PREDATOR 2 is a strange type of sequel . It doesn't feature any of the characters from the original movie which probably explains its box office failure . You can just imagine an audience squealing with delight when the studio let it be known there was going to be a follow up to the first film , only for the audience to weep in disappointment when they found out it was starring Danny Glover rather than Big Arnie . Sequels without the original characters never seem to do well as the recent 28 WEEKS LATER show ( It's a much better film than is given credit for ) but I think the producers deserve some congratulations for trying something different
Certainly this movie gets off to an explosive start with the LAPD in a shoot out with a Latino drugs gang and it's safe to say that both the pyrotechnic and stunt team earned their money with this shoot . Like the original this is an action/adventure film and there can be no complaints that this is a boring movie . Stephen Hopkins directing may be slightly uneven but he does very well in some scenes such as the aforementioned opening , the metro sequence and the scene where a decapitation takes place overdubbed with the character's screams as his head is carried away . The violence may be more " ugly " in the words of Roger Ebert but I preferred this more than the comic strip violence of the original . My only real criticism is that the ending is rather flat compared than what went before
All in all a rather enjoyable movie for those audiences who are in to action adventures and SF . It's a hugely under rated movie which people should judge for what it is rather than what it's not . Okay it doesn't have Arnie blowing away lots of bad guys but when you compare it to these dire ALIENS V PREDATOR movies it's actually quite good and hopefully now its reputation will go up slightly
Certainly this movie gets off to an explosive start with the LAPD in a shoot out with a Latino drugs gang and it's safe to say that both the pyrotechnic and stunt team earned their money with this shoot . Like the original this is an action/adventure film and there can be no complaints that this is a boring movie . Stephen Hopkins directing may be slightly uneven but he does very well in some scenes such as the aforementioned opening , the metro sequence and the scene where a decapitation takes place overdubbed with the character's screams as his head is carried away . The violence may be more " ugly " in the words of Roger Ebert but I preferred this more than the comic strip violence of the original . My only real criticism is that the ending is rather flat compared than what went before
All in all a rather enjoyable movie for those audiences who are in to action adventures and SF . It's a hugely under rated movie which people should judge for what it is rather than what it's not . Okay it doesn't have Arnie blowing away lots of bad guys but when you compare it to these dire ALIENS V PREDATOR movies it's actually quite good and hopefully now its reputation will go up slightly