Predator 2

Yes, iron logic: the first Predator with Arnie made a fortune, so let's go and make number two. The problem is that it lacks everything that made the first one a cult film – imaginative direction, tension, atmosphere, a touchingly bad actor that adds a hallmark perspective to everything. Glover gives the impression that instead of in a classic gritty detective story, he instead accidentally found himself in a story in a strange action sci-fi that is at times inexplicable (the king Willie scene is truly unique). A strange hybrid was created with an overly high-quality actor in the foreground and an overly poor-quality script in the background that may amuse, but in no way can it revive that unrepeatable sense of hunted game in a treacherous environment... The city may be a virgin forest in a sense, but what has been tried once works only halfway and is sometimes embarrassingly naïve and shallow. (05/19/2004)

A nice retro that I quite enjoyed revisiting. I used to enjoy this film a lot, mainly because of Danny Glover, who I've liked a lot since. Unfortunately, he hasn't been in many proper films since then. Fortunately, there are exceptions and they can be counted on the fingers of two hands. This is still a blast and I still love it years later. (11/10/2015)

A weaker younger brother of the first Predator. I really liked the idea of setting the story in a city, but Roger from Lethal Weapon didn’t seem to me to be the appropriate opponent. Not that I don’t like Danny Glover, but any time the Predator is out of sight (quite a lot in the first half) he gets a bit boring. But things are improved by the long final battle with the FBI and the ensuing chase. There’s one thing I must say, the Predator in part two is a tougher nut than the one in part one. (05/12/2007)

In the spirit of the plethora of sequels, even Predator 2 can't match the first, but it's still a brisk action sci-fi flick with starring a famous alien whose biggest pastime is hunting people, now especially gangsters. I probably wouldn't watch it a second time, but as a patch over my free time this film is perfect. In short, one of many sci-fi sequels that is average in every way. (08/27/2011)

I naively thought that with the passage of time, nostalgia would bring a more sympathetic aura to this film as well, but alas. The plot, which had the makings of a decent "bigger, more expensive, grander" sequel, was ultimately buried by Hopkins' routine direction. Where McTiernan reveled in the massacre of a military unit, Hopkins merely composes the images in a single-minded manner. A whiff of filmmaking invention comes at most in the references to Cameron. Danny Glover did a sharper paraphrase of Roger Murtaugh, and the rest is not worth talking about. I give it three stars for the hunter's arsenal, which I enjoy in a particular cult game. (08/06/2009)