fact that Danny was killed only minutes before Harrigan arrived, and that King Willy was murdered only minutes after Harrigan left. She and Jerry meet again with the medical examiner, who tells Harrigan that the special task force (who incidentally took the surviving prostitute from the gang murder site to an undisclosed location) deleted everything from the database, except for a piece of evidence that suggests strongly that whoever murdered Danny had only recently been in a slaughterhouse. Jerry reveals that he lost Keyes while tracking him in the slaughterhouse district. Harrigan tells them he'll meet up with her and Jerry, (pausing in front of a taxidermy shop; perhaps for a moment, Harrigan realizes what he is facing, but it passes). He visits Danny's grave, and upon leaving, finds Danny's necklace on a tree branch.
Meanwhile, as Jerry and Leona make their way to Harrigan on the LA subway, a group of thugs threaten a man who pulls out a gun. The thugs also produce firearms, as well as half the people in the car, including Jerry and Leona. During a pause in which trigger-fingers are itchy, the Predator attacks. Leona manages to make it past the hunter and push everybody to the forward cars, while Lambert stays behind to battle the Predator, which he shoots a few rounds at. As the subway stops, Leona doubles back to check up on Lambert, only to find that Jerry is dead, and encounters the Predator, who scans her body closely with infrared technology. Upon seeing a fetus growing inside her, the Predator refrains from attacking her, and leaves her alive.
Harrigan arrives on the scene and sees that Leona is alive. Before she is taken away in an ambulance, Harrigan overhears that she is pregnant. Harrigan meets with Captain Pilgrim, who tells him about the attack. Harrigan concludes that only people who were brandishing weapons were attacked. He runs down the tunnel following a blood trail, just in time to witness the Predator rip Jerry's skull and spine from his body. Harrigan pursues the being by car, only to be stunned and captured by the special task force team led by Keyes.
Keyes reveals his agenda: Black Ops have been following encounter sites of the titular alien Predator-race. To do this, they have discreetly set up a modular pheromone detector network around the city, referred to in the film by the fictional acronym OWLF. The detectors are keyed specifically to the smells unconsciously emitted by the Predator species. Keyes and his men hope to capture and study it, particularly because of its advanced technology. The government is well aware of the situation that occurred in the first film and has theorized that the species come from an environment with a much higher temperature (and favor areas of conflict, where their activities can go relatively unnoticed), thus explaining this preference for hunting in LA during the heatwave. Armed with suits which block out body heat (the manner in which a Predator sees), and with weaponry that is intended to freeze and immobilize the creature, they set a trap for it in a warehouse. They also flood the warehouse with radioactive trace particles, believing that this will give them additional help in distinguishing the Predator's movements against the background count. They then go in to the warehouse and attempt to capture him.
However, they are unaware that the Predator actually has the technology to see in several different spectrums with the aid of his mask, including one that allows him to track the presence of the ultraviolet lamps and tactical lights the agents are using. The Predator seizes the advantage and kills everyone except Keyes, as Harrigan escapes custody and arms himself. A short battle follows between Harrigan and the alien, resulting in the horrific death of Keyes (and the humorous question of where the top half of his body went - he was killed with the predator disk, and his legs and a glob of blood fell to the floor, but his torso was nowhere in sight). The Predator flees, followed closely by Harrigan, who manages to use the Predator's smartdisk to deactivate the Predator's explosive device by severing the Predator's arm. The pursuit ends underground, onboard the Predators' ship.
The two have a final battle that ends with Harrigan's use of the smartdisk to kill the Predator. Harrigan becomes aware that there are other Predators onboard, and drops the smartdisk in defeat, knowing he is outnumbered — however, they do not attack. They instead take their fallen comrade's body away, and the elder of this tribe gives Harrigan an antique pistol inscribed "Raphael Adolini 1715", strongly implying that the Predators had long been visiting Earth to kill for sport. The ship fires up for takeoff and Harrigan flees. He emerges from the ship's underground hiding place covered with ash and ignores Keyes' assistant's questions as he trudges away.
[edit] New facts about Predators
Predator 2 established several new facts about the Predators, and actually painted them in a somewhat less harsh light than the previous film. The Predators are something of a noble hunter, and as a code they refuse to hunt or kill any unarmed, ill, or pregnant prey (though this was hinted at in the original film when Anna (Elpidia Carrillo) was never attacked). Also, at the end of the film after Glover chases the alien back to his spaceship and kills him, he comes face to face with a dozen more Predators as they decloak and surround him. Presumably because their comrade was defeated in a fair match, they let the human leave while attending to the dead Predator, even giving him a trophy in honor of his victory.
