Franchises: Predator. Predator 2 (1990)

I found out that there was more than one Predator movie around the time I first watched the original film all the way back in 2000 when I looked it up in the TV Guide's appendix of what movies were playing that month. I also read about it in various books on science fiction movies, including some I could find in my high school's library, as well as from a cousin of mine who had actually seen it before he the original and had really liked it. Afterwards, I saw bits of it here and there but I didn't actually see the whole movie until it debuted on AMC in October of 2002. By that point, I knew the gist of the story: another Predator is stalking a very different type of jungle, the mean streets of Los Angeles, and the star is Danny Glover (whom I didn't know at the time) instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger. That, however, was about all I knew about the movie going in. I can't remember if I knew about the generally negative feelings towards the movie from most viewers when I first saw it (I'm fairly sure that I did, though) but, regardless, when I finally sat down and watched the movie, I thought it was a damn good sequel and a fun sci-fi/action flick just like the first one. My opinion on the flick is the same now as back then and, in addition, I don't get at all why Predator 2 is so despised. In fact, I was quite flabbergasted when I did learn that so many people crap all over this film for whatever reason. While I don't think it's quite as good as the original, I still find it to be one hell of a ride and a fun, action-packed sequel, one of the best you could actually hope for, in my opinion.

The year is 1997 and Los Angeles is suffering from both a major heat wave and an ongoing, ultra-violent turf war between Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels that has turned the city into a dangerous battlefield. During a massive shootout between the Colombians and the police, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan charges into the battle and manages to drive the Colombians back into their hideout but just as he and his partners, Detectives Danny Archuleta and Leona Cantrell, can pursue them, the Colombians are attacked and horrifically slaughtered by an unknown assailant. Afterward, Harrigan, much to his chagrin due to his stubborn, hot-headed nature, is told to cooperate with DEA agent Peter Keyes, who arrives to help stop the drug war. He's also introduced to a new recruit: Detective Jerry Lambert, a reckless, young hotshot. It's not long before several members of the Jamaican drug cartel are slaughtered by the same mysterious attacker and when Keyes threatens Harrigan to stay out of the investigation after the latter disobeys orders and enters the building housing the slaughtered drug dealers when he wasn't supposed to, he becomes even more suspicious of Keyes' real intentions. After Danny, who was also Harrigan's best friend, is murdered while investigating the crime scene, Harrigan becomes hell-bent on hunting down and killing the assailant himself. Before long, though, the remaining members of his core group are either killed or severely injured and Harrigan eventually learns that the killer is another member of the alien species that attacked Dutch's team in Central America ten years before. When Keyes' attempts to capture the Predator fail, it's up to Harrigan to stop the alien trophy hunter.

Replacing John McTiernan, who begged off this movie to do The Hunt for Red October, is Stephen Hopkins, whose filmography, much like McTiernan's, is rather hit or miss, although much more so in his case. The year before this, he directed A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, one of the weakest entries in that franchise and he also didn't score any points with that film's cast when he called them unprofessional behind their backs during the making of Predator 2. Other films of his include Blown Away, Judgment Night (both of which bombed), The Ghost and the Darkness, which is a pretty good adventure-horror film starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, and his biggest hit, Lost in Space. Since the turn of the century, he's worked mainly in television on shows such as 24, Traffic, Californication, and Shameless, as well as an HBO original movie called The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, which won him an Emmy. Hopkins has made some bad movies but, overall, I feel that he can be a capable director with the right material and in my opinion, he did a fine job with Predator 2. Interesting thing about Hopkins is that he unknowingly made a complete ass out of himself live on Good Morning America when he very loudly told Ruben Blades to get back to work while Blades was doing an interview for the show. Not a very flattering way to make your American television debut. Hopkins eventually apologized for his behavior, though.

One of the biggest things I always hear people gripe about in this movie is the casting of Danny Glover as the lead, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan and their complaints are always the same: Glover sucks as an action hero and can't carry a film. I don't agree with that at all. I think Glover handles himself very well in this movie, managing to make Harrigan stubborn and hot-heated but, at the same time, far from hateful and annoying, which leads to me rooting for him throughout the entire movie. Sure, he disobeys orders constantly and is often in hot water with his superiors for it, not to mention that you learn he has the biggest felony record in the department due to his explosive temper, but it's all for a good cause: he wants to keep his city safe. His attitude is simply, "This is my town and nobody is going to tell me how to protect it." You really can't blame him for getting so angry whenever he's told to wait on something when the clock is ticking and especially when this guy Keyes comes out of nowhere, takes over the investigation he was in charge of, and blatantly threatens his life if he keeps interfering. Like Dutch, Harrigan is also very loyal to his core group, in particular his best buddy Danny and when he finds Danny's body, he swears revenge on his killer, despite his superiors once again telling him to stay out of it. I think Glover comes across as very intense and genuinely furious in the scene where he grabs Keyes by the collar of his suit jacket, informs him of his intentions, and warns him to stay out of his way before slamming him against the wall and smacking his hands together in a threatening gesture. One of Keyes' team members tells Harrigan that Keyes is, "The last person on Earth you wanna fuck with" but in that moment, I think it's obvious that Harrigan deserves that title more because I really do think he could have ripped Keyes in half there if he wanted to.

Like any action hero, Harrigan has some great lines, although they're not like Dutch's lines in the first movie, meaning that they're not the one-liners you hear from an unber-confident action star like Arnold. Instead, they're things you'd hear from a guy who knows he's in over his head and can't believe that it's only getting worse. One of the best is when he's told that he's going to have to play by the rules, to which he responds, "Which means you're cuttin' off my dick and shovin' it up my ass." Another good one is after Harrigan kills the leader of the Colombians, El Scorpio, at the beginning of the movie and when Leona asks where he is, Harrigan says, "He's out front having lunch," and also when Keyes tells Harrigan that the Predator comes to the slaughterhouse every couple of days to feed and he says, "Well I didn't think he was vegetarian." His best lines, though, come when he's battling and chasing the Predator. "Okay, pussy-face, it's your move," is a good one but I tend to laugh at the stuff he says when he's trying to climb down the side of the building after the Predator. "Just like falling off a log" and then when he drops his gun, he adds, "Like a thirty-story log. Damn." After a few minutes, he also says, "Maybe I'll get lucky and fall." He finally manages to tail the Predator into another building, only to find that he's gone down an elevator shaft, causing him freak out and say, "Holy Moses, not again! Shit! Why can't this guy stay on the ground?" Finally, when he manages to kill the Predator but is suddenly surrounded by a bunch of others, he just drops the disc weapon that he'd just used to kill the Predator and nonchalantly says, "Okay. Who's next?" I like that he knows he's screwed and decides to just go with it.

The Predator clearly views Harrigan as a worthy quarry from the start given how, in the movie's explosive opening sequence, he watches as he takes on a bunch of heavily armed Colombians by himself and manages to drive most of them back into their hideout. Afterward, the Predator observes Harrigan on the roof of the hideout, managing to get very close to him by using his camouflage, and then stalks him throughout the movie, watching him as he argues with his superior after the firefight with the Colombians, as he goes to meet with King Willie, the Jamaican drug lord, and when he visits Danny's grave. He also tries to screw with Harrigan at the cemetery by hanging this necklace that Danny wore on a tree branch, possibly trying to see how he would react as well as challenging him, as Hopkins himself apparently said on his commentary for the film. The Predator clearly wants Harrigan but when he finally battles him, he proves to be much more of a challenge than he anticipated, which is another thing I like about Glover's performance: he makes a Harrigan a real bad-ass. Right after the subway attack, Harrigan is constantly on the Predator's tail and when he finally gets a chance to take him on, he goes all-out, pumping him full of lead, slicing off his arm with his own weapon and stopping from destroying the city with his time bomb in the process, following him back to his ship, dueling with him, and ultimately killing him, again with his own weapon. A bunch of other Predators show up but, instead of killing Harrigan, they're so impressed with his ability to kill one of their own in a fair fight that the elder gives him an antique handgun as a trophy. In fact, if you think about it, Harrigan is the first one to actually kill a Predator with his own hands. Dutch did critically injure the Predator in the first movie but that one ultimately killed himself with his bomb, whereas Harrigan brought this one down himself. As you can see, I don't get at all why people have such a problem with Glover. He may seem like an unlikely action hero but I thought he did a very capable job here and actually stood up to the Predator in a believable way (but then again, what do I know?).

