Predator 2 (1990)

November 21, 1990

November 21, 1990

Predator 2 is a 1990 American science fiction action film written by brothers Jim and John Thomas, directed by Stephen Hopkins, and starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, María Conchita Alonso, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Peter Hall. It is the second installment of the Predator franchise, and sequel to 1987's Predator, with Kevin Peter Hall reprising the title role of the Predator.

Set ten years after the events of the first film, in Los Angeles, Predator 2 focuses on a disgruntled police officer and his allies battling a malevolent and technologically advanced extraterrestrial known as the Predator.

Upon release, the film received generally negative reviews and earned a moderate box office return, grossing $57 million worldwide, compared to the previous film's $98 million gross on a smaller production budget. The film has been viewed more positively over time, especially for Danny Glover's performance, the direction, and the musical score, and has gained a cult following in the decades since its initial release.

Storyline

In 1997, Los Angeles is experiencing a heat wave and a turf war between heavily armed Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels. A Predator watches a shootout between the police, Jamaicans, and Colombians, observing as Lieutenant Michael R. Harrigan charges into the firefight to rescue two wounded officers and drive the Colombians back into their hideout. The Predator assaults the Colombians, causing a disturbance that prompts Harrigan and detectives Leona Cantrell and Danny Archuleta to defy orders and enter the hideout, where they find the slaughtered Colombians. On the roof, Harrigan shoots the crazed gang leader and catches a glimpse of the camouflaged Predator, but dismisses it as a consequence of the extreme heat and his acrophobia.

At the station, Harrigan is reprimanded by his superiors for his disobedience and introduced to Special Agent Peter Keyes, leader of a task force investigating the cartels, and Detective Jerry Lambert, the newest member of Harrigan's team.

Later that evening, Jamaicans invade the Colombian drug lord's penthouse and murder him before they are killed in turn by the Predator. Upon their arrival, Harrigan's team notes the similarities between the crime scene and the earlier Colombian massacre, including the flayed corpses, until Keyes's team arrives and removes them.

Archuleta returns on his own, finding one of the Predator's spear tips before the creature kills him. As an enraged Harrigan vows to stop Archuleta's killer, forensic analysis reveals the spear tip is not composed of any known element on the periodic table. Seeking answers, Harrigan meets with Jamaican drug lord King Willie, a voodoo practitioner who believes the killer is supernatural and that he should prepare himself for battle against it. Harrigan leaves before the Predator kills King Willie, taking his head as a trophy. Tracing a lead indicating Archuleta's killer had recently been in a slaughterhouse, Harrigan arranges to meet his team at the warehouse district to investigate.

Cantrell and Lambert take the subway there, but are ambushed by the Predator, who kills Lambert and numerous armed passengers but spares Cantrell after its helmet's scanners indicate that she is pregnant. Arriving in time to see it claim Lambert's head, Harrigan chases the fleeing Predator, but is intercepted by Keyes's men. Keyes reveals that the monster is an extraterrestrial hunter with infrared vision and active camouflage that has been hunting humans for sport throughout several armed conflicts, most recently one decade prior in Central America. Keyes and his team have set a trap in a nearby slaughterhouse, using thermally insulated suits with mounted ultraviolet lights and cryogenic weapons to capture it for study. However, the suspicious Predator, upon hearing step sounds, uses its scanners to track, outmaneuver, and slaughter Keyes's men via their lights.

Harrigan attacks and wounds the Predator, but it destroys his weapon. It nearly kills him before Keyes tries to freeze the creature, only to be bisected by the Predator's Smart Disc. The Predator chases Harrigan to the roof, where they clash until they are left hanging from a ledge. The creature activates a self-destruct device on its forearm, which Harrigan severs with the disc, disarming it.

The Predator falls into an apartment, where it treats its wounds and flees. Harrigan pursues it to a spacecraft hidden underground and engages it in combat, eventually killing the Predator with its disc.

Suddenly, a group of Predators, which remained hidden, emerge to collect their dead comrade. The leader of them, an elder Predator, gives Harrigan an antique flintlock pistol as a trophy. As the ship takes off, Harrigan escapes to the surface and meets with the remainder of Keyes's team. Despite their lost opportunity to capture the creature, Harrigan privately muses on the fact that the Predators will return.

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