Predator / Predator 2 [Blu-ray]

Here's m thoughts on "Predator": it's "The Most Dangerous Game"... but with a masked alien instead of a creepy guy with a satanic goatee.That's the basic concept behind this gory, suspenseful sci-fi thriller. which starts off as your usual macho BOOMBOOMfest but quickly mutates into something far creepier. Sadly "Predator 2" doesn't measure up to its brilliant predecessor -- while not horrendous, it loses a lot of that primal grittiness in favor of a very dated urban scenario."Predator": Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his team have been assigned to rescue a cabinet minister kidnapped by guerillas in Guatemala. The team basically blows up the entire guerilla compound and everyone in it, except for one woman (Elpidia Carrillo) that they take prisoner. But on the way back, their numbers start dwindling -- one soldier is dragged away and gutted, and another is shot through the chest with an energy blast. Something far worse than the guerillas is stalking the team through the jungle -- an unknown Predator is determined to kill everyone worth hunting."Predator 2": The Colombian and Jamaican drug gangs are currently in a massive war for Los Angeles, which is interrupted by a mysterious invisible creature that starts killing both sides. Lieutenant Michael Harrigan (Danny Glover) finds out that an extraterrestrial Predator is loose in his city -- and in turn, the Predator is being hunted by a covert government agency."Predator" and "Predator 2" are pretty much what you would expect from a classic action movie and its sequel -- the first one is pretty brilliant, and the second one is competent but suffers by comparison to the first. In fact, the only thing the two movies have in common is a tentacle-haired, antifreeze-blooded alien who likes to skin things.The original "Predator" is a grimy, gritty piece of work, with a small number of soldiers moving through a sweaty tropical forest. It has a very primal, timeless feeling -- you could set this story in any wilderness, in any time period, and it would feel roughly the same. And having the characters be so isolated in the jungle just hammers that home."Predator 2" loses that primal, timeless feeling, mostly by planting itself in an urban setting swarming with people... and oh yeah, dating itself with the government-agency-seeking-aliens subplot. It's not a bad movie, but it doesn't grip you the way the first film does -- although it does have some clever moments, such as the Predator scanning a child with a toy weapon.One thing both movies do have is excellent casting. Schwarzenegger does what he does best, roaring and blasting his way through the jungle, uttering some lovely lines that have reached cinematic immortality ("Get to da choppah!"). Glover gives a good performance as well as a hard-bitten, weary cop who has enough on his plate before the aliens show up."Predator / Predator 2" is a duology worth watching -- the first movie is a deserving action/sci-fi classic, the second more flawed but still watchable. Just don't watch the Predators' battles with the xenomorphs.

In this Predator double feature, you get a disc each for Predator and Predator 2. I've been re-watching the movies in the Alien vs. Predator franchise, and decided to go back and watch these before attempting the new, The Predator. I have to say that these movies do show some signs of aging, at least since I remember last watching them. They're clearly old but Predator 2 is not that old, and having watched both Alien and Aliens recently, I'm a little disappointed at times with the look of the "monsters" and FX. Predator 2 does look very good though, in comparison to the first movie.I think that the films both play the majority of their runtime in the daylight makes them stand out from the Alien franchise, which occurs throughout the cold, dark depths of space where we can't see all the details. However, I think it's something to note about each franchise, is that this one made do with big name action stars and not much else, where the Alien films predicted the future about 4 incredible filmmakers within the genre. Not to say that the directors involved with Predator weren't up to the challenge, but they were playing within a different set of rules being that these films lean into the action.I learned that the actor who played Predator in both of these movies died after a tragic mistake, and so seeing some of the cast & crew talk about him was nice. The director's commentaries however, for both films, are pretty lackluster. I was severely disappointed with the tone in McTiernan's commentary for Predator, and then both of the Predator 2 commentaries likely could have been combined because they let the film roll a lot of the time. The Making of features on each were interesting though, so while I wouldn't recommend this release for special features, it's got a little of everything and of course both Predator movies.I'd recommend getting these in the double feature pack if able, as I don't think Predator 2 warrants a separate purchase unless you're a fan of the franchise I've discussed above. However, it was worth seeing once and enjoying the Predator in a city, as opposed to the jungle which I had yet to see. It also has a strange tone where it juggles being sort of dystopian, but then tries to be realistic in the future of L.A. I think Predator 2 would be ripe for a remake nowadays and would fit into the societal construct of today's L.A. and also have a message, while being up-to-date with FX. It's a promising movie that may have just been made too early, but struck while the iron was hot.