Another reason why I like Predator 2 is because it reminds me of when Gary Busey hadn't gone completely nuts and was making an absolute moron out of himself. Granted, this was the first film he did after his motorcycle accident, which no doubt caused him a lot of brain damage and probably led to his completely bizarre behavior nowadays, but this seems to have been before it really took its toll on him. In any case, I thought Busey did a good job as the mysterious Peter Keyes. He claims to be a DEA agent whose task force is trying to stop King Willie's drug empire from taking over the entire west coast but it's obvious from the get go that he's using that as a cover for something else, which is trying to capture the Predator. I do admit that his character is kind of a cliche since he wants to capture the Predator in order to use his technology to further American weapon development (where have we heard that before?) but still, it's Gary Busey, so it's entertaining nonetheless. When he threatens Harrigan and tells him that if he doesn't stop interfering with his investigation, he's going to turn up missing, you believe it because Busey does look crazy enough to make that happen (even more so, nowadays). You also got to love how he keeps cool after Harrigan has that heated conversation with him, calmly straightening up his collar and breathing easily. One of my favorite lines is when he tells Harrigan that the Predator is an alien hunter and, "He's on safari. The lions, the tigers, the bears... oh, my." That easily could have been a line that would just make you roll your eyes but Busey makes it awesome. I actually kind of wish Keyes that got to fight the Predator more before he finally kills him but oh, well. A little Busey goes a long way.

The one main character here that I'm not too keen on is Harrigan's longtime friend Danny (Ruben Blades). Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Danny and he is certainly a good friend of Harrigan's, keeping him from doing something stupid in front of the press and whatnot, but there's a moment with him after they find the slaughtered Jamaicans that always puzzles me. It's when Harrigan is telling Danny to keep out of sight and wait for him so they can check out the penthouse after Keyes' men have left but the whole time he's talking to him, Danny's acting weird. He doesn't look at Harrigan much, he constantly nods, and he keeps looking up, like he's not even listening to what Harrigan is telling him. In fact, I don't think he was listening because Harrigan tells him to wait for him but nope, he goes into the penthouse by himself and sure enough, gets killed by the Predator. I just find it hard to be completely sympathetic towards Danny when it's his own fault that he got killed and also that everything that happens to Harrigan for the rest of the movie is because of him. He should have waited. He's only in the movie at the very beginning so it's not a big gripe but that bit just sort of rubbed me the wrong way.

Even though she's not a major part of the movie, I do enjoy Maria Conchita Alonso as Leona, a tough, Hispanic woman who doesn't take crap from anybody, particularly from men. My favorite part with her is at the beginning when Jerry is trying to put the moves on her and she ultimately grabs his crotch, saying, "Try that cowboy shit with me, fucker, and you can kiss this goodbye." I just remember thinking, "Hell, yeah!" the first time I saw the movie. She does grow to care about Jerry, though, particularly during the subway battle with the Predator when Jerry loses his life and the only reason that the Predator doesn't kill her as well is because he sees through his thermal vision that she's pregnant, which comes completely out of nowhere, though. The obvious question there is, "Who's the father?", which you ultimately never get an answer to. I always kind of assumed that it was Danny because there was one point where the two of them seemed really frisky towards each other, as well as Leona telling Harrigan that she loved Danny too, but, again, it's never explained and you never see her again after she's taken to the hospital so it's a moo point. It's not a major issue at all but I do think that was a weak aspect of the script.

I know that with his character of Jerry Lambert, Bill Paxton is basically playing Hudson from Aliens again but I can't help but enjoy him (besides, Hudson was cool). I always find Paxton to be really fun to watch and this performance is no exception. Jerry is funny (even though his jokes are lame), has boundless energy (I like the moment where he makes a move on a woman at this bar by telling the guy who's dancing with her she's his sister and I also like when he tells sleazy reporter Tony Pope to back off of Harrigan), and I was sad when he got killed in the subway. Afterward, you even see a faraway shot of the Predator ripping his spine and skull out, which was so horrific that I had the same sentiments as Harrigan when he yelled, "Oh, Jerry!" At least he went out a hero, though. Not much else to say about Jerry other than it's just Paxton being a load of fun, as he usually is. (Interesting thing to think about: Paxton has been killed the Terminator, by an Alien, and by a Predator, three big sci-fi icons of the 70's and 80's. There should be a medal of honor for that.)

In his review of the movie, Leonard Maltin said that any movie with Morton Downey Jr. couldn't be at all classy and I guess he's right in that respect because this isn't a movie that you would call classy and Downey's character Tony Pope is one of the scummiest in both the Alien and Predator franchises for sure. Pope is an absolute parasite of a sleazy reporter, constantly giving the police crap for being "incompetent" about getting the drug war under control, harassing Harrigan every chance he gets, sneaking onto a crime scene to get some grisly footage that he actually shows on his TV shows, crying "police brutality" when Jerry forces him to back off of Harrigan, and so on. In other words, Downey is playing that same loud-mouthed, obnoxious persona he displayed on his real-life TV show. He's the sort of person you just love to hate and while he didn't annoy me that much, he is despicable enough to where it is satisfying when Harrigan punches him out, telling him, "Fuck you!"

I always like seeing Robert Davi in a movie and even though he only has two scenes here as Captain Heinemann, I enjoyed his arguments with Harrigan and how he resents Harrigan's constantly disobeying his orders. Harrigan, in return, gets so mad at him at the beginning that he tries to attack him and Danny has to hold him back. Still, he must not hate Harrigan too much since, when Harrigan is faced with the possibility of losing his job over Danny's death, Heinemann goes somewhat easy on him and only warns him to start obeying orders. The only character in the movie that I don't really care for is Jamaican drug lord King Willie (Calvin Lockhart). He's only in one scene but to me, that scene is really pointless and serves no purpose in the plot whatsoever. All he does is tell Harrigan some vague mumbo jumbo about how the Predator is from "the other side" and as a result, when Harrigan leaves, he doesn't know any more about the Predator than he already did. Plus, I take a look at the way King Willie looks and talks and I think to myself, "This guy is a drug lord?" He looks and sounds more like a witch doctor (I know his men employ a voodoo ritual at one point but that's beside the point). Why would someone like him be interested in drugs? And finally, I don't get why the Predator bothers killing him, much less why he takes his head and turns his skull into a trophy. Did he really put up that much of a fight that his skull deserves being put on the Predator's mantle along with all of his other trophies? If you ask me, both this scene and the entire character could have been removed from the movie.

The scene with King Willie is an example of one of the problems that a lot of people seem to have with the movie: it isn't as well written as the original, a notion that I do kind of agree with. There are some few plotholes, such as Leona's aforementioned sudden pregnancy (she acts a little wobbly in the subway and mentions something about the heat getting to her but that's the closest thing you get to a buildup to her pregnancy) and exactly how the Predators managed to get their ship underneath an apartment building in the middle of the city with nobody knowing. I can't defend that and I do freely admit that they prove there are holes in the script. Apparently, though, both it and the initial film went through a few changes that would explain said holes. It seems that there was indeed a subplot that dealt with Leona's pregnancy but, for whatever reason (probably due to running time), it was cut from the final film. There was also a scene where Elpidia Carrillo briefly returned as Anna from the first movie in a scene where she's debriefed and describes the events of that film's events but it was cut as well (Carrillo, supposedly, does appear briefly on the video screen when Keyes is desribing the Predator's self-destruct device to Harrigan). The biggest change to the script, however, was the character of Peter Keyes. That was originally supposed to be Dutch but Arnold didn't like the idea of the movie being set in a city and decided not to do it, resulting in the character being rewritten as Keyes. You could even argue that the whole subplot with Keyes is unnecessary. Think about it: if you removed all of the stuff with Keyes and had the rest of the film play out as is to the final confrontation between Harrigan and the Predator, would it have affected the outcome? Not really. As great as Busey is in the movie, removing him could have easily made it much simpler without diminishing its impact. So, yes, the movie does have plot problems but I don't feel that they make it any less watchable.

