YMMV / Predator 2

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The movie's novelization openly notes how one Predator tossing Harrigan a 17th-century pistol can be seen in two ways: is it a sign of respect by sharing the trophy of a worthy foe? Or is it a message that the Predators are vastly more advanced than the denizens of Earth, and humans are completely out of their league? Maybe it's a combination of both, like the hunter saying "Nice fight, but you might want to sit it out next time," warning him that more experienced Predators won't be a pushover.
  • The City Hunter encountering Danny. Does it plan to kill him from the start, and drag him into the ceiling to do it easier? Or does it save Danny from a potentially lethal fall, and only kill him once Danny proves capable of fighting back?
  • Also, when the City Hunter leaves Danny's necklace at the cemetery for Harrigan to find, is the Predator mocking him, or is it a sign of respect?
  • Keyes giving Harrigan the Info Dump for everyone who'd missed the first movie. Does he just want someone to gloat to, and was going to eliminate Harrigan as soon as he'd dealt with the Predator? Or is he thinking of recruiting Harrigan, since this city cop with near-zero resources was only a few steps behind Keyes and all the resources of the US Government in tracking the City Hunter?
  • When Harrigan comments to himself "Don't worry asshole, you'll get another chance." at the end of the film, does Harrigan mean a chance to catch a Predator, or another chance to get himself killed in a hopeless fight?
• Badass Decay: Dutch, a tough-as-nails career soldier built like a brick house, was outmatched in a straight fight and had to outwit the Predator to beat it, but the one in this film is soundly defeated in combat by — badass though he is — a paunchy LA cop who's pushing fifty. Arguably justified, though, in that Dutch had to go hand-to-hand, while Harrigan gets hold of the Predator's razor-sharp disc to use against it, and Harrigan's opponent had suffered multiple shotgun rounds at point-blank range shortly before. Word of God confirms that the sequel's "City Hunter" is the Predator equivalent of a teenager going through their rite of passage/graduation, while the first film's "Jungle Hunter" was a seasoned adult veteran. This is why the City Hunter is shorter and leaner than the Jungle Hunter as well.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The Predator standing atop a building during a thunderstorm, holding its spear and Jerry's skull and spine aloft and roaring while it is hit by lightning with no adverse effects.
• Common Knowledge: A lot of people will cite the Easter Egg of an Alien skull on the City Hunter's trophy rack as the start of the Aliens vs. Predator franchise, but in fact the Aliens vs. Predator comic miniseries by Dark Horse was released before the film, and the Xenomorph skull is just as likely a shout-out to that comic. Still, it is commonly stated that the appearance of the Xenomorph skull in this film "started" the AvP franchise, which it did not... though it is likely a lot more people saw the skull here than read the comic, so the film did popularize the idea of the crossover.
• Contested Sequel: Probably the most out of all the Predator films. While it's accepted that the original film is better, there are a number of opinions on this entry. Detractors tend to criticize this film for its inconsistent and angry tone that lacks the claustrophobic feel of the original. On the other hand, there are plenty of fans who like it for the new city setting, expanded world-building on the Predator, the more recognizable and entertaining cast members such as Gary Busey and Bill Paxton, and the bizarre nature of the film, to the point that there is a vocal minority that finds it better than the first. This divide has continued to grow over the years as three more sequels to the series and the Alien vs. Predator films were released and provided more options.
• Cult Classic: Upon release, the film was torn apart critically, but it has a sizeable amount of fans for doing something different from the first and providing solid backstory for the Predator that inspired countless spin-off works. Even many who hate this movie's guts will praise elements such as Alan Silvestri's score and the cast.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • The Predator tribe that appear at the end of the film for opening endless speculation in regards to the Predators' behavior and history, in addition to the variety of designs the individual members have. This has led to each member of the tribe getting collectible figures over the years, no small feat for what are essentially background characters with limited screen time.
  • The Predator's new weapons (the Smart Disc, Net Gun, Spear Gun and Combi-Stick) are an object-specific case, with the Smart Disc and Net Gun in particular standing out for the utterly awesome kills they provide. This resulted in the spear and disc becoming staples of future Predators' arsenals in the films, video games, and expanded universe materials. It helps that most of them had origins in the early drafts of the first movie.
  • Jerry Lambert is by far the most popular character of the movie, primarily for being genuinely funny and one of the only truly likeable characters. It doesn't hurt that the character he ripped off (Hudson from Aliens, also played by Bill Paxton) is an Ensemble Dark Horse in his own film as well.
  • In another object-specific case, the Xenomorph skull, which led to increased interest in Alien vs. Predator materials, to the point two films and a tsunami of video games were made.
