Predator 2

The two Predator movies are my all time favourite films. They just work beautifully together, both films have the same feel to them, the same style. I really enjoy watching them and Predator 2 would have to be my favourite.

Predator 2, while not having the same sense of fun as the original, has a much more interesting plot than the first film and reveals more about the Predator himself. It's more of a mystery story than a full blown action movie. The suspense is really well done, Predator 2 having beautiful cinematography combined with impressive visual effects and Alan Silvestri's wonderful musical score. It's a good film and has been really under-rated. I had always wanted to buy this on DVD but it really never had a good release up until now.

This "Special Edition" is a really well designed set, with nice cover and disc art and cool interactive menus. There's two audio commentaries for the film, one by the writers and another by the director, that go into some depth about the making of the movie. Quite entertaining stuff. On the second disc there is a featurette about how the movie was made, detailing aspects such as why they decided to set it in the city and how difficult it was to get the film finished because of all the optical effects. The featurette has interviews from people such as Gary Busey and the Predator himself, Kevin Peter Hall. Also thrown in are some segments about the Pred's weapons and how the camouflage effects were achieved alongside some old previews for the movie and a large photo archive.

All in all, a great DVD for an excellent film.

'Silent, Invisible, Invincible. He's in town with a few days to kill.' Has there ever a tagline cooler than this? I'm telling you there hasn't. Long, long, long underrated Predator 2 seems to be finally getting the recognition and respect it deserves. Why all of a sudden? Because when standing next to the extremely crap AvP, it looks like pure gold to those miserable cynics who disregarded it when it first came out because Arnie was not in it. Fair enough, a Terminator, Conan or even Commando film without Arnie just wouldn't work. But the 7-foot tall, Rastafarian, otherworldly hunter is the star of this film and this time round he gets much, much more screen time. We all know what the Predator is so Stephen Hopkins shows off this ace instead of hiding it up his sleeve.

The year is 1997 and the City of Angels is boiling under a 109-degree heatwave. Columbian and Jamaican drug lords have turned the streets into a war-zone. The police are out-manned and out gunned and incompetent. The last thing they need to deal with is the Predator.

The titular hunter has returned with an increased arsenal of weapons and is keen on slicing and dicing the aforementioned druggies for fun. During a brutal gun-battle on the streets he watches Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover), a slightly-crazed renegade cop, blow away half a dozen Columbian scumbags and chooses him as his ultimate prey. Naturally, Harrigan and his ethnically diverse team of cops have enough problems without having to worry about their skulls ending up in the Pred's intergalactic trophy cabinet.

Making matters worse is faux-DEA Agent Peter Keyes (Gary Busey) who pretends to be after the druggies but is really more interested in swiping the Pred's advanced technology. Yeah, good luck with that! From start to finish Predator 2 is brash, unsubtle, in-your-face wall-to-wall action. A hectic, breathtaking succession of non-stop, increasingly exciting set-pieces. The final 45 minutes will you wetting yourself with excitement I kid you not. While Hopkins (fresh from his Nightmare on Elm Street 5 debut) has remained constantly employed he's never really become a star director, which is a shame since he has a slick, cartoonish style and is far more talented than most other anonymous directors. Like John McTiernan did in the first, he provokes a dusty, sweaty and overbearingly hot atmosphere in the daytime scenes and an alien, Gothic feel to night (pun intended). The way he captures LA on film just makes you NEVER want to go there.

Fans of Alan Silvestri's score of the first film can take comfort in the fact that all of his cool themes are back (they were rudely ditched for the awful AvP movies) and more evolved. It's probably the most engaging score he's done. His Latin drums, sinister, shrieking, Hermann-esquire strings, yawning, haunting urban sound effects and occultist voodoo chants dominate every scene and give each one its own unique voice.

But it ain't just that. Everything from set-design and cinematography to sound-design and film editing is nothing short of brilliant. If you think I'm overreacting just watch the film and see for yourself. There's nothing mass-produced or conveyor-belt about Predator 2. Twentieth Century Fox chucked loads of money at it to make it the most sophisticated sequel it could be. Everyone involved seems to have made a huge effort and done their absolute best.

It's sad that action films like this are not made anymore. Predator 2 is a classic, the kind of movie that feels torn straight from the pages of a 1950's pulp detective novel and crossed with a Twilight Zone episode. 5/5, no doubt.

This Blu Ray looks and sounds brilliant.

Predator 2 is a bit of an underrated sequel. It's vastly different to the first Predator film but offers so many new things. The film takes place in LA where drug lords are being killed and chaos has overrun the city. A Predator, drawn by heat and conflict, finds its way there and starts killing people. The film offers plenty of insight into the predator's background and shows off its new weaponry and vision modes. We also get to look at a Predator ship and how can anybody forget the infamous Alien skull in the ship. Danny Glover plays the lead role and he plays it excellently. It's a far better film than AvP in every aspect but I am glad a special edition of this film was released. I guess that was thanks to AvP.

Special features are plentiful in this set. There's plenty of featurettes, and other extras. There's also a couple of commentary tracks. I listened to the Director's one and I found it quite interesting. One thing I did note is that he said Predator 2 was originally rated NC17 in the US and they had to cut quite a few gory shots out of it. It's a shame this footage never made it to the DVD and I suspect this will be the only special edition we'll ever get of this film.