Another criticism I often hear leveled against the movie is that L.A. isn't as compelling a setting as the jungle but, while I do agree that it isn't as atmospheric as the jungle and doesn't allow for as many quiet, tense moments like those in the original had, I think the city works in a different way. The Predators are drawn to heat and conflict and I don't think they could have picked a better location than L.A. around that time. I don't know if the city was really as bad as it's portrayed here (it could have been purposely made a little over the top for the sake of an action movie) but, in the context of the film, I think it's a perfect setting for the Predators to hunt dangerous game because this place is absolute hell on Earth. It's a dangerous warzone, with the Colombians and Jamaicans shooting the place up and the police virtually unable to maintain any semblance of order. You can also see how corrupted it is in general in the scene at the police station where it's absolutely crowded with a lot of people, most of them scum, and the police are just barely able to hold them back, as well as in the moments leading up to the Predator's attack on the subway where Leona and Jerry see an attempted mugging and just about everybody on the train has some sort of a firearm. The only place that's peaceful is, ironically, the cemetery and even then, there's a kid who's playing with a toy gun. Not only are half of the people scum but the city itself just looks unpleasant. You can tell that it's very polluted, with streets and such that are filthy and graffiti everywhere. One part that really makes me cringe is when Harrigan gets into the limo with the Jamaicans who are going to take him to see King Willie. That limo is so choked with cigarette and marijuana fumes and smoke that I wouldn't be able to last five minutes in there. And even though I still think the scene itself is unnecessary, I can't deny that the backalley where Harrigan meets with King Willie is another good example of how messed up and nasty this place is. Add to that the heat wave and the drought, where it's miserable to even physically be there, and you've got a setting that's the last place you want to be and, therefore, is ideal for this type of movie. If I have to nitpick, though, I must ask what is the point of setting the movie in 1997? There's no significance to it, nothing in the movie feels even vaguely futuristic, and besides, if you're going to set your movie in the future, why just set seven years into the future? Just unnecessary.

Much like the hardships the cast and crew of the original went through in the jungle, this film's crew went through similar crap while filming in L.A. After reading what the crew went through to film the alley scene with King Willie, I now kind of feel bad about giving it crap. That alley was apparently just as nasty in reality as it looks in the film, with rats everywhere, and it was also in a bad part of the city and they actually got bottles and bags full of crap thrown at them because the residents weren't happy with the noise the filming was causing. They supposedly also found a corpse (who knows how much of that is true), so they were really risking life and limb while filming that scene. Also, while they were filming the slaughterhouse scenes, everybody had to wear respirators because there was so much unhealthy junk that filled the air and the scene took about four days to shoot, with the water and lighting adding to the difficulty. Plus, I'm pretty sure that it was actually as sweltering as it appears in the film. I don't think L.A. is quite as bad now as it was then but, at the time, I'm sure that it was just as dangerous to film there as it was in the jungles of Mexico, perhaps even more so.

I'm also sure that there are plenty of people who see this movie as extremely racist in regards to the portrayal of the Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels. Now, before I say anything else, I want to make it clear that I'm not racist at all, that I'm all for stomping it out completely, and that, yes, this movie doesn't exactly show Colombians and Jamaicans in the best of lights. However, all that said, I feel that those who call this movie, and many others like it, racist are making a big deal out of nothing. First, two of Harrigan's partners are Hispanic, so that has to count for something. Second, I've read that the Jamaicans' use of voodoo sacrificial rituals is based on some real gangs who terrorized a couple of cities in the 1980's. It's portrayed in an over the top fashion, granted, but that leads me into my third point: this is an action movie. Don't know if anybody's noticed but action movies, particularly those made around this time, tend to be over the top in their heroes and villains because reality is often boring. Fourth, why does nobody bat an eyelash when Causian bad guys are over the top in their evilness but over the top villains from any other ethnicities are automatically racist? This really makes you look like a bunch of hypocrites. Finally, it's a frigging movie. Relax and enjoy it.

Just like the first movie, this flick moves at a lightning-fast pace and has plenty of good action. However, while the first movie started out slowly and built up to the action, this one decides not to hold back and hits the ground running, opening with a bang. The first thing you see is a devastating shootout between the Colombians and the police that the Colombians are winning, having critically injured several officers before they eventually blow a vehicle to bits. (I love one of the first lines in the movie where this reporter is trying to be professional in reporting on the scene but when a few shots get a little too close for comfort, she yells, "Oh, fuck this! Get me out of here!") Once Harrigan arrives, though, the tables quickly turn on the Colombians. Harrigan opens up the back of his squad car, where you see that he has a lot of weapons stored, and after he chooses a big rifle, he gets in his car, leaves the door on the driver's side open, and barrels forward, firing everything he has at the Colombians. He eventually manages to drive the majority of them back into their hideout, where they're attacked and slaughtered by the Predator. Harrigan chases El Scorpio, the leader of the gang, onto the rooftop and eventually blows him away when he refuses to put his weapons down (not realizing that El Scorpio sees the Predator). Now this is how you start an action movie! Best of all, the momentum of the movie doesn't let up from there. What we get afterward is the Predator slaughtering gang members left and right, eventually leading to the awesome attack on the subway. When I first saw this movie, I was absolutely blown away by that scene. Even though you can't really see it because of the constantly flickering lights, the impact is still tremendous, with the Predator mowing down a bunch of people and finally confronting Jerry who, after using up all his ammo, pulls out a blade and yells, "Alright, motherfucker, let's dance!" If you think about it, it's kind of like Billy's last stand in the original, particularly since you don't see Jerry's death on-screen either (but since it's Bill Paxton, who I like, I didn't really want to see him get butchered up close, even though you do see his dead body get decapitated from far off later on). But the movie still doesn't give you a chance to catch your breath because Harrigan proceeds to chase the Predator all over the city before he's captured by Keyes' men.

Once Keyes' team is attacked by the Predator in the slaughterhouse and Harrigan has to come to the rescue, the last twenty or so minutes of the movie is nonstop action. We first see the Predator brutally slaughter all of Keyes' men but once Harrigan bursts into the slaughterhouse with a loud blast, yelling, "You want me? Here I am!", we finally get to the confrontation we've been waiting for the entire movie and it doesn't disappoint. Like the battle between Dutch and the Predator in the original movie, it's an awesome fight. Harrigan immediately gets an advantage over the Predator, damaging his shoulder cannon, cornering him, and ultimately blowing several shots into him after he chases Harrigan amongst a bunch of hanging slabs of meat. Harrigan manages to take the Predator's helmet off but the Predator regain consciousness and the fight continues. The Predator destroys Harrigan's gun, kills Keyes by slicing him in half with one of his weapons, chases Harrigan to the roof, the two of them fall along the side of the building, the Predator tries to blow himself and the city up with his self-destruct device but Harrigan manages to cut his arm off, stopping the explosion and sending the Predator down the side of the building before grabbing onto a pipe that flings him over into an apartment in a building directly across from the slaughterhouse. After a lull where the Predator uses a medical kit to heal his wounds, Harrigan manages to get across to the building and the chase begins again, ending in the spaceship where the two of them have a final duel to the death. Honestly, with all of that to grab your attention, I don't get why this movie is so hated.

It seems as though the first cut of this movie was so violent that it got slapped with an NC-17 and had to be re-cut almost two dozen times before it could finally qualify for an R. According to Stephen Hopkins, there were many more gruesome shots of the skinned corpses of the Predator's victims as well closer shots of the Predator decapitating people and more mutilated corpses in the subway tunnels when Harrigan chases the Predator after he sees him decapitate Jerry's body. I find that interesting because to me, the final theatrical cut of the movie isn't quite as gory as the original movie. Don't get me wrong, the movie is still violent and mean-spirited as hell but if you think about it, the amount of actual gore is reduced. The mutilated bodies of the Predator's victims that you do see, while graphic, don't feel as sick to me as those in the original. In fact, the Predator's kills are shown in either very quick cuts or are filmed from so far away that you can't see much. Take for instance the most graphic scene, where the Predator carries away King Willie's head and proceeds to make a trophy out of the skull. The idea is gruesome but you don't see much of the actual process. Keyes' death where he is split in half is where you see the most amount of actual human blood but it's very brief. We see a whole lot more of the Predator's glowing green blood than we do red, human blood. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there isn't as much dripping, splattering gore this time around, that most of the really gruesome stuff deals with the aftermath of the Predator's attacks whereas in the original, you saw most of the gore when he actually killed people. I hope that makes sense.

