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Predator 2
An alien hunts down people in 1990s Los Angeles.
I must agree that I went into this movie expecting a straight to video quality movie. But even though the movie is subpar to the first, the filmmakers of this movie got exactly what was appealing about the first movie. This movie makes it much more clear at the same time being subtle about the intentions of the predator.
We start off the movie with a shoot out in the streets of LA. This movie more so than the first captures the heat in the location. Nothing is hotter than a summer in LA. We recognize that the predator is watching a shoot out and this is a nod and a clear explanation of what a predator is looking for. It is looking for armed human that are essentially predators themselves. The shoot out harkens back to the jungle shoot out in the first. In that it picks on Arnolds team because they to be the better predators in the battle. My initial thought was that "how did this predator end up exactly in this place out of all the cities in the world ? couldn't it have stumbled upon a movie theater ? " and then I realized that it's not very often people carry guns with them at all. No one driving to their office carry a gun. So it makes perfect sense that it is exactly the right place for predator because not only guns are being carried but also being used in a shootout. Its a predator and it wants to fight people who are fighting and willing to fight. Not some guy working behind his desk or in a meeting with computer or book. In this shoot out our predator lays its eyes on our protagonist played by Donald Glover. He kind of takes control of the situation and single handedly saves lot of cops and proves to be the alpha of the winning team. So it has its eyes on Donald Glover and his team. But the predator kills the rest of the villain gang to prove to itself and Donald Glover indirectly that it is worthy of fighting him since both took out members from same gang.
This massacre of the rest of villain gang doesn't sit well with our hero because the deaths are similar to the first movie and souvenirs collected are odd and makes hero question who did this. That starts a chain reaction which pits each member of heroes team with the predator and it kills them one by one. The incident from the first movie has some consequences that bleed into this movie. And a secret government organization formed to capture and use the predator technology butts heads with our heroes team and is used as an expository plot device because they don't have much purpose other than help our hero catch up with the background of the predator. Nonetheless the movie plays with the urban paranoia and how that setting is affected by the presence of this alien. Thats a cool aspect.
The movie tries to do some innovative stuff but the need for quick pace and action takes the common sense out of the scenes and make them look stupid. The most interesting aspect about the movie is how consequential the story is. It never loses its steam. The movie starts and the game is on. The predator either comes in touch with the main characters or they go looking for it. There is never a parallel storyline that is running. It has single storyline through out. 'Its focused through out. Movie has an element of gangs and gangs violence in it. Which felt a little exaggerated. One thing I noticed about the movie is its African American and Latino heavy. I do think the studio must have seen the audience demographic for the first movie and realized that those audience are much more in number than caucasians and hence this movie is a little too overt in its diversity. Some parts felt a little too stereotypical.
So, even though the movie is a little boring, nonetheless the main positives about the movie is that it knows its audience, it got exactly what worked with the first one and the movie never lets up. I thought the predator would come in the story at the end of first act. But thats not the case. It is there in the movie from the get go. I do think changing the setting to a city is the only way for a sequel. They can't do it again in the jungle. I can't think of any better setting that builds upon the first and be expansive at the same time than what we got with this movie. Less stupid characters and strong story elements could have improved it.
An alien hunts down people in 1990s Los Angeles.
I must agree that I went into this movie expecting a straight to video quality movie. But even though the movie is subpar to the first, the filmmakers of this movie got exactly what was appealing about the first movie. This movie makes it much more clear at the same time being subtle about the intentions of the predator.
We start off the movie with a shoot out in the streets of LA. This movie more so than the first captures the heat in the location. Nothing is hotter than a summer in LA. We recognize that the predator is watching a shoot out and this is a nod and a clear explanation of what a predator is looking for. It is looking for armed human that are essentially predators themselves. The shoot out harkens back to the jungle shoot out in the first. In that it picks on Arnolds team because they to be the better predators in the battle. My initial thought was that "how did this predator end up exactly in this place out of all the cities in the world ? couldn't it have stumbled upon a movie theater ? " and then I realized that it's not very often people carry guns with them at all. No one driving to their office carry a gun. So it makes perfect sense that it is exactly the right place for predator because not only guns are being carried but also being used in a shootout. Its a predator and it wants to fight people who are fighting and willing to fight. Not some guy working behind his desk or in a meeting with computer or book. In this shoot out our predator lays its eyes on our protagonist played by Donald Glover. He kind of takes control of the situation and single handedly saves lot of cops and proves to be the alpha of the winning team. So it has its eyes on Donald Glover and his team. But the predator kills the rest of the villain gang to prove to itself and Donald Glover indirectly that it is worthy of fighting him since both took out members from same gang.
This massacre of the rest of villain gang doesn't sit well with our hero because the deaths are similar to the first movie and souvenirs collected are odd and makes hero question who did this. That starts a chain reaction which pits each member of heroes team with the predator and it kills them one by one. The incident from the first movie has some consequences that bleed into this movie. And a secret government organization formed to capture and use the predator technology butts heads with our heroes team and is used as an expository plot device because they don't have much purpose other than help our hero catch up with the background of the predator. Nonetheless the movie plays with the urban paranoia and how that setting is affected by the presence of this alien. Thats a cool aspect.
The movie tries to do some innovative stuff but the need for quick pace and action takes the common sense out of the scenes and make them look stupid. The most interesting aspect about the movie is how consequential the story is. It never loses its steam. The movie starts and the game is on. The predator either comes in touch with the main characters or they go looking for it. There is never a parallel storyline that is running. It has single storyline through out. 'Its focused through out. Movie has an element of gangs and gangs violence in it. Which felt a little exaggerated. One thing I noticed about the movie is its African American and Latino heavy. I do think the studio must have seen the audience demographic for the first movie and realized that those audience are much more in number than caucasians and hence this movie is a little too overt in its diversity. Some parts felt a little too stereotypical.
So, even though the movie is a little boring, nonetheless the main positives about the movie is that it knows its audience, it got exactly what worked with the first one and the movie never lets up. I thought the predator would come in the story at the end of first act. But thats not the case. It is there in the movie from the get go. I do think changing the setting to a city is the only way for a sequel. They can't do it again in the jungle. I can't think of any better setting that builds upon the first and be expansive at the same time than what we got with this movie. Less stupid characters and strong story elements could have improved it.