At the end of the movie, a Xenomorph skull can be seen in the Predator's trophy collection. In retrospect this could have appeared to be a hint for the upcoming spinoff, Alien vs. Predator, but the movie had been made fourteen years prior to AvP. Many people including the writers of Predator 2 believed that Stan Winston indeed put the Alien head in the Predators' skull collection to intentionally connect the two franchises, both owned by 20th Century Fox. However, the first appearance of the mixed franchises, the first comic of Aliens vs. Predator, was released by Dark Horse Comics in November 1989, a year before Predator 2 was released.
Also, it is seen that the Predator featured in Predator 2 is somewhat different from that in the first movie, although not just in appearance alone. This Predator uses a different array of weapons to hunt its prey, like spears, spearguns, and smartdisks (although both rely on rather sadistic means of medical treatment, and also make use of wristblades). However, both Predators were in distinctly different environments, which might have called for a change up in weaponry, along with personal preferences (It was stated in promotional material that this Predator was younger and chose a densely populated urban area for a more ambitious hunt). It is also possible that since the two predators were from different clans and, possibly, a different race (noting the creature's brown skin compared to the green skin of the other creature in the first film), they could have had different weapons according to the clans' cultures. In the arcade video game, two predators are seen, a Predator Warrior and a Predator Hunter, which could distinctly separate the Predators seen in both films. Seeing as the Predator in the first film mainly wanted to kill for sport, it is speculated that this Predator might be a Predator Warrior and the one seen in this film is a Predator Hunter. Still, many of the tendencies the two had still remain: both cloaked often, did not kill unarmed people, and seemed to understand human speech, to an extent as the ending indicated that their kind visits Earth now and then for their hunting ritual.
[edit] Trivia
- In the final shot where all the other Predators decloak, we see the lead Predator, or Elder, of this clan. It is the same Predator that gives Danny Glover an antique flintlock pistol. The flintlock pistol has an inscribed plate dated 1715 and a name - Raphael Adolini. Look very closely at the design of that particular suit. It is the same suit that was used in the first Predator movie, although slightly changed in color. Kevin Peter Hall, who played both Predators for both films, also doubled as the Elder Predator in the ending. This is revealed in the commentary on the new Predator 2 Double Disc DVD.
- Raphael Adolini was a fearsome pirate whose ship was one day discovered completly abondened, with no trace of the crew or him on board. The disappearence was never solved.
- Predator 2 is set during an unusually severe heat wave. In the original film, Anna reminisces about what is assumed to be a Predator attack in her village when she was a child. Agent Keyes also suggests that the Predator is attracted to "heat and conflict," citing possible appearances in Beirut (Lebanon) and Iwo Jima during World War II.
- Bill Paxton is the only actor to independently star in the Predator series (Predator 2), the Alien series (Aliens), and the Terminator series (The Terminator). Actor Lance Henriksen has a similar feat, starring in Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien vs. Predator, and The Terminator, but never solely in a Predator movie alone.
- In addition to the previous bullet, Paxton's characters were killed by an Alien, a Predator, and a Terminator (making him the first actor to claim all 3 of such deaths), while Henricksen's character was ripped in half by an alien Queen in Aliens(though didn't die as his character was an android), stabbed to death by a Predator in AVP, and shot to death by a Terminator in the first movie.
- This was the first film to be given the newly instituted NC-17 rating in the US for its graphic violence before it was re-cut to its final theatrical length.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally asked to reprise his role as Dutch Shaeffer, now intent on capturing the Predator, but thought the idea of the Predator in Los Angeles ridiculous, and also didn't want to reprise his character as a villainous role.[citation needed] The character was remade into Special Agent Keyes, played by Gary Busey, after Schwarzenegger signed on for Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- In the government agents' surveillance trailer, Elpidia Carrillo's character appears on a video screen showing the devastating damage previous Predator's self-destruct on the South American jungle.
- The shady government agent named Keyes (played by Gary Busey) is named in homage to the similarly named Keys in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Both are Special Agents for a government agency hunting an alien organism.
- A Predator comic book story by Dark Horse Comics entitled Predator: 1718 retcons the pistol as belonging to a pirate captain who, as he dies, gives it to a Predator.
- According to the end credits, the subway scenes were filmed on the San Francisco BART system.
- Contrary to popular belief the apartment of the ill-fated key honcho was not shot at the Ennis House. The square relief on the apartment's columns is of similar design, attributed to co-producer Joel Silver who is a known afficionado of Frank Lloyd Wright and his textile block houses.
[edit] External links
- Predator 2 at the Internet Movie Database
- Predator: The Hunted - fan site; contains all Predator info
