Predator 2: No Love Without the Glove

I continued my Predator trilogy and I told myself not to be making the same mistake I did with Alien, in which I would be comparing the movie to the previous one. But it is hard to do that when the movie is a continuation! So I did watch “Predator 2” and all I could ask for is that the story and the Predator character were expanded on and interesting. But the movie had me confused in if I liked the movie or not, click the jump to read why I was so damn confused.

Now the storyline is rather unrelated and rather stupid if you ask me. I didn’t know this was a predator movie, thought I was watching a “Lethal Weapon” rip off. But basically, in the midst of a gang war Lt. Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) is in charge of the LAPD to get to the bottom of this feud. Mike later finds out that there is another person/gang that is eliminating the two gangs fighting, and as he tries to dig deeper the FBI stops him. Mike being the persistent man, he further finds out that it wasn’t a person from Earth that is doing all this, but an alien.

The Most Boring. Characters. Ever.

The story was rather dumb, but what I liked was the acting! Well that is the case if I was comparing this movie to some low budget b-list movie. Seriously, the acting was terrible, I expected better from a high budget film. Even Glover wasn’t all that great, and he is generally a treat to watch. Another thing that really bugged me is that they over used the Predator cam in the first 30 minutes of the movie. Almost 25% of the movie was spent looking through a dumbass thermal vision with that weird echoy filter that the alien hears. Once in a while makes sense, but when you do it so often, you kill the cool effect.

Last thing that really bugged the hell out of me was the lame ass characters. I mean, there was an egotistical Jerry Lambert (Bill Paxton) and a “too much woman for you to handle” Leona Cantrell (Maria Alonso). I mean, don’t get me wrong I believe the acting was terrible but the characters they were supposed to play were just so generic and boring, I didn’t care for ‘em. Gladly most of them died early enough so I didn’t have to care too much.

"Shit happens"

A few things that made up for the flaws were that the action was amazing! Guns, guns and guns! They were everywhere and to an excess, and I would never complain about that. And the final fight between Mike and Predator was epic, and so entertaining. This was the best part of the movie by far, almost made up for all the flaws. Another great thing about the movie is the expansion on the Predator the character. You got to learn more about him, how he acted and how his weapons worked; it was overall a neat thing they added.

I really don’t know if I liked this movie or not. I mean, there was a lot I liked but overall I felt empty and wanting more. I guess if I didn’t care too much for the bad acting, this movie would be cool. But I can’t get around the fact that the acting for such a big budget film was so terrible. But I am not too thrilled for the third movie.