Kevin Peter Hall returned as the Predator (sadly, this was one of his last gigs before he died of AIDS at the age of 35) and he's just as awesome as he was in the original movie. Since he's playing a different individual Predator who, although it's never explicitly stated in the film, is meant to be younger and not quite as disciplined as his predecessor, his movements are different. He gets the chance to run a lot more and do much more complex movements than he did before (although part of that could be due to the costume this time around being much less restrictive), as well as much more screentime. While the original hid the Predator for most of the movie, Hopkins and crew decided to establish this one's presence from the very beginning and have him massacring people right from the get-go. And boy, does he ever do some damage! Like I said, this Predator is mean to be much less disciplined and isn't content with just stalking and picking people off one by one. He's constantly bursting into crowded rooms with heavily armed, dangerous people and absolutely ripping them all to pieces, racking up a much bigger body count than the original did. He also seems to really relish the thrill of the kill because, after he decapitates Jerry, he climbs to the top of a building, lets out a loud war-cry, and holds his spear up in the air as a lightning bolt strikes him (it doesn't hurt him at all and only seems to invigorate him further). This guy is in absolute hog-heaven at that moment. He's also an absolute bad-ass because he gets hit by freezing cold gas, takes a bunch of shots from a high-powered rifle right in the torso, and, even though he has to use an oxygen mask, still keeps chasing Harrigan. What a stud! He may still follow the honor code of his species, sparing a kid when he realizes that the "gun" he has isn't real and Leona when he sees that she's pregnant, but for the most part, this is a hunter you don't want to mess with (which could also explain why he chose to hunt in Los Angeles; it makes for much more of a challenge).

I really like the design of this Predator as well. Like Stan Winston himself said, the overall concept is the same but his team added subtle but noticeable differences to get across that this Predator is a different individual. While it is indeed subtle, you can notice a difference in his helmet and his armor, as well as the aforementioned more aggressive way he hunts and kills his victims. The most obvious differences become apparent when Harrigan removes his helmet, revealing his face. His skin is a lighter color, he has lightly colored stripes on his face (particularly the forehead), his mandibles appear to be bigger and more pronounced, and he has fangs in his actual mouth. While I enjoy the new design overall, I don't like the really dramatic closeups of the Predator's face when he speaks in a couple of shots as well as the face he makes right before Harrigan slices his arm off, it looked a little too goofy for my taste. By the way, going back to the supposed racism of this movie, here's where I get rather irritated at Roger Ebert. In his very negative review of the film, he said that the look of the Predator has racist undertones to it, to which I ask, "So, you didn't have any problems with the design of the original Predator and yet you have one with this, which is the same basic design only with subtle changes?" If he is talking about the subtle changes, which of them have racist undertones to them in his eyes? Are they the tribal markings on the face or the fact that this Predator is more urban cool in his look? Seriously? Didn't mean to go on another little rant but, sometimes, critics pick out the dumbest things to drive home some stupid criticism they have.

This Predator makes completely different sounds than his predecessor as well, other than the clicking noises and some of the growling. This time, the vocal effects were created by Hal Ryle along with a lot of pre-recorded, animal sounds. His screams are much more high-pitched, in particular an eerie sound that he makes when he kills Danny, and, as I mentioned, he lets out a victorious war cry at one point. He also has some intimidating, jaguar-like roars and growls, some other sounds that let you know he's really angry, and some other, slightly sympathetic-sounding cries that he makes when he's wounded, especially a long, loud scream he lets out when Harrigan finally kills him with his own smart disc. One wounded sound that he makes that especially gets to me is the scream he lets out when he's healing himself and he gives himself a shot in the chest. That really seemed to hurt like crap. Like his predecessor, this Predator uses his helmet to record people's voices but other using Harrigan's voice right before he kills Danny, he seems to use it more to intimidate people, like when he uses that kid's voice saying, "Want some candy?" as he's attacking Jerry. In fact, this Predator, as well as his brethren, seems to actually be able to talk. He doesn't do it much but he does say "Motherfucker" and "Shit happens" after he's lost his helmet and even the Predator elder says, "Take it," when he gives Harrigan the antique pistol and he wasn't wearing a helmet then either. So, can the Predators just imitate the sounds of humans talking or can they actually talk but just don't do for most of the time? Kind of creepy.

I always like sequels that take the concept of the original and expand upon it and this sequel does it very well with the Predator. Not only is this one much more gun-ho in his hunting but he has more vicious weapons to get the job done. Besides the wrist blades, shoulder cannon, thermal vision, self-destruct device, and camouflage capabilities, he also has some smaller laser blasters on his arms; a retractable spear that he uses to impale his enemies; a gun that fires a net that apparently is razor-sharp and digs into the skin of anyone itr traps; little pincer-like spear tips that are deadly when fired from the aforementioned arm blasters; and a lethal smart disc that can slice someone, namely Keyes, in half. This Predator's helmet also allows him to see in more than one spectrum of light so he can attack Keyes' team after they block his thermal vision (some may argue why the Predator in the original film didn't use this when Dutch found a way to hide his body heat but I would argue that the species had invented that since then to counteract just such a thing). That doesn't explain, though, why the Predator's POV after he's unmasked is still thermal vision (must have been a goof) but who cares? I also must add that the camouflage silhouette effect looks even better than it did originally, particularly in the effect that's created when the Predator walks through a puddle of water towards King Willie. You also get to see a more advanced medical kit this time around, with the Predator using a heating mechanism to make bits of plaster hot so he can cauterize his wounds and this is also where he gives himself that shot that you can imagine hurt like hell from the scream he makes. While it's not part of the medical kit, as I said, you do see the Predator using an oxygen mask at one point. Some see that as a sign that the Predators can't breath oxygen without their helmets but I think he's actually using it because he's been severely wounded by Keyes' attempt to freeze him as well as the point blank shots he took from Harrigan and is buying himself some time until he gets a chance to use the medical kit.

They also expand on the Predators' culture as well. Like I said, as fierce as this Predator is, he still follows his species' code of honor in not killing unarmed humans or humans with physical disabilities. That doesn't exclude bladed objects, though, as shown when the Predator uses his wrist blades to duel with Harrigan, who has his smart disc. Since you see the inside of the Predators' ship, you get an even bigger sense of their culture from the patterns along the walls as well as the trophy room. Of course, I have to mention that there's an Alien skull among the trophies in the room, a blatant nod to the concept introduced by Dark Horse Comics around that time that these two franchises take place in the same universe. It's a cool little notion but, in retrospect, it made us anticipate some movie adaptations of the concept that were not worth the wait at all. The ending scene in the spaceship also expands upon the notion introduced in the original film that the Predators have been visiting Earth for a long time, with the antique pistol that they give Harrigan revealing that it's been at least since the early 1700's. You get a sense too of how long Predators can live because that elder (whose design is that of the original predator) has to be almost 300 years old and he looks pretty frail, while the other predators that show up with him are all clearly of different ages, some fairly young and others more "middle-aged." I like how the Predators could kill Harrigan right then and there but, since he defeated the main one in a fair fight, the elder gives him that antique pistol as a reward, like, "You did good, take this," and lets him go. It reinforces the notion that the Predators aren't mindless monsters. They may brutally kill their intended quarries but they do subscribe to the concept of, "fair is fair."

