If you get down to it, there has been violence in movies since the very beginning. And for most of that time, there have been people who have been complaining about the violence in movies. This came to a head during the 1980s, and for good reason, as Hollywood did release some bloody films during that time. When I think of violent films, 1990 always comes to mind. This was the year of the violent 2s. We got RoboCop 2, Die Hard 2, and Predator 2. For big-budget Hollywood movies, the body-counts in these films were noteworthy. Twenty years later, will Predator 2 seem as crazy?

Predator 2 takes place in 1997, 10 years after the events in Predator. The setting is Los Angeles, which is in the grip of a brutal heatwave. A war is brewing between rival drug gangs, and the LAPD is caught in the middle. Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) and his team -- Danny Archuleta (Ruben Blades), Leona Cantrell (Maria Conchita Alonso), and newcomer Jerry Lambert (Bill Paxton) -- are doing their best to contain the violence, and after an especially violent shootout, they are surprised to find that someone has slaughtered some members of the gang. They assume that it was a rival gang. The next night, another gang is found, not only killed, but hanging upside down. Harrigan's investigation is blocked by Federal Agent Peter Keyes (Gary Busey), who is very secretive about what is looking for. It seems that a Predator (played by Kevin Peter Hall) has come to town and has decided to join the battle, taking out players on both sides. As Harrigan gets closer to the truth, he decides to challenge this new enemy head-on.

Unfortunately, there is a problem with the execution with the first half of the film. There are two main problems here, both of which are tied to the absence of the Predator. First of all, the first two acts are played almost like a murder-mystery, as the police wonder who is killing the gangsters. But, we, the audience, already know who is doing it, so watching their investigation is somewhat dull. This seems