A messy but entertaining sequel that trades the first film’s clean jungle-cat-and-mouse tension for sweaty, lurid urban chaos. It’s uneven and often goofy, but the creature design, grisly kills, and pulpy energy give it a cult-movie charge.
15% ★☆☆☆☆ (191,457)
Predator 2
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Science Fiction · Action · R
1990 · 1h 48m · ★ 15% (191.5K)
Silent. Invisible. Invincible. He’s in town with a few days to kill.
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Starring: Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Rubén Blades
Overview
A police chief in the war-torn streets of Los Angeles discovers that an extraterrestrial creature is hunting down residents - and that he is the next target.
Director
Stephen Hopkins
Production
Davis Entertainment, Lawrence Gordon Productions, Silver Pictures, 20th Century Fox
Cast
Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Rubén Blades, María Conchita Alonso, Bill Paxton, Robert Davi, Adam Baldwin, Kevin Peter Hall, Kent McCord, Morton Downey, Jr., Calvin Lockhart, Steve Kahan, Henry Kingi, Corey Rand, Elpidia Carrillo, Lilyan Chauvin, Michael Mark Edmondson, Teri Weigel, William R. Perry, Alex Chapman
Curator Review
Verdict
A messy but entertaining sequel that trades the first film’s clean jungle-cat-and-mouse tension for sweaty, lurid urban chaos. It’s uneven and often goofy, but the creature design, grisly kills, and pulpy energy give it a cult-movie charge.
Best for
fans of 80s/90s creature-feature action
viewers who like violent, self-aware sequels
people interested in grimy urban sci-fi
fans of practical effects and monster design
Skip if
you want the tight suspense and elegance of the original
you dislike cartoonish violence and broad performances
you need coherent world-building or tonal consistency
you’re turned off by dated depictions of city crime and gangs
Overview
Predator 2 is the kind of sequel that fails by most normal standards and succeeds by cult-movie ones. It swaps the original’s jungle for a feverish Los Angeles heatwave, turning the city into a neon, gun-smoke-soaked hunting ground where the Predator feels less like an intruder than the final boss of a collapsing society.
Worth noting
The movie is clunky, overstuffed, and often ridiculous, with a script that leans hard into tabloid hysteria and a few performances that play like they wandered in from a different, louder film. But that excess is also the appeal: the kills are inventive, the creature effects still land, and the movie has a nasty, comic-book confidence that makes it easy to watch even when it’s not especially good.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the atmosphere of decay and panic. It’s a sequel that broadens the mythology while making everything messier, meaner, and more urban-legend-like, which is why it remains a favorite for viewers who enjoy their action-horror with a heavy dose of grime and absurdity.
Top Letterboxd reviews
nathaxnne [goodbye <3] (5★) · 1752 likes
If the first Predator movie concerned itself with the Reagan White House's illegal drug-money-funded death-squad-enabling wars of terror and regime overthrow in Central America, Predator 2 is the domestic blowback that results from the CIA flooding the cities of the United States with guns and crack in order to disable revolt and enact widespread genocide economics, justifying a massive for-profit mass incarceration protocol immediately upon the horizon. While Predator 2's depiction of gang life might be broadly surreal, the idea
matt lynch (3.5★) · 1464 likes
"Okay, pussyface. It's your move.""Shit happens." How stupid this is cannot be overstated. But what it lacks in losing McTiernan's graceful geography and Arnold's sheer charisma it makes up for with a cranked-up Danny Glover and level of cartoonish luridness that would make Frank Miller wince. The Morton Downey Jr.-fronted tabloid news, the ridiculous "urban jungle" conceit (complete with Jamaican voodoo gangbangers in gold lamé parachute pants), straight on down to Gary Busey, bathed in ultraviolet light, trying to… more
Joe (3.5★) · 977 likes
There's a shot in this towards the end, Danny Glover is on the Predator's ship and he sees a bunch of skulls of the Predator's other kills, one of which is clearly the distinctively elongated head of our old friend the xenomorph. This reminded me of when the world was young, and corporate America hadn't quite finished corrupting pop culture into a never ending polluted river of tie-ins, sequels, reboots, crossovers, and you could just have a shot of a
DirkH (4★) · 832 likes
After twenty years I still have nothing but love for this. We all have this kind of film. A film we know is flawed, but we love it anyway. I can point out what's wrong with it (talking Predator, hello!!??), but I'm not going to, you already know what's wrong with it. I'd rather talk about what I love about it. I love that this time it takes place in an urban jungle. I love the cheesy depiction of a… more
adambolt (3.5★) · 786 likes
Haha, a Predator asking a kid if they want candy. I get it.