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The transparent alien sequel makes its way to Blu.

Not much really ever changes in the movie biz.  Most of the times the great ideas have come from a novel or they are remaking a film.  Sure there seems to be more of this now more than ever, but it has pretty much always happened.  There were many versions of Wizard of Oz before the Judy Garland musical which won everyone over.  Something present over twenty years ago that is still an unwritten rule is that of the sequel.  If the first film does well you can bet your ticket stub there will be another chapter to this story, whether one was planned or not.  The turnaround was not as quick as it is now, most coming out within the next year and announced after opening weekend, but they were still there.  After the success of the 1987 Arnold Schwarznegger film Predator you could almost smell the sequel in the air.  Of course, they could not get Arnie back for a second go round, but they went ahead with the story anyways in 1990 with Predator 2.

Here we are looking into the near future in Los Angeles during the year 1997.  Aside from the sweltering heatwave and war on the streets between cops and drug gangs there is one other problem.  As Lieutenant Michael Harrigan (Danny Glover) and his team try to crackdown on these gangs of Jamaicans and Colombians something else is there killing off people from all sides.  Something that is quick, unseen and vicious.  This predator has come out of the jungles in which we first saw it a few years prior and is taking on city life.  As Harrigan digs deeper the feds, lead by Special Agent Peter Keyes (Gary Busey), keeps swatting him away telling him to mind his own business.  He knows they are hiding something, but what he cannot decipher. 

You loved the first film, right?  How could you go wrong with the follow-up?  While this is not near as bad as some sequels out there, in no way does it surpass the first film.  The whole case is different, with the exception of one small cameo, and the story just does not have the same “umph” that the original has.  Not everything about the flick is sub-par though, there are plenty of great moments, especially in the special effects department.  The late Stan Winston and his studio were involved in the creature’s creation and articulation.  This really shows when you see the outstanding quality of the creature development. 

One of the saddest things about this series is the man behind the alien killing machine - Kevin Peter Hall.  This man portrayed many monsters in his day, due to being over seven feet in height, including the Predator and Harry from Harry and the Hendersons.  Around the time of this film’s release Kevin was in a car accident which left him in need of a transfusion.  The blood he received was infected with HIV.  Soon this transformed into AIDS and tragically he passed away in April of 1991, less than a year later.

This new Blu-Ray disc does do something to increase the transfer.  Now it does not look like it was shot on digital, but you can bet it greatly improves upon the old DVD release.  For extras there is nothing really new, just the ported over bonuses from the DVD.  There are two commentary tracks - one with writers Jim and John Thomas, and the other with director Stephen Hopkins (A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child) - and a handful of featurettes covering most any aspect of the film.  There is an all around making-of and then some specialized features on the weapons, special FX, visual FX and violence. 

Everyone knows this is not the better of the two Predator films, it is basically out there for the completists.  If you DVD shelf is feeling empty without this in the collection or your original Predator Blu-Ray needs a mate then you cannot go wrong with the Blu release here, but all others may want to steer clear.

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