The film writer Brian Abrams returns to discuss Predator 2 (1990), directed by Stephen Hopkins. The sequel swaps Arnold Schwarzenegger for Danny Glover and transplants the action to a sweltering, near-future Los Angeles in 1997, where climate collapse and gang warfare create the ideal hunting ground for an extraterrestrial predator on safari.

Often dismissed as a crass, hyper-violent downgrade from the original, Brian and I argue that Predator 2 is the only other truly worthy entry in the franchise. Its appeal lies in sheer excess, using escalation to meaningfully expand the series’ mythology. Nearly saddled with the newly introduced NC-17 rating due to its extreme violence, the film now plays like a meathead action satire in the vein of RoboCop. It offers a contradictory vision of future America—one shaped by imperialist blowback—depicting Los Angeles as a literal “concrete jungle,” populated by a multicultural cast trapped within a racially insensitive landscape of Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels and an ambulance-chasing tabloid culture, while a dreadlocked interstellar hunter methodically racks up bodies.

We also dig into why Arnold didn’t return, how Steven Seagal was briefly considered as the lead, the film’s chaotic production history, and more.

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Trailer #1 for Predator 2 (Stephen Hopkins, 1990)

Some Predators and Danny Glover dancing on the set of Predator 2