Predator 2 (1990)
★★★½ — Predator 2 (1990)
Predator 2 gets a rough deal. Mention it in the wrong company and you'll get a dismissive wave, a muttered "it's no Predator," and that's the end of the conversation. And look, fair enough, it's not Predator. But here's the thing: it was never trying to be. Judge it on its own terms and you've got something genuinely entertaining, nasty, and a lot smarter about its setting than it's ever given credit for.
Swapping the dense jungle for a baking, crime-ridden Los Angeles in the middle of a gang war is, honestly, an inspired move. The city becomes its own kind of jungle, all concrete heat and chaos, with drug cartels and rival gangs tearing each other apart while the police scramble to keep a lid on it. It's grimy and almost dystopian in its energy, and dropping an alien hunter into that environment gives the whole film a different flavour. This isn't clean, macho action in a pristine wilderness. It's messy and unpredictable, and it's better for it.
Danny Glover carries the film and he deserves real credit for it. He's no Arnie, nobody is, but he brings something Arnie couldn't have: a worn-down, street-level authenticity. His cop feels like a man who's already seen too much before the Predator even shows up. There's a scrappiness to how he approaches the whole thing, less superhero, more bloke who refuses to quit. Watching him piece together what's hunting the city, and then actually go after it, works because you believe he's working for it. He earns every moment. It's funny, too, thinking about him here given I've spent time with him in Lethal Weapon and Lethal Weapon 2. By this point he could do the weary, world-battered cop energy in his sleep, but he still finds something fresh in it.
The Predator itself gets more room to breathe here, more screen time, more gadgets, more personality almost. The kills are brutal and inventive, and the film leans into the creature's code of honour in interesting ways. There's a sequence on the subway that's genuinely tense and gleefully vicious, and the finale inside the Predator's ship has a wild, fever-dream quality that I really respond to.
And then there's the moment that every kid who saw this in the nineties still talks about. The Xenomorph skull, sitting in a trophy case on the ship. An alien hunting aliens. Even as a throwaway background detail it crackled with possibility, the kind of crossover promise that sets nerdy minds racing. It took years for a film to actually follow through on it, and the less said about those films the better, but in that brief shot it felt like anything could happen. Great bit of filmmaking mischief.
Is it flawed? Absolutely. It's a bit all over the place tonally, some of the supporting characters are thin, and there are moments where the plotting gets loose enough that you just have to go with it. But the energy never drops, the urban setting gives it genuine atmosphere, and it has the courage to do something different rather than simply repeat the original's formula with a new cast in a new jungle.
Three and a half stars. Criminally underrated, wildly entertaining, and long overdue a proper reappraisal. Give it another chance.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 1990 | Watched: 2025-04-09
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: YouTube TV
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More with Danny Glover: Shooter (2007) · Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) · Lethal Weapon (1987)
More from the 1990s: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · Blue (1993) · Cemetery Man (1994)
More science fiction: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Fantastic Planet (1973) · Nightmare City (1980) · The Long Walk (2025)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