Alan Silvestri returned to do the music score and while he used a good majority of the same material he composed for the first movie, he added to it with the use of jungle-like drum beats, more percussion, and so on. He created a pretty cool mix of new music with some of his original motifs, especially the one that plays when the Predator attacks King Willie and makes his skull into a trophy as well as over the ending credits, and the main title theme is much more bombastic and military-like this time around. I prefer the sound of the theme from the original, granted, but this has a good sound to it as well and works well with the setting. One piece of music that I didn't think Silvestri handled all that well, though, was the Taps-like theme that he uses this time for the scene where Harrigan visits Danny's grave. It sounded way too rushed, as if Silvestri was thinking, "Okay, they expect me to play this during a scene like this so let's get this over with." Other than that little nitpick, though, all of the original themes and motifs are used very well, the new music adds a nice touch to it, and, as with the first movie, the music helps make the flick even more exciting.

I have always enjoyed Predator 2 and I don't understand why it gets so much hate. It's just as exciting as the original, Danny Glover is a great hero, there are some good supporting characters, the new environment is used to great effect, there's action galore, especially in the last act, the Predator looks once again looks good and has some cool new weapons and abilities to play with, the music score is still solid, and, all in all, it's a great 107 minutes. What's not to love? Sure, it has plotholes but those are miniscule and shouldn't be enough to make you automatically hate it. Unfortunately, this flick, for some reason, has gotten crapped on ever since its release. While it wasn't an out and out flop, its box-office returns were a joke compared to those of the original and it was savaged by the critics, and even though I think it has more fans now, it still often ends up on lists of "the worst sequels ever," which baffles me to no end. I for one will always stick up for this flick and try to make others see what an enjoyable movie it really is. If you saw it once and didn't like it, give it another chance at least, because it deserves it.

Franchises: Predator. Predator (1987)

I can describe Predator in just one word: bad-ass. I can't say enough about how much I love this movie, one of the best combinations of science fiction and action that I know of. When I was growing up, even though I was too young to see the movies, I was aware of both the Aliens and the Predators because there were so many commercials advertizing toys for the Alien vs. Predator comics and video games that were popular in the early 90's. I was too young to comprehend that these were actually two different movie franchises that ended up getting combined but that didn't stop me from thinking that both monsters were very cool and buying a lot of the toys. I got my first glimpse of the movie Predator when I was very young: my dad was watching it one night and while my parents usually wouldn't allow me to watch movies like that when I was young (due more to the language rather than the violence), my dad did allow me to watch the final confrontation between Dutch and the Predator. I didn't see the movie again until I was thirteen, getting it on video a couple of months later for Christmas (it and the Terminator movies were the first R-rated movies I ever owned). From that point onward, this has always been one of my favorite movies ever. It's simply one of the ultimate guys' movies: balls to the wall action, awesome characters, simple but effective story, a great setting, and a classic monster. As many before me have said, it's one of the easiest movies to watch. No matter what mood you're in, this is always a great time. It also doesn't hurt that I even feel a personal connection to it because it was released a week before I was born. I guess by this point I should stop rambling and actually start going in-depth but the short version is that this movie is just awesome on all accounts.

Everybody should know the story of this movie and if you don't, shame on you. Go check it out. In any case, a rescue team headed by Major Dutch Schaefer arrives in Central America to fetch a cabinet minister and his aide who, after apparently straying off course, were abducted by guerrillas and are being held hostage deep in the jungle. Dutch meets up with an old friend from his army days, Dillon, now an agent for the CIA, who proceeds to join the rescue team as a liaison, despite Dutch's insistence that his team always works alone. Once they arrive in the jungle, the team finds a mysterious downed helicopter and three skinned bodies, the latter of which raises Dutch's suspicions since they were part of a special army unit that wasn't supposed to be there. After finding and destroying the guerrilla camp, Dutch discovers that he and his team were set up by Dillon to kill the guerrillas and that the two hostages were in fact CIA agents. But, as they, along with a Hispanic woman from the camp who Dillon takes prisoner, head for the extraction point, they gradually realize that the setup and the harsh terrain is the least of their worries. Two members of the team are viciously killed by a mysterious presence that is soon revealed to be an alien trophy hunter that has come to Earth hunt the most dangerous creature on the planet: man.

This was the second movie that John McTiernan directed after having done a horror film called Nomads with Pierce Brosnan the previous year and with this flick, McTiernan really gets to strut his stuff and show what a great action director he is. He clearly knows what the audience wants: a simple enough story (though not stupid), great characters, adrenaline-fueled set-pieces, and a rousing climax. His knowing what makes a good popcorn movie is what got him Die Hard the following year and after that came The Hunt for Red October in 1990. His film career became rather hit and miss throughout the 90's, though. He directed the third Die Hard film, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and a remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, both of which were gigantic hits, but he also directed less successful stuff like Medicine Man and Last Action Hero (both of which did okay but were hated by critics). He hasn't directed anything since his 2002 remake of Rollerball and 2003's Basic (both of which flopped hard) and in recent years, he's been in legal trouble due to a suspected involvement in wiretapping. It's a shame but maybe he'll eventually get back on his feet and make some more awesome action movies, which is what he's best at. (My only problem with him is that he has a rather monotone voice and his audio commentaries tend to be pretty boring.)

Predator has to be one of the most testosterone-fueled movies ever made since, save for one character, the cast is made up of a bunch of men who just exude charisma and machismo, with Dutch, of course, being played by good old Arnold Schwarzenegger. When I was a kid and watched this flick for the first time with my dad, I didn't know who Arnold was but I eventually found out, mainly from when I first Kindergarten Cop, and to this day, I absolutely love him. One thing I don't like is when people say he's a terrible actor whose only defining feature is his physique because I feel that, if you actually watch his movies, you can see some talent. From the beginning, Dutch is a funny, charming, likeable guy: strong, loyal to his men, and is principled, making it clear from the beginning that he doesn't enjoy killing and only does it when it's necessary: "We're a rescue team, not assassins." Besides the obvious reason of not liking having been tricked, a big reason why Dutch is so angry at Dillon when he finds out about the setup is because he made him compromise his principles and put his team into danger, summing it up in one simple line: "My men are not expendable, and I don't do this kind of work." Another great moment for Dutch that shows his loyalty to and compassion for his mean is after Blain has been killed and he's attempting to comfort Mac. When Mac says that Blain was his friend, the looks he and Dutch exchange show a real understanding and while some have criticized Arnold for not having much emotion in his face during that moment, I just see it as being how a hardened veteran like Dutch deals with loss and pain. Not everybody is going to cry and yell, "I'm sorry." Dutch is also fair because he eventually cuts the zip-cuffs off of Anna, their guerrilla hostage, saying that they need everyone in battling the Predator. Even though she's not exactly on their side, he knows he needs every bit of help they can get and he's also not going to leave her defenseless against the Predator with her hands tied. All of these qualities make you root for Dutch during his final battle with the Predator. Plus, Arnold, as in most of his movies, has so many awesome lines: "Stick around", "The CIA got you pushing too many pencils?", "Knock knock", "If it bleeds, we can kill it", "Get to the chopper!", and "You're one ugly motherfucker" (when my dad and I watched this movie, he warned me, "I better not ever hear you say that"). One last thing I have to mention about Dutch is that he looks absolutely broken at the end of the movie when he's being taken away in the chopper. It's really quite sad because, while he's survived, he's lost all of his men, whom he's know for years and were possibly like brothers to him, he just barely escaped with his life, and the way he subtly looks out the window comes across as the look of a man who has no fight left in him. He undoubtedly retired after this experience.

