Predator 2

About the only thing Predator 2 has in common with the original Predator is that its title character is a member of the same extraterrestrial species. This time, its hunting ground is futuristic Los Angeles instead of a remote rain forest, and that reduces the suspense. Yet this Predator‘s bigger problem is that it doesn’t have Arnold Schwarzenegger around as a worthy opponent.

That leaves Danny Glover and his fellow maverick cops to contend with a largely unseen adversary — whenever they aren’t preoccupied with drug gangs and interfering feds. But as the action spills from rooftops to subways, Predator 2 starts to look like so many other ”something is out there” thrillers. The mechanics of the cat-and-mouse plot are all too familiar; so, of course, is the predator itself when it finally emerges from behind its fancy camouflage effects. Even when fully visible, it’s less than vivid on the small screen. But we can see it well enough to know we’ve seen it all before. C+

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