‘Predator 2’ Walked So the New Films Could Run

Predator 2 is a very weird movie. As a concept, you totally understand why it exists. It’s a 1990 sequel to the 1987 hit starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, taking the titular character into a completely new location and pitting him against a new high-profile, macho movie star. Schwarzenegger was in the jungles of Central America, and Danny Glover is in the concrete jungles of Los Angeles, California, which is in the middle of a deadly gang war. Or, at least, that’s how it starts. By the end, Predator 2 is something else entirely, and it truly changed the franchise.

Predator has been on our minds recently thanks to the trailer for the upcoming Predator: Badlands and the release of Hulu’s animated feature Predator: Killers of Killers. Both are directed by Dan Trachtenberg and, speaking to io9 last month, Trachtenberg told us one of the key components to making a great Predator movie is that specific twist.

“It’s one movie that turns into another,” Trachtenberg said. “Predator starts out as… Rambo. I’m seeing an action movie in the jungle with [Arnold Schwarzenegger] fighting bad terrorists or whatever and then an alien creature shows up. So you’re in a movie, and then an alien creature shows up, and that’s very much a part of Killer of Killers and of course, Prey and in Badlands in a way that no one’s expecting.”

The first film does that, of course, and the second one does too, to a point. The Predator is introduced almost immediately in Predator 2, and his presence is much more integral to the plot than in the original. Eventually, though, a slightly disjointed story about gang wars, drugs, and media focuses up as we watch Glover’s character, Lieutenant Michael R. Harrigan, showdown with the Predator. The battle goes from a warehouse to an apartment building, through bathrooms, elevator shafts, and, eventually, into the Predator’s spaceship.

Here’s where Predator 2 gets really interesting. In the ship, Harrigan—and the audience—get our first taste of Predator culture. The big thing is that there are skulls from all sorts of aliens on the ship, trophies of hunts past. They key Harrigan into what he’s dealing with. He then, of course, defeats the creature only to be confronted by several other Predators who happen to be on Earth too. Were they there for a reason? Are they helping out? We never find out, but their inclusion in the film, on this ship, with all these skulls, speaks to a bigger world in a way the original film never comes close.

Harrigan expects to be killed, but as the victor of a fair fight, the other Predators respect him and leave him alone. One even gifts him a gun. An old gun with the name “Raphael Adolini” on it from the year 1715. This, again, is a perfect tease at a much larger and older civilization than we can even fathom. One that would be explored at greater length in comics and future movies.

Predator 2 cost more and made less than the original film, so it took 20 years for the franchise to return to the big screen. That was called Predators and it was less a direct follow-up to this story than a soft reboot. But those final scenes in Predator 2 echoed on. Killer of Killers and Prey both have more than a little DNA pulled from those scenes. And, we assume since they’re all from the same filmmaker, that that’ll be the same in Badlands too.

So while Predator 2 is a solid, albeit troubled sequel, watching it now, you really admire it for how bold and open-ended it went with its world-building. It put the future of the franchise on a silver platter for someone to pick up and devour. And while it took a while, with the release of Killer of Killers, the franchise has finally started to do that.

Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers are now on Hulu. Predator: Badlands is coming in November.

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