Even though I shouldn't like Dillon because of how he used Dutch and his team, making him just as responsible for their deaths as the Predator I can't help but enjoy this character, mainly because Carl Weathers is just so likeable in anything he does. He isn't scheming or sneering or anything like that but rather, has his own orders and has to do whatever he can to carry them out, even if that means damaging his relationship with or even possibly getting his old friend killed. You do get a sense of how close Dutch and Dillon were when they were in the military together through their good-natured ribbing on each other but when Dutch confronts Dillon on the setup, he makes himself perfectly clear when Dutch asks why he's no longer someone he can trust: "I woke up. Why don't you? You're an asset, an expendable asset, and I used you to get the job done, got it?" It's harsh and cold but, friendship aside, that's where their different paths in life have led them. Dillon isn't a bad guy, he just has his own agenda. Still, his thinking does came back to bite him when his request for extraction is denied and Dutch throws the expendable asset concept back in his face. Dillon tries to act all macho, saying that he can accept it because it comes with the job but Dutch says, "Bullshit. You're just like the rest of us." That's another thing about Dillon: he's sort of gone soft when it comes to fieldwork, which Dutch comments on at the beginning of the movie when he says, "The CIA got you pushing too many pencils" and asks him about the necktie he has on. As the man who designed the characters' individual camouflage makeup commented, you can also see it in how subtle his is in comparison with everyone else: he's become a guy who spends most of his time behind a desk in a cushy office and is going back out into the field for this one mission. Even though Dillon and Dutch aren't friends anymore for the rest of the film, they do develop a kind of understanding when Dillon rushes off to help Mac fight the Predator. Dutch tells him, "You can't win this, Dillon," to which Dillon responds, "Maybe I can get even," and after that, Dutch tosses Dillon a weapon and they exchange looks, knowing that they probably won't see each other again (and they don't). I also see Dillon saying, "Maybe I can get even," as a sign of his loyalty towards the soldiers who were skinned by the Predator: even if it costs him his life, he wants to settle the score. Incidentally, when you think about it, Dillon is the only person other than Dutch who actually sees the Predator, whose existence he denied throughout the film. Not really important but it's an interesting note.

The rest of the team is kind of like the Wild Bunch. You've got Blain (Jesse Ventura), the big tobacco-chewing, "goddamned sexual Tyrannosaurus" whose weapon of choice is a bad-ass minigun called Ol' Painless. It's a shame he gets killed fairly early on because I really enjoyed his one-liners: "I ain't got time to bleed." His best friend is Sergeant Mac (Bill Duke), who served with him in Vietnam and is so loyal to his friend that when Blain is killed, he becomes obsessed with getting revenge on the Predator, to the point where he apparently goes insane. Then again, he does threaten to "bleed" Dillon very quietly early on, suggesting that he wasn't quite all there to begin with. Mac is also the focus of one of the movie's more touching moments where he says his final goodbye to his friend by putting his little canteen in the poncho with Blain's body. As a result, the Predator taking the body seems to push Mac even further into insanity and it ultimately gets him killed. (By the way, and this is not meant to be racist at all, but is Bill Duke not one of the blackest African-Americans ever? I swear, it looks like that guy has crude oil all over him, especially when he's sweating. It's amazing.) Billy (Sonny Landham) is a tall Native American who keeps quiet most of the time, has a keen ability for tracking, and is also the first one to sense the presence of the Predator long before they actually encounter him. (That's a little stereotypical, yes, but it works. I also have to comment that I love the way he laughs.) One of my few gripes with the movie is that Billy seems to go out like a bitch. Attempting to give the others time to escape, he prepares to fight the Predator, takes his vest off, ties his neck charm around his wrist, takes out his machete, and cuts a war wound into his chest. It's a great build up and you can tell that Billy knows he's not going to survive, making it all the more awe-inspiring, but we don't see the actual confrontation and we hear Billy yell just a few seconds afterward, suggesting that the Predator took him out with little trouble. I know that the Predator is a tough, heavily armored and armed monster, but Billy could have at least had a more inspiring last stand. I don't have much to say about Poncho (Richard Chaves) since he doesn't do much except investigate the downed helicopter they find when they first enter the jungle and initially translates for Anna when she speaks, as well as make it no secret that he doesn't like Dillon, particularly after it's revealed that they were set up. I will say, though, that he has a fabulous comeback to Blain saying he's a "sexual Tyrannosaurus" by picking up a gun and saying, "Yeah, strap this to your sore-ass, Blain." His best moment in the movie to me, with Billy cracking up off-camera making it even more priceless. Finally, there's Hawkins (Shane Black), the youngest and geekiest member of the team who wears glasses and hat, is constantly reading comics, and often making sexual jokes that he has to explain to Billy since he never gets them. He's the first one to get killed so, other than that, he has little to do in the movie. I think he's supposed to be the technical expect but that only comes into play briefly after they destroy the guerrilla camp.

The only woman in the movie is Anna (Elpidia Carrillo), a guerrilla whom Dillon takes hostage and plans to take back to civilization. She's significant in that she's the first one to get a glimpse of the Predator and is the only living character who knows about it for most of the movie. She also pretends to not know how to speak English at first but Dutch eventually forces her to do so. The best scene with her is when they've set a trap for the Predator and are waiting for him to appear. She reveals that the Predator, or at least other members of his race, have visited Earth before, as far back as when she was a child. During the hottest years, the people of her village would begin finding their men skinned alive, eventually referring to it as, "The Demon Who Makes Trophies of Man." (This would be expanded on in Predator 2 where we learn that the Predators have been coming to Earth since at least the 1700's.) It's a very creepy, quiet scene and one of the eeriest moments in the film. Carrillo may not have much else significant to do other than that but I must say that she plays a frightened yet strong and capable woman very well. I also like that Anna does eventually seem to accept the team as allies and tries to save Dutch from the Predator before he sends her to the chopper (although how she isn't arrested when she gets back to civilization is anyone's guess). One last person I have to mention is R.G. Armstrong as the general who assigns Dutch's team to the job. He's only in the movie at the beginning and end but he comes across as likeable enough and undoubtedly knows that they're being set up but has to go along with it, which must get to him since we do learn that he and Dutch have a history together.

Predator has one of the best settings ever seen in this type of movie. Like the frozen wastelands of Antarctica in John Carpenter's The Thing, the jungles of Central America help give the film a palpable atmosphere: it's very hot and humid, it's miserable, there's a lot of conflict and gunfire going on, you see subtle examples of poverty at the beginning of the movie when Dutch and his team arrive, etc. It sets a perfect mood and I always feel that if that a movie is going to deal with war or some similar kind of conflict, it should be set in a very hot environment. I don't know why I prefer that but I just feel that oppressive heat goes well with war or, at most, a setting where there is a lot of tension that results in firefights (the Predator seems to think so as well). In fact, you could almost call Predator a Vietnam movie. Granted, it takes place on the opposite side of the world from Vietnam but think about it: you've got a jungle setting and soldiers shooting and blowing up guerrillas. It's not that much of a stretch to think of this as a pseudo-Vietnam movie that just happens to be a sci-fi/action flick (not to mention that there are references to Vietnam in Mac and Blain's dialogue). The fact that the movie was actually filmed almost entirely in the real jungles of Mexico makes you appreciate these aspects even more, especially when you learn that the cast and crew went through hell. They dealt with extreme temperatures (apparently it was actually kind of cold there instead of hot), rough, uneven terrain, less than pure drinking water (some actually got bad cases of diarrhea from it), leeches, biting ants, and so on, so it was a pretty miserable shoot and the movie coming out so awesome and fun despite those hardships makes you appreciate how hard the cast and crew worked themselves under horrible conditions. They suffered for our entertainment and I, for one, salute them for it.

There's so much awesome action in this movie, with the very first one, where Dutch's team attacks the guerrilla camp, being an absolute knockout and also where you can easily forget that you're watching a movie with sci-fi and horror elements because it feels more like you're watching Commando or one of the Rambo movies. It starts with Dutch pushing this truck down a hill into the main section of the camp and from there on, huts are getting blown up, guerrillas are getting gunned down, a helicopter gets blown apart, Blain is mowing down guerrillas with Ol' Painless, Dutch sticks a guy to a wall with a big knife, etc. As I've said, it feels like a Vietnam movie, with the big different being that it isn't meant to be a depressing look at the horrors of war and instead is just a fun action movie (again, like Rambo: First Blood Part II). Mind you, I'm not saying that Vietnam movies should be like that, I'm just making an observation. Another scene that gets my adrenaline pumping is when Blain is killed and Mac, after getting a glimpse of the Predator, picks up Ol' Painless and proceeds to mow down the jungle and the rest of the team just joins in. There is no reason for the rest of the team to just start shooting without first trying to figure out what's happening but who cares? It's freaking awesome and it goes on for quite a while. The coup de grace, however, is Dutch's climactic confrontation with the Predator but I'll discuss that in great detail shortly.

