DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Predator 2 Special Edition

By Andy McKeague Apr 17, 2005, 23:00 GMT

Stephen Hopkins (The Ghost in the Darkness, 24) takes over from where John McTiernan left off and starts things again 10 years later. It’s now 1997 and Los Angeles is like a war zone. Bullets are flying and explosions are going off all over the city. The Jamaican Voodoo Posse and the Colombians are going head to head over the drug trade and the cops are caught in the middle.

One such cop is Lt. Harrigan (Danny Glover in a similar role to his 'Lethal Weapon' character), who jumps into action man role as a few cops are pinned down in a bloody street battle. As the action increases and more cops are falling down shot or being blown away by the heavily armed coke fuelled gang Harrigan and Co. get out the big guns and fight back. Harrigan, Leona (Maria Conchita Alonso) and Danny (Ruben Blades) with a few other officers head into the building after the fleeing gang after being ordered not to as the Feds are on route. More bullets, more explosions and after brief shoot out which takes Harrigan out on to the roof we find the remainder of the gang has been butchered, quite literally.

This is all looked upon by multi-coloured infrared readouts that we had become familiar with in the first movie, so we know we have a hunter in town. It’s here we get to see the camouflaged Predator for the first time and the Feds are on to him. Agent Peter Keyes (Gary Busy) comes in to shut the police out and make it known that they are running the game. Keyes it seems ran the operation with Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) 10 years previously in a Central American jungle. So his team are on hand and have been tracking this particular Predator for some time. The Jerry Lambert, aka Lone Ranger (Bill Paxton), joins Harrigans crew and they set out to find who is offing the drug lords of the city and what their mysterious friends, the Feds, are up to. When one of Harrigan’s men gets killed, things of course get personal and Harrigan will not stand out of anyone’s way to find the killer. At the funeral there is a music motif from when Dutch and Co. are looking over one of their fallen comrades (the ponchoed dead body of Blain played by Jessie Ventura) from the first movie. There are more nods too in that direction, as both Ruben Blades and Sonny Landham get spooked, they toy with their good luck necklaces which eventually served neither of them any escape. Set piece after set piece the action is getting cranked up more and more. The train sequence is pure bravura. The pace does not let up at all and that is saving grace as the story and characters are lacking any depth. Most of the characters are so over the top they become caricatures. The big face off between the Feds and the Predator is a bit of a let down as the whole sequence is ripped out of James Cameron’s ‘Aliens’.

When we get to see the Predator’s ship we do indeed see an Alien skull, this was meant as an in-joke at the comics that were popular at the time but as we know we have now had the woeful ‘Alien Vs Predator’ movie. Arnie could not do this sequel as he was off to do 'Terminator 2' at the time, and Glover does a good job taking on the action man roll. Hopkins was relatively new to the director’s chair ('A Nightmare on Elmstreet 5' being his only previous US movie at that time) and handles the action, if not the characters, well. Later Hopkins would get his chance to show his skills better with the TV hit series '24'.

This DVD 2 disc set is the first proper release for this title in the UK. Previously it was only available in a ‘Predator’ boxed set. Then its extras consisted of a theatrical trailer only. The same cannot be said in the US. It was released with two short documentaries from 1990 (which have also been included here) back in Feb 2003 and now it has this 2 disc Special Edition too. This release gives you two audio commentaries, the first and more enjoyable comes from director Stephen Hopkins and the second from writers Jim Thomas and John Thomas who also wrote the first episode. If listening to both commentaries there seems to be a mixed opinion from time to time where the inspirations came from, since it was some time ago it is also hardly surprising. Sound options also include the Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS (which is awesome).

Disc 2 is what makes it a Special Edition, with a galaxy of extras. Move the cross-hair icons to get your fill of documentaries and bonus features. ‘The Hunters and the Hunted’ is a 36 minute making of documentary containing selections of the 1990 documentaries and interviews that were given at that time displaying more than a series of mullets mixed with more retrospective responses from today. Stan Winston’s studio is also on hand to discuss some of the make up and effects. ‘Evolutions’ shows three sections and how they applied the optical effects for the Predator’s cloaking camouflage, remember folks these were the days before CGI took off and all with optional commentary by Visual Effects Supervisor Joel Hynek.

‘Weapons of Choice’ shows the Predator’s toys, new and old. With clips from the movie and snippets from the special effects team they go through each of the alien devices. ‘Promotional Gallery’ includes three featurettes, two being those included in the 2003 US release and one extra, ‘The Predator Goes to Town’ which is also from 1990. ‘Hard Core Segments’ are the full versions of the TV spots for the guerrilla TV reporter that becomes such a pain in the movie to all around.