Predator 2 is a 1990 American science fiction action film written by brothers Jim and John Thomas, directed by Stephen Hopkins, and starring Danny Glover, Ruben Blades, Gary Busey, María Conchita Alonso, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Peter Hall. It is the second installment of the Predator franchise, serving as a sequel to 1987's Predator, with Kevin Peter Hall reprising the title role of the Predator. Set ten years after the events of the first film, in Los Angeles, the film focuses on the Predator, a technologically advanced alien hunter, and the efforts of a disgruntled police officer and his allies to defeat the malevolent creature.
At the time of release the film received generally negative reviews. It earned a moderate return at the box office, grossing $57 million worldwide, compared to the previous film's $98 million gross on a smaller production budget. The film was viewed more positively over time, and became a cult classic.
This would be the last film appearance of the Predator until 2004's crossover film Alien vs. Predator, followed in 2007 by Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. A sequel, Predators, was released in 2010, followed by The Predator in 2018.
Plot[]
In 1997, Los Angeles is suffering from both a heat wave and a turf war between heavily armed Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels. A Predator watches a shootout between the police, Jamaicans and Colombians, observing as Lieutenant Mike Harrigan charges into the firefight to rescue two wounded officers and drive the Colombians back into their hideout.
The Predator assaults the Colombians, causing a disturbance that prompts Harrigan and detectives Leona Cantrell and Danny Archuleta to defy orders and enter the hideout. They find the Colombians have all been killed. On the roof, Harrigan shoots the crazed gang leader and catches a glimpse of the camouflaged Predator, but dismisses it as a consequence of the extreme heat and his acrophobia. At the station, Harrigan is reprimanded by his superiors for his disobedience. He is introduced to Special Agent Peter Keyes, leader of a task force investigating the cartels, and Detective Jerry Lambert, the newest member of Harrigan's team.
Later that evening, Jamaicans enter the Colombian drug lord's penthouse and murder him, but they are then slaughtered by the Predator. Harrigan's team sees the drug lord's body and the Jamaicans' skinned corpses suspended from the rafters, noting the similarity to the earlier Colombian massacre. Keyes arrives and kicks Harrigan's team out. Danny later returns to continue investigating, but right after he finds one of the Predator's speartip weapons in an air conditioning vent, the lurking Predator kills him. An enraged Harrigan vows to bring down Danny's killer. Forensic analysis reveals the speartip is not composed of any known element on the periodic table. Seeking answers, Harrigan meets with Jamaican drug lord King Willie, a voodoo practitioner. King Willie tells Harrigan that the killer is supernatural, and that he should prepare himself for battle against him. Harrigan leaves before the Predator kills King Willie, taking his head as a trophy.
Tracing a lead indicating Danny's killer had recently been in a slaughterhouse, Harrigan arranges to meet his team at a warehouse district to investigate. Cantrell and Lambert take the subway to the rendezvous when the Predator, hunting Harrigan's subordinates, suddenly attacks. Lambert and numerous armed passengers are killed, but Cantrell is spared after the Predator's scan of her body reveals that she is pregnant. Arriving on the scene, Harrigan chases the fleeing Predator but is intercepted by Keyes' men. Keyes reveals that the killer is an extraterrestrial hunter with infrared vision that uses active camouflage and has been hunting humans for sport throughout armed conflicts, most recently in Central America. Keyes and his team have set a trap in a nearby slaughterhouse, using thermally insulated suits and cryogenic weapons to capture it for study.
When the Predator arrives, the trap is sprung. However, the suspicious Predator uses its mask to scan through various electromagnetic wavelengths to identify the team's flashlights, and it easily outmaneuvers and slaughters the men. Harrigan attacks the Predator, badly wounding it before it rallies, destroys his weapon, and closes in. Harrigan is saved by the sudden reappearance of Keyes, who tries to freeze the creature but is bisected by its throwing disc. The Predator chases Harrigan to a roof and the two foes clash, leaving them hanging from a ledge. The creature activates a self-destruct device on its forearm, which Harrigan severs with the throwing disc, rendering the device harmless. The Predator falls through an apartment window, treats its wounds and flees.
Harrigan follows it down an elevator shaft and finds a spacecraft in an underground chamber. Inside the ship, after discovering a trophy room with different skulls, including that of a Xenomorph, Harrigan battles the Predator in a final duel and kills him with the throwing disc. A whole group of Predators suddenly appear and collect their dead comrade, while one of them presents Harrigan with an antique flintlock pistol as a trophy. Harrigan escapes from the ship as it takes off, and reaches the surface just as the remainder of Keyes' team arrives. As Keyes' subordinate Garber curses their lost opportunity to capture the creature, Harrigan privately muses that the beings will return.