A lot of people think of Predator as simply a sci-fi/action movie but I don't think even some of its own fans give credit to its more suspenseful and eerie moments. The scene when they first enter the jungle and investigate the mysterious downed helicopter is quite an atmospheric scene as they try to piece together what happened, which leads to them finding the skinned corpses of the first rescue team and Billy telling Dutch that while he can find signs of a firefight, there's no evidence to suggest that the team ran into an ambush. I'm always creeped out by the moments where, through his POV, we see the Predator walk down to the destroyed guerrilla camp and investigate, all the while playing back his random audio recordings of the team members, and the same goes for the POV of him picking up the dead scorpion for some reason. Maybe it's simply the idea that he was no doubt watching the battle and is now standing exactly where Mac and Dillon were without them having any idea about it. Another great example of atmosphere is the moment where they're hiking their way through the jungle to the extraction point and Billy senses that they're being watched. It's a very foreboding moment, punctuated later when he says, "There's something out there waiting for us and it ain't no man. We're all gonna die." Other than the scene where Anna tells the story about her village's legend of the Predator, I think the creepiest moment in the whole movie is when Mac tells everyone about what he saw after Blain was killed, saying that nothing should have survived his firing the minigun as crazily as he did. I also find the line, "Those eyes disappeared," meant to reference how the Predator's eyes briefly flashed at Mac, to be eerie. Speaking of Anna's story, that whole scene where they're waiting for the Predator is unsettling, particularly when Mac is shaving and he's so unnerved that he ends up cutting himself and ultimately snapping the razor. You could cut the tension with a knife at that point. McTiernan may be a great action director but he also has the talent to create genuine suspense and atmosphere as well.

The Predator himself is an absolute classic monster, one of the most memorable creatures to come out of the 80's. Even before you actually see him when he's using his camouflage ability to stalk the team, you can't help but be in awe because that looks so amazing. You would swear that it was a computer-generated image but nope, it was created by good old-fashioned optical effects and it's very impressive. It really does seem like there's an invisible creature in the jungle whose outline you can just make out when he moves. It's also impressive to see the equipment that the Predator has brought with him. His thermal vision is simple but effective (although I really have to wonder how he's able to find his way around with that type of POV) and his helmet has some sort of audio recorder that allows him to record the voices of the team members. This comes into play at one point when Dillon hears what sounds like Mac calling to him but you're not sure if it's him or the Predator. It does turn out to be Mac in that instance but when Dillon later finds Mac's body, he hears the Predator "speak" in Mac's voice, which is quite scary. This leads into a really freaky part at the end when the Predator sets his time-bomb and uses Billy's laugh as Dutch runs for cover. I have to wonder, though, how much of that laugh was the recording and how much was actually the Predator's voice because I don't remember Billy laughing that evilly (which puts the Predator in an even more sinister light). There's also an interesting scene where the Predator has been injured and he uses his medical kit to heal the wound. Those medical instruments, from a liquid that appears to be some sort of salve that he puts on the wound to this thing that looks like something you'd use on your eyebrow which he uses to try to extract the bullet (at least, I think that's what he was trying to do), are so crude-looking that it's no wonder why the Predator screams in pain. They look like they would hurt even if you used them correctly. And, finally, the Predator has a borderline nuclear time bomb that he uses to blow himself and the surrounding area to kingdom come when the need arises, ensuring that even if you win a battle against the predator, you'll probably still loose in the long run due to that.

The actual design of the Predator is the work of the late great Stan Winston's crew and, again, it's just such a classic look: a tall, scaly alien with dreadlocks, with enough armor so he can protect himself but not so much to where he can't be agile, a cool-looking helmet, and some very interesting weapons. I've always found those wrist blades that the predator uses to gore his enemies to death to be very wicked-looking and that laser cannon mounted on his shoulder is lethally accurate when he uses the aiming cursor within his helmet. Even though I knew what the predator's face looked like before I even saw the movie since I had some of the toys, I was still amazed at how that looks in live-action. Those clicking mandibles, yellow skin, mean-looking yellow eyes, and sharp teeth make for a very intimidating creature. It's a good thing that the original Predator design didn't work out because, after looking at photos of that thing, which came across as some of bipedal mantis-like creature, I don't think this movie would have been quite as memorable if not for Stan Winston's awesome design. By the way, I've always found the glowing green blood of the Predator to be really cool-looking and I've always preferred it to the acid blood of the Aliens, probably because this makes the Predator feel more like an organic creature. Yes, it does glow, but it still feels like the life fluid of an unearthly creature that otherwise is still flesh and blood, whereas the Aliens' acid blood always made them seem more like machines rather than living creatures to me (I guess you could argue that was kind of the point but that's a discussion for another day).

A great looking monster costume is only as effective as the actor inside it and the Predator had a great one in the form of the late Kevin Peter Hall. Hall's incredible seven foot stature really helped make the Predator an imposing monster and, as a result, makes him a formidable opponent for big, buff Arnold Schwarzenegger (which I doubt could have been accomplished with 5 ft, 10 Jean-Claude Van Damme, who was originally supposed to play the Predator but dropped out). You look at how big the Predator is compared to Arnold and it really does feel like this creature could beat the living snot out of him, which he does. Considering that Hall couldn't see when the suit's head was on him and had to memorize where everything was, and add to that the fact that the suit was heavy and hard to balance in, it's amazing that he was able to come across as imposing and physical as he was. He actually managed to move quite gracefully despite the suit's restrictions, running, jumping and landing with the skill of a dancer. Even the way he walks, particularly when he chases Dutch down to the bottom of the waterfall, is menacing. Hall no doubt had a movement and dance coach to help him figure out how to move as agile as possible and the proof is in the putting in the actual movie. The predator also makes some eerie vocalizations, thanks to, of all people, Optimus Prime himself Peter Cullen. The clicking that he makes I find to be scarier than the actual roaring and yelling, and the gurgling noises he makes when he's been fatally injured at the end of the movie are unsettling as well. I know Cullen's performances were probably modified electronically but, in any case, he is to be commended. They also managed to inject some customs that the Predator's race has with it being revealed that, as part of a code of honor, he won't attack an unarmed target because it's not sporting, giving him some more character in the process. However, I used to think there was a plothole there because the Predator does kill Poncho, who was unarmed at the time, but now that I think about it, since Dutch was supporting Poncho, I think the Predator was really aiming at him and accidentally hit Poncho instead. Finally, you get a hint of something that would be built upon in the sequel when, in the scene before the final battle when he admires the skulls of the men he's killed, you see the Predator create a strap of smaller skulls around himself. The skulls aren't human and they don't look like anything you would find on Earth, making them the first hint that the Predator's race has hunted and killed many different types of creatures from all over the universe.

The gore and kills that are caused by the Predator's attacks really strike me as being both gruesome and quite realistic. The deaths in the guerrilla camp attack, including the soldier getting pinned to the wall by Dutch, are merely typical 80's action movie violence and that aren't that horrific or disturbing but, when the Predator starts killing the team members, this movie takes a sharp turn into dark gruesomeness, a turn that was hinted at beforehand when you see the skinned corpses of Jim Hopper and his men. The gore is not silly-looking like what you would see in a slasher movie and, again, it's actually very realistic and not that over-the-top in the way it looks, making this movie a bit more palpable than most other horror films of the time. When the Predator kills Hawkins, there's quite a bit of blood splatter onto Anna's face and Poncho finds a trail of blood leading to some organs on the ground but the creepiest part is what happens afterward. Dutch and the team split up to find Hawkins' body and there's a subtly effective moment where the camera pans up from behind Dutch into the trees where you can see blood dripping down onto the leaves and vines, leading to a shot of Hawkins' hanging corpse. It doesn't look like it's been skinned yet but you can surmise that it probably will be before long. Blain's death is so fast that it does feel like he never knew what hit him when the Predator blasts him from behind with his shoulder cannon. There's something weird about this, though. Before the blast from behind that goes right through him, Blain is hit alongside the neck by something that you assume came from the Predator but the thing is that you don't see an energy blast. While they probably weren't thinking about it at this point, it's not too far-fetched that Predator probably shot one of those spear tips that would be introduced in the sequel at Blain but it just grazed his neck. A more logical explanation, however, could be that that scene was filmed when they were still working with the original Predator design before Stan Winston's group came in and that was a weapon the initial concept of the creature used but was dropped after the final design was created. In any case, it's a curious piece of the movie.