• Franchise Original Sin: Later sequels would be criticized for the Monster Threat Expiration faced by the Predators. This got its start here: Harrigan, an average cop who's not in particularly great shape, manages to defeat a Predator in combat; while in the previous movie, Dutch, an elite mercenary with a bodybuilder's physique, only manages to kill the Predator hunting him by using booby traps. However, it was more forgivable in this movie because the City Hunter is characterized as more reckless and careless than the Jungle Hunter (with Word of God confirming that it is also significantly younger and less experienced), it still manages to showcase itself as a legitimate threat by slaughtering many cops and gangsters, and Harrigan wins largely because he's able to use one of his opponent's own weapons against it. And despite not being a special forces soldier and leader like Dutch, he is clearly a veteran cop used to battling in what is basically an urban war zone against various LA gangs, and clearly kicks a great deal of ass on a regular basis as a Cowboy Cop. And even then he comes within inches of being killed by a one armed younger Predator, and only wins at the end at the last moment when the City Hunter becomes overconfident in its victory.
• Fridge Brilliance: When the Predator Tribe comes in after Harrigan defeats the City Hunter, why do they let him walk away, with a trophy no less? Other than their immense code of honor, Harrigan dropped one of the City Hunter's weaponry that he'd use to defeat it. The Predator species care deeply that their tech doesn't get into other's hand, that's why the Jungle Hunter blew himself up. The Tribe saw Harrigan giving up the tech more reason to spare him, unintentionally honoring their code too.
• Ham and Cheese: Most of the cast seems to be having fun with their roles with little regard as to what they're doing. This is particularly evident with Gary Busey, Danny Glover, and the Jamaicans.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The film opens with a group of criminals who are heavily armed with automatic weapons managing to pin the police down for some time. In the year of 1997...
  • Jerry Lambert is said to have transferred over from the Rampart Division in order to see some action, and Rampart is generally regarded as a safer, less gritty assignment compared to what Mike and his fellow offers deal with when fighting gangs on the streets. A few years later, the real-life Rampart Division's C.R.A.S.H anti-gang unit became the focus of an investigation into what may easily be the most serious incident of widespread police corruption in America's history, exposing the involvement of nearly a hundred officers in various crimes ranging from robbery to drug dealing to homicide, which was largely blamed on the unit's Cowboy Cop mentality. For double the irony, the Rampart scandal was also exposed in 1997.
  • The City Hunter carelessly leaving behind pieces of technology and its severed arm, as Predator: Hunting Grounds reveals that the OWLF program picked up the City Hunter's evidence. This led them to have a better grasp on killing Predators and possibly led to the events of fourth film, where a clan of Predators plans to take over the Earth and causes havoc in a Project Stargazer facility. In turn, this led to Stargazer being shut down and becoming a terrorist group selling black market Predator tech and destabilizing regions in hopes of attracting Predators. If the City Hunter and its clan hadn't been so careless with its lost equipment, an untold amount of pain for both species would have been avoided.
  • The video game Predator: Concrete Jungle has the main character, Scarface, exiled for leaving some of his technology behind on a hunt, and is only given the chance to redeem himself some 300 years later by being dropped into the city his carelessness built to clean up his mess. . . facing humans who have adapted Predator tech to serve them. If the City Hunter had survived its encounter with Harrigan, it might have faced a similar fate for leaving behind so much stuff (its damaged plasmacaster and wrist gauntlet, bio-helmet, and spear).
  • The Los Angeles heat wave presented in the film unfortunately became a recurring issue in Southern California, with recurring water droughts and other negative side effects of climate change.
  • In the beginning of the movie, Tony Pope calls for the mayor to declare martial law in response to the rampant gang violence in the city. Only two years after the film was released, when the city was rocked by the Rodney King riots, units of the Army National Guard and even the Marine Corps were deployed to help quell the violence.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Keyes and his men want to capture the City Hunter so they can study and possibly interrogate him. In other words, they are literally trying to catch a Predator.
• Memetic Mutation: Despite not featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and being less well-received, the film is still rather quotable.
  • "Shit happens!"
  • "Want some candy?"
  • "I don't think he gives a shit."
  • "Danny Boy..."
  • "A fucking alien!"
  • "Fucking Voodoo Magic, mon!"
    • "This is dread, mon. Truly dread."
• Magnificent Bastard: "The City Hunter" is the Predator currently terrorizing Los Angeles, brutally targeting and picking off dangerous gangs throughout the city as part of its hunt. Using both brute force and stealthy attacks to wipe out armed goons, the City Hunter takes out even cops in its pursuit, but holds to a strict code to never harm an unarmed civilian, sparing even an armed police officer trying to stop him when the City Hunter realizes she is pregnant. Even when federal agents devise a scheme to trap the rogue Predator, the City Hunter quickly adapts and kills them all. Gaining a genuine respect for Lieutenant Harrigan's skill, the City Hunter gives the man a honorable duel in the end, and faces its death with dignity after suffering serious wounds.
• Misaimed Fandom: The film might get some viewers who show up to enjoy the frequent gun fights and the fact the almost everyone in the city is carrying a side arm, but this misses the fact that Los Angeles has everyone armed because the city is almost like a war zone and the City Hunter likes this city to begin with because everyone is packing heat and ready to do battle. It's so miserable in LA that the police force is under staffed and stretched thin fighting street gangs armed with weapons of war. Not exactly a fun place to live.
