Customer Reviews

Predator 2 - Limited Edition Steelbook (Blu-ray + DVD) [1990]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

What is wrong with people? Predator-1 had more Arnie than Predator. This movie simply has more Predator. It also greatly expanded the Predator universe and franchise. It introduced a whole new bunch of Pred weapons, tactics and behavior which never ever seemed out of place and were perfect fits. It explored their race further. The urban (steel jungle?) setting contrasts against the previous jungle setting and is a major plus for this movie. This movie was also extremely realistic and gory. All in all, this movie is fantastic and a few ignorant critics just want to bring it down by comparing it with the uniqueness of the original.

Predator 2 is the sequel to 1987's hit film Predator and benefits by having a completely different setting from the original. Instead of steaming jungle, the Predator chooses the heated, war torn streets of Los Angeles to gather skulls aplenty! While not considered as good as the original, Predator 2 is perhaps more shocking and realistic as it depicts violence between rival gangs and the police, with the predator in the middle becoming the hero of the film.

This put's Danny Glover's character in the backseat( so to speak)and for most of the film he is resigned to picking up the pieces after the Predator's many killing sprees. on the upside the climax of the film is particualry exciting and suspenseful. one of my favourite scenes being the slaughter house massacre. (very ironic) The action is intense, complimented no end by Alan Silvestri's magnificent score, introducing a tribal element. some of the special effects however seem a little rushed and not as sharp as the original.That said the Predator suit, again designed by Stan Winston looks excellent.

The film also delves deeper into the predator's lifestyle as part of a hunting clan and develops the idea of the code of honour. The in 'joke' about the alien skull ultimately spawned 2004's Alien Versus Predator (for better or for worse!)

Being a big fan of the Predator films I was very disappointed with the initial boxset release of both films which had no special features. Finally the Predator 2 special edition has been released, 3 years after Predator's special edition treatment. While the special features are not as extensive as one would like they certainly offer a rare insight into how the film was made. The priceless interviews with the late Kevin Peter Hall talking about his life in the suit (a job now taken over by Ian Whyte for AVP) are a real highlight!

Overall this is a decent sequel to an excellent original, Predator fans or those of action or sci-fi should waste no time in hunting down this special edition to add to their collection!

There's no point in reviewing the actual movie here, if you're on this page, chances are you have seen the movie before, or just want to get it to complete your collection.
I will say, don't be put off by any memories you might have, it's no action packed, one-liner Arnie movie, but it is a good Predator movie and deserves its place next to the other films.
So, why then have I only given it 2 stars? Simple, the video transfer on this blu-ray is simply awful.
I have the other Predator and all of the Alien films on blu ray, most filmed before this, so why this one looks so bad is beyond me.
I'm going through my collection, replacing all of my DVDs with their blu ray equivalents, this is the first one where the DVD looks better.
If you're doing the same as me, save your money.
If you don't currently own it, then the movie is still great, but possibly wait until they release another version like the 'Ultimate Hunter' edition they did for the first one.

To finsh, the movie itself would of got 4 stars, the audio on this is also pretty good, nothing spectacular, worthy of 3 stars, but the worst video transfer I've seen on a bluray gets it a 1 for video quality

The video quality of this disc is excellent, a vast improvement on the DVD edition. Details are sharp, colours vivid, image is clear. It's not perfect, some scenes suffer from grain, and sometimes the image is soft but when it's good it's really good. Sound is top notch too.

Extras include: 2 commentary tracks, and several featurettes. Highly recommended to add to your Blu-Ray collection. 4 out of 5.

I already own this on DVD and for some years now but had decided to upgrade to Blu-ray despite poor reviews on the quality. We all know the film so onto the BD quality....

Now that i have watched it right through i have to say the quality is very good to near excellent for a film that is over 20 years old. It will never be as good as todays films but so much better than say the first 'Robocop' movie from the trilogy which i own which is no where as good as this. Definatley worth the upgrade! Why I have given this 4 stars is because the first 'Predator' movie is much better overall and that does deserve the 5 stars.

Predator 2 see's the location change from the steamy jungle in Pred 1 to the Urban Jungle. Danny Glover of Lethal Weapon fame takes the lead role a lieutenant in the LA PD caught up in a drug war between two rival gangs in LA. Throw into the mix a "government" group who seem to be taking over the investigation and a Predator who is on the roaming the city and you have the backdrop for this film.

The Blu ray transfer of this film is very good. Its a clean, sharp and clear copy and unlike its predecessor shows little to no grainyness. The audio track is also HD and a real joy. Unlike so many older films that find there way to blu-ray there are extras on the disk although they are SD they are a welcome addition. My theory is SD Extra's are better than none.

So if the price is right for you, then at the moment there isn't a better vesrion of this movie and to be honest this version is pretty darn fine.

This Is A Good Dvd Yet Doesent Even Scrape the Standards Of The First One And Im Sorry No Arny Everyone Yet All In All It Pretty Awsome
Lets Get This Show On The Road

This sequel to Predator finds the the police force of 1997 Los Angeles (including hard bitten cop Danny Glover) losing the battle against the drug lords and the gangs of thugs who control the streets. Suddenly, the killers are the victims of a dreadlocked alien being...

Special Features Include- Disc One: Commentary by director Stephen Hopkins. Commentary by writers Jim Thomas and John Thomas.
Disc Two: Three `Evolutions` Segments. Six `Weapons Of Choice` Clips. Four featurettes: Hunter And The Hunted, The Predator Goes To Town, International Making-Of, Creating The Ultimate Hunter. Two Extended `Hard Core` Special Reports. Stills gallery.

All in All Buy This DVD Its Worth It Yet Get The First One For Classic Predator
And Thats A Wrap