Being an animal lover, the scene where Mac stabs a boar to death, thinking it's the Predator due to the darkness, really gets to me, mainly because of the screams that thing makes when it's being stabbed. The corpse that you see afterward is pretty gruesome too but there's some levity when Poncho says, "You think you could've found something bigger?" and you hear Billy laughing off-camera. Even though it's a brief moment, the part where Mac cuts himself while dry-shaving as they're waiting for the Predator makes me wince because it really does look he's digging into his flesh and it's a good thing that razor breaks when it does. Mac's actual death, though, is odd because the predator seems to blow his head apart given how the camera, which is positioned behind his head, is splattered with blood but the next shot shows that his head is intact and when you see the front of his corpse shortly afterward, his face is still there as well. Did they decide not to use some severed head or face effect they made because it didn't look too good or something? Dillon's death really makes me cringe because his arm gets blown off and it's still pulling the trigger when it hits the ground due to the nerves, and the cringe factor is built upon even further when the Predator comes up and gores him with his wrist-blades. You don't really see the actual stabbing but Dillon's facial expression and scream let you know that it was an agonizing death. Billy's actual death happens off-camera but the aftermath that you see later is pretty sick. You see the Predator slam his pale, dead body against the ground and then rip out his spine and skull, the latter of which you get a good, up close look at as its dripping with blood, in order to make a decorative trophy. It's absolutely gruesome. Poncho is not only one of the characters that I couldn't say much about but his death is the least impressive of them all, as it's just a shot to the head and that's it. 

While the whole film is awesome, the last quarter, which is Dutch's final confrontation with the Predator, is what we all know is coming and what we're waiting for. It's a great buildup and the payoff is well worth the wait because, let's face it, it's Arnold Schwarzenegger battling a bad-ass alien. Of course, it's going rock. It actually begins with Dutch seemingly about to be killed by the Predator when he discovers by accident that the Predator's thermal vision doesn't work if you cover your body heat with mud. Now that Dutch knows that he can fight the Predator, what follows is a cool montage where you not only see Dutch preparing a small area of the jungle with a lot of booby traps, creating some makeshift weapons for himself, and covering himself with mud, but you also see the Predator getting ready, decorating himself with the skulls of his past victims, repairing his technology and weapons, and so on. It's like you're watching two gladiators getting ready for their prize bout and the montage ends as awesome as it possibly could, with Dutch lighting a torch and letting out a loud war cry, signaling to the Predator that he's ready to fight. Even better, we do see the Predator react to the cry, undoubtedly thinking to himself, "It's time." You can't tell me that you don't find that to be six different kinds of awesome.

The battle itself is very well done, with Dutch becoming like Rambo in First Blood with how he sneaks around and uses the cover of the jungle, his mud camouflage, and the makeshift weapons he has to battle the Predator, who has been doing the same thing in his own way throughout the entire movie so they're evenly matched. Speaking of which, an interesting aspect of the fight is that you get a sense that both of them are learning how to fight something they can't see. Even though the Predator's camouflage is destroyed at the beginning of the fight, he's still using the treetops as cover, forcing Dutch to improvise by first throwing something and then, when the Predator fires at it, throwing another weapon in the direction that the blast came from. The Predator, in turn, starts aiming his weapons at the location Dutch's attacks come from instead of the actual projectiles and he also clearly realizes that Dutch has found a way to conceal his body heat and decides to watch for either any movement at all or for Dutch's outline. A good example of the latter strategy is when Dutch follows a trail of the Predator's blood into a small cranny in the rocks and the Predator comes up behind him, closing in on Dutch's vague silhouette, which you realize he's looking at when you get another POV shot. In short, this battle is really about two warriors who are the best at what they do learning to overcome both their own handicaps and the advantages each of them has over the other.

I've heard some people question why the Predator, when he finally disarms and corners Dutch, doesn't just kill him then and there instead of challenging him to hand-to-hand combat. Well, for one, Dutch is now unarmed, so there's the Predator's code of honor to shoot anything that can't defend itself, but I think it's also because he maybe admires Dutch for being such a challenge and decides to honor him by actually fighting him instead of hunting him. It had already become a battle instead of a hunt for the Predator long before this point anyway, so why not take on such a great opponent man to man (or man to alien, in this case)? I guess if a Predator decides to fight you hand to hand, it's a sign that he actually thinks you're worthy enough for it. Of course, Dutch gets his ass handed to him and is only able to win by dropping a huge weight that he had rigged up onto the Predator. I know a lot of other people have a hard time accepting that Dutch won the fight by using simple, handmade weapons over the Predator's advanced, alien technology but the thing is that Dutch didn't just use those weapons: he also used his military training, his intelligence, and the environment around him. The handmade weapons were mainly just a means to an end and besides, he used some explosive shells he had left over as well so he wasn't totally stripped down in the weapons department. Also, people act like he intentionally killed the Predator with one of those weapons, which is not true. The Predator had him beaten and cornered and he was only able to win through sheer luck by using something that wasn't even originally meant to be a weapon. (I like the moment before that as well where you see the Predator realize that Dutch is trying to lure him into a trap and goes around it, confirming once and for all what we've suspected throughout: the Predator is very intelligent and not just a mindless beast.) I will say, though, that I agree that there's no reason why, after Poncho got killed, Dutch got hit by a blast from the Predator's shoulder cannon and just received an insignificant flesh wound whereas everyone else got body parts blown off, and that there was also no way for him to outrun the Predator's time bomb, Yes, other than it's Arnold Schwarzenegger, who absolutely can't die, but whatever. If that's going to ruin the movie for you, you're way too uptight.

An action movie can't be exciting without a good music score and Alan Silvestri's score for this film is one of the best. The main title theme is such a catchy tune, with its heavy blasts and rhythmic clicking in the background (probably meant to signify the clicking noises the Predator makes), and is adrenaline-pumping as all get out. In addition, Silvestri also creates some good, tension-filled music that sounds like tribal drums for the scenes where it feels like the Predator is stalking them, as well as some eerie, atmospheric music for other scenes such as when the team is sitting around, waiting for the Predator to wander into their booby trap and Anna tells the story about her village's legends of the Demon Who Makes Trophies of Man. I really like the bombastic music that plays during the horrific scenes, particularly the stinger that sounds whenever something unexpected happens or something gruesome is shown. There's also a beautiful, touching, Taps-like piece of music that plays during the scene when Mac says his final goodbye to Blain and at the end when Dutch has been rescued, a hymnal melody that really accentuates the somberness of those two scenes. Finally, I have to mention the Little Richard song Long Tall Sally that plays when the team is being flown into the jungle at the beginning of the movie. Normally, I find Little Richard to be unbearable to listen to but that song really fits with the gun-ho attitude of the team as they fly towards what they think is just going to be just another mission.

If you don't like Predator, I respect your opinion but I also plain don't know what to say to you because to me, this is one of those movies that everybody should enjoy (even my dad, who usually don't like horror films in any form, absolutely loves this movie). It's a kick-ass action flick with awesome characters, plenty of adrenaline-pumping scenes, a great pace (the movie is 107 minutes long but it doesn't feel like it at all), good use of a great setting, a classic monster, realistic gore, an exciting music score, and a finale that's hard to match. It may not be the type of movie that most mainstream critics like but who cares what they think honestly? (Snobby old Gene Siskel didn't like it, of course, but I got to hand it to Roger Ebert who, even though I strongly disagreed with him most of the time, gave this movie a good review and is man enough to enjoy a good action flick. Still, he kind of insulted those whom he considers to be the type of moviegoers that would like this type of movie, so take that for what it's worth as well.) This is a movie I can put on no matter what type of day I've had or what kind of mood I'm in and it still works perfectly. Bottom line, if you just want to have a good time and are looking for a great popcorn movie, you can't go wrong with Predator.