Predator 2 (1990) Cert 18. Director - Stephen Hopkins. Writer - Jim Thomas & John Thomas. Starring - Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades & Bill Paxton.

Premise - Set in the near future. LA is being tore apart in viscous drug war between the Columbians and Jamaicans, which the cops are powerless to stop. Perfect hunting ground for the Predator... Predator 2 is nothing close to being a worthy sequel to Predator. It is inferior in every way. For starters Arnold is not involved, so immediately lose his towering presence. Instead we get Danny Glover. Glover is hardly box office gold, and as such the film is left looking for someone else to carry the film. Unfortunately no one steps up to the plate. Also, even though the script is written by the same pair as the first movie none of the wit or cleverness has made it's way to the sequel. There are no classic one liners or cracking comedy moments between characters. And there is certainly none of the edginess of what the gay relationship brought to the first movie. The only character who can hold a card to any from the first movie is Bill Paxton's. His wisecracking is a highlight of the movie. The rest of the cast is forgettable. Even Busey seems to be on autopilot, playing the kind of sneering sleaze he has played a hundred times before. The special effects seem to have taken a step back as well. Some truly bad blue screen work is on show, especially in the final scene. Since the film is set in LA the film is already looking dated. This film looks like it was made before the original. The movie tries to get round this by being set in the near future, but how can you predict fashion/music tastes? The only constant from the original is the score. This elevates the film from mediocrity, but only just. When that score kicks in you know your watching a Predator film. The film isn't all bad. There are some nice set pieces. Most notably a battle between the Predator and a gang of Jamaicans and the Predator versus a bunch of armed commuters. There are some nice subtle touches as well. Such as Glover staring into a shop window filled with stuffed bear' etc. as he is figuring out the Predators motives, and the Predator sparring a child because his toy gun is not real. So, not a great loss. Just a disappointment as is so often the case with sequels of great films. At least they tried to do something different from the original. Sometimes it works (Aliens) sometimes it doesn't.