• Narm Charm: Gary Busey as Peter Keyes is a stand-out personality that has a savory flavoring of Large Ham, yet his performance actually does help him come across as a mysterious g-man character.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • King Willie is one of the most memorable things about the movie.
  • The same goes with the Predator tribe at the end and the Xenomorph skull in the trophy room.
  • The heavily-armed, coked-up Colombian gang members in the opening scene who are targeted by both the cops and a Predator provide for a decently frightening introduction to the film's gritty tone.
  • The Colombian drug lord's Fanservice Extra girlfriend who is left traumatized in the aftermath of her boyfriend's grisly gang murder and a Predator attack.
  • Everyone in the brief subway scene (the colorfully dressed gang members, the surprising number of armed badass bystanders, and the apparent prostitute the gang harass) does a good job of making that scene, and their characters, stand out.
• Presumed Flop: Deemed a box office disappointment for earning half of what Predator did, the film still managed to at least cover the studio's expenses with $57 million earned worldwide on a $20-30 million budget.
• Rooting for the Empire: There's quite a few points where the audience is on the Predator's side. Not so much when the Predator's fighting Harrigan and the police, but definitely when the Predator's targeting gang members.
• Signature Scene: The appearance of the Predator tribe at the end of the film, along with the sight of the Xenomorph skull on the trophy rack, which served as a launching point for a crossover and expanded universe materials exploring the Predators in other time periods. Even detractors of the film praise this moment for being fantastic worldbuilding.
• Special Effects Failure:
  • Keyes' death. To break it down, the Predator's Smart Disc is very obviously integrated into the shot. It then makes a choppy skip as he is sawed in half. To add insult to injury, the top half of his body doesn't fall down with his legs, which can be seen in another shot where only his legs are on the ground. This last bit can be excused by knowing that in the NC-17 cut, the upper half of his body would have been shown being pinned to a wall, but it's still silly-looking.
  • The Predator tribe at the end of the film are clearly green-screened into the scene when they are decloaking.
• Spiritual Successor: With the film being a sci-fi action flick set in a near-future metropolis with over worked cops and sensational media, it can easily be argued to be a RoboCop sequel in spirit.
• So Bad, It's Good: For some, the film is quite enjoyable due to the over-the-top acting, a Cowboy Cop main character who often ignores laws and orders when it suits him, ridiculous characters such as the Jamaican Voodoo gang, and awful dialogue being ridiculous to the point of being entertaining, not unlike the campier action films of the 80's. The presence of Gary Busey may help this argument, given the actor's reputation for being bizarre, plus all of the actors in general put in memorable performances and really help the film stand out. In other words, it has B-Movie charm with A-movie material.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Danny's death. Mike is devastated by the loss of his friend of 15 years, and is determined to him down whomever or whatever killed him.
  • Harrigan visiting Danny's grave and paying his respects by placing his photo of him and Danny together and Danny's police badge beside the gravestone before leaving.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The film's brutal depiction of near-future Los Angeles as a Wretched Hive torn apart by vicious gang warfare, combined with the fact that the central conflict is between said gangs and corrupt, fascistic law enforcement, with both caught in the Predator's cross-hairs, can be enough to make some viewers wish someone would just nuke the city into oblivion.
• Too Cool to Live:
  • King Willie gives a chilling presence that makes one wish he survived longer.
  • Jerry Lambert is one of the film's most popular character's thanks to his plucky attitude being backed up by some credible action skills. This makes his last stand against the Predator all the more saddening as a result.
  • Peter Keyes is a standout due to his actor's Narm Charm performance and puts up a solid effort against the Predator in his dying moments.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously:
  • A lot of otherwise negative reviews praised Danny Glover's performance.
  • Gary Busey immersed himself in the franchise's lore — one of the best bonus features on the DVD is him in character giving a run-down on the backstory of the Predators and his character's motivations.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The movie was made in the background of the rising crime rate and gang wars between 80's and 90's, which the real-life trend going downwards years after the film's release.
• Values Dissonance: Were the film set today, Jerry's crude jokes would give Leona grounds for a sexual-harassment lawsuit within about five minutes of them meeting. The remark he makes to Harrigan after first meeting her, a quip about "that bitch being on her rag", is casually misogynistic in a way that certainly would not fly today.
• Vindicated by History: The movie was trashed by critics at release. While it still has a good share of haters, many people warmed up to it after the divisive Alien vs. Predator films and highly controversial fourth film, with more and more admitting it to be a worthy sequel.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The suit worn for the Predator looks rather impressive, perhaps even more so than the first film, owing to a full production schedule allowing for more time to work on the creature as opposed to the hectic last-minute replacement nature of the first film's design. Special mention goes to the Predator tribe at the end of the film, including nine individual men in unique suits, which made it the most expensive scene in the whole film.

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