Predator 2 (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Stephen Hopkins
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Kevin Peter Hall, Maria Conchita Alonso, Rubén BladesDirector: Stephen Hopkins
Brand: FOX Home Entertainment
Cinematographer: Peter Levy
Editor: Mark Goldblatt
Editor: Bert Lovitt
Producer: Lloyd Levin
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-01-25
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Movie Reviews of Predator 2 (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Movie Review: Hunting Season Begins, Again...
Summary: 5 Stars
3 years after "Predator" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger wowed audiences worldwide, 20th Century Fox had high hopes for even more box office success when they released "Predator 2". But this sequel wasn't without a major problem at first, when the film was to begin shooting, Arnold was busy filming "Total Recall" and unable to return for the sequel, leaving the creative team with a starring role that needed filling; instead of choosing yet another hulking muscle man to fill Arnold's shoes, Fox went with veteran actor Danny Glover who was having great success alongside Mel Gibson in the `Lethal Weapon' series. With a new actor in the lead role, a different director behind the camera, and a different type of story and location, would "Predator 2" find great success with audiences or would this be one hunt that was doomed to failure from the beginning?
"Predator 2" takes place in the year 1997, in Los Angeles during the middle of an intense heat and crime wave that is sweeping the city. While the people cope with the heat, the cops of the city are fighting a very deadly war on crime, but the fighting is getting a little easier. Because something is killing the drug dealers that are running L.A.; however, no one knows what the killer looks like. The cops are opting to simply let the drug dealers get wiped out by this unseen assassin, but Lt. Harrigan (Danny Glover) feels that there is something far worse than your average killer behind these murders, and when he comes face to face with this killer, he'll soon find out what it's like to be the predator's prey.
When Arnold had to pass on filming the sequel to "Predator", generally a sign of bad things to come for the movie, it was a surprise that Fox went away from the action hero type of actor to play the lead. Going against what logic would dictate, at least what would stand for logic in Hollywood (basically the `keep using what worked before' mentality), 20th Century Fox brought in Danny Glover (not exactly an action guy) to go one-on-one with the galaxy's fiercest hunter. To my surprise, and probably to most people as well, Glover functioned surprisingly well in this type of role, and delivered a very believable performance, especially in the action scenes with the predator. The main supporting cast consisting of Gary Busey and Bill Paxton were equally memorable in their roles; Busey as the government agent whose intention is to capture the predator no matter the cost, and Paxton as a newly transferred cop who loves nothing more than seeing action on the streets. All of the actors really delivered strong performances, which was nice to see in this type of movie. Having the actors actually take the material seriously even though it is science-fiction raised the quality of this movie up beyond your typical monster movie fare.
The story for the movie was well paced with plenty of plot developments keeping things moving, not just seeming like just a bunch of talk simply to fill in the time between action scenes. I enjoyed the change of location from your average jungle to the urban jungle of Los Angeles, giving the predator a different environment to adapt to and new prey to hunt. The story also explored some of the code of conduct for the predators, which was interesting; such as, they won't harm unarmed people, they won't kill pregnant women, and if they are beaten they will take their own life. It was nice to see that the creators of this franchise wanted the fans to gain more of an understanding of what these predators are and why they do what they do, so I'm glad they brought those elements into the story, to give them more character rather than being just bloodthirsty killers.
As was the case with the first film, and that of the `Alien' franchise, great kudos must be given to the costumes department, in particular Stan Winston's work on the predator suit. 20th Century Fox must have really wanted to make the predators into iconic monsters of modern cinema, because the creatures were given much more screen time in this film than they were in the first one. Clearly the choice to give more screen time to the predator paid off, since they have successfully joined the ranks of being one of Hollywood's greatest movie monsters/villains of all time, serving as a testament to the great work that Stan Winston and his team put into this creature's development.
Two interesting side notes regarding "Predator 2": one, at the end of the film when the defeated predator kills himself and Lt. Harrigan is left on the ship by himself, when he looks in the trophy case you see a skull of a xenomorph or `alien' from the `Alien' franchise planting the seeds for the inevitable showdown seen in "AVP: Alien Vs Predator". Two, actor Bill Paxton has been killed on screen by 3 of the biggest villains/monsters in movie history, and they are as follows: the Terminator ("The Terminator"), an alien ("Aliens"), and a predator ("Predator 2"). Just thought I'd share that useless bit of information with you all, so now you've learned something.
"Predator 2" managed to deliver to audiences an exciting thrill ride that fully equals the original film on every level, and to some may even be better than the original simply because you get to see more of the predator this time around, and the action is kicked up very early on. A definite must see for fans of the first film, the `Alien' franchise, or just action/monster movie fans in general.
"Predator 2" is rated R for violence, language, and brief nudity/sexuality.
Summary of Predator 2 (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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