Predator 2 arrived in theaters for Thanksgiving 1990, and promptly got its spine ripped out at the box office, opening fourth behind the likes of Home Alone and Dances with Wolves. It’s still the series’ lowest earner.
Then 20th Century Fox buried the film franchise for fifteen years.
Harrigan was intended to be every hard boiled action cop rolled into one. He was Cobra, McClane, both Riggs and Murtaugh depending on the scene. Hell, watch him process trauma and you might spot Dutch seven years later, still PTSD’ing from the jungle. The script wanted to throw the Predator against the ultimate ’90s archetype: the Supercop. The one-man army with a badge and zero patience for procedure. Someone Sledge Hammer might respect.
Naturally the first name that comes to mind is Danny Glover.
Glover actually sold every second of it. His Harrigan was too stubborn to die, too angry to quit, and definitely not too old for this shit. Where Dutch fought for survival in the jungle, Harrigan just wanted this thing off his streets. He chased the Predator through penthouses and slaughterhouses, into the subway and finally onto the alien’s own ship. By the end, he’s covered in ash and blood and he’s earned the creature’s respect. And that’s pretty badass.
In fact, the entire cast was sublime. Morton Downey Jr. as a relentless TV personality was obviously playing against type, but Gary Busey played it so completely straight as a government spook that he convinced me he wasn’t insane. And of course, Bill Paxton delivered his doctorate thesis on playing dimwitted douches.
Stephen Hopkins definitely did his best Verhoeven impression here. He pulled off the satirical violence and the sarcastic social commentary was there, but Hopkins wasn’t going for uncomfortable laughter. His “1997” L.A. was literal 6 o’clock news gang war panic without the ironic detachment.
The film must have caught critics in the middle of their post-’80s hangover. Looking back, they just didn’t want this particular movie. They expected prestige Arnold-level action, but what they got was grimy back-alley brutality with characters that had plenty of time to bleed.
It’s not everyone’s cup o’ mud, but I’ve always enjoyed this one in spite of the backlash at the time. But I guess it belongs on that list of hated sequels that eventually found their audience on home video – so this one sits somewhere between RoboCop 2, Alien 3, or Highlander 2.
Ok not Highlander 2. Well, maybe the Renegate cut.
-Pop