Both are excellent films and well acted. The first, starring Arnie Schwarzenegger is set in a South American jungle, where Arnie's military group of mercenaries attack and wipe out a guerilla camp, but are then hunted themselves on their way back to their pick-up point, by a terrifying and seemingly invincible (and almost invisible) alien (the Predator of the film title), which collects the skulls and attached spines of its victims as trophies! The final showdown between Big Arnie and the Alien Predator is as physical and bloody as you'd expect. I won't spoil the ending by telling you who wins, but if you'd like a hint, the victor went on to become the Governor of California!!!The second film, starring Danny Glover, is set in a gangster-ridden Los Angeles, where homicidal drug gangs of Hispanic and Caribbean ethnic origins are battling it out for supremacy, while Glover and his hard pressed, often outnumbered and outgunned police colleagues are vainly trying to retake the streets from their murderous opponents, who only interrupt trying to kill each other when they're trying to wipe out the police instead. Into this scenario intrudes a much more lethal killer - an alien hunter (another Predator of the species which wiped out Big Arnie's combat group in the first film) which proceeds to hunt and kill any armed human, who thus qualifies as prey. Danny Glover gradually comes to realise what he's up against and the storyline then develops into a personal battle between him and the Predator - with the added twist that a shadowy government organisation (CIA?) is also trying to capture the alien alive in order to acquire its technological knowledge and weaponry (same idea as in Sigourney Weaver's "Alien" films). The final showdown between Glover and the Predator is just as good, and maybe even more surprising, as that of Big Arnie's in the first film.

Predator is an entertaining thriller which works because it tells a simple story in a claustrophobic environment. It isn't as smart or scary as Alien, and its characters are too basic, but it's good fun. Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a note perfect performance; he plays Dutch, a Major with a soft side, who's led into Central American jungle under false pretences and ends up facing an alien predator. He's accompanied by his team of soldiers, played by Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, Richard Chaves and Shane Black. They each have gimmicks - one tells dirty jokes, another chews tobacco - which serve as their personalities. The main cast is completed by Carl Weathers and Elpidia Carrillo, who respectively play Dutch's former teammate and a hostage.Predator's third act is masterfully staged and suspenseful; the creature is mysterious, tracking Arnie with weird technology as they stalk the jungle. A Vietnam allegory could be drawn from how this alien, despite being outnumbered by the American soldiers, becomes invisible and slaughters them with ease. He's a vicious creature who behaves like a big game hunter; we, as humans, are basically his deer on safari. He collects our skulls the way moustachioed British colonists collected animal heads and mounted them on their walls.The setting is inspired; it's a close space where we rarely see landscapes not dominated by tall trees. Here the predator moves like a murderous Cheshire cat, camouflaging itself as it rests on branches. Carrillo plays the typical native character who calls it a demon and is more willing to accept its presence. She was my favourite character, though her development is clunky; she goes from hating the soldiers to helping them very suddenly. Some plot points in this film aren't as effective as they should be because of the basic characterisation, but overall Predator is a tense, enjoyable movie.On the other hand, if this DVD just contained Predator 2 it'd get one star from me. Predator isn't a perfect thriller, but compared to Predator 2 it's on a par with Psycho. To my mind this sequel is one of the worst films ever made; it makes Roland Emmerich's films look like Greek tragedies.Danny Glover plays a cop in a Los Angeles torn apart by fighting between Jamaican and Columbian drug dealers. Then the predator shows up and gives everyone something new to worry about. That's about all the plot there is. Bill Paxton plays a rookie who's a more annoying version of his Aliens character, and Gary Busey is an FBI agent or something. Sadly this isn't one of his nuttier performances; he's just bland. The only other character with enough lines to warrant mention is Leona (María Conchita Alonso), a butch cop with a secret, revealed in her last scene, which has no impact on anything. It's as if the writers said to each other "hey, why not throw in this one line of exposition?" "Might as well". Oh, there's also one of those movie journalists (Morton Downey, Jr.) who cares more about the scoop than ethics.For some reason this is all set in 1997, seven years after the film was released. That detail means nothing. I'd hazard a guess that the writers just thought it would make the gang stuff seem like social commentary, as if they're presenting a dystopian Los Angeles. Bullpoop. Predator 2 isn't a comment on anything except how much commercial filmmakers hate humanity.This film is more graphic than its predecessor. There's buckets of blood and a nasty torture scene among the drug dealers. Rather than shock, however, the gore simply betrays how creatively bankrupt the filmmakers are. They can't create suspense or tell a story so they fling viscera.

I love this film. The action, mystery and suspense build superbly; looks like a normal every-day hostage extraction mission set in the South American jungle at first, but then it becomes apparent that Arnold and his team of mercs are being stalked and dispatched one at a time by someone... or something. The creature is revealed in tantalizing glimpses that lead to a horrible full-on reveal, and I do mean horrible. Best moments: a couple of nice one-liners from Arnold, a great scene where the mercs devastate a whole plantation with a mini-gun and of course that reveal. When you've watched the film, come back and read this bit: The creature is trapped and dying, Arnold approaches and says "What the hell are you?", the creature repeats back "What the hell are YOU?". Which is the predator, creature or Arnold? Wonderful.

If you haven't had the opportunity to see these films I suggested you do. Buy it now, Best Scify movie ever made.With such classic quotes as:"You'll never know how much i missed this dutch.""You never will it's smart""get to the choppa""It didn't kill because you weren't armed, no sport"Only wish I had bought these in blu ray so that i could watch them in high def

Both classic action movies - Both equally good in their own way. Personally I prefer Pred 2 - well written script and it's crossed over into "Lethal Weapon" territory as well. The Predator character is a lot slicker than in the first movie, and you find out much more about it, than you do in the first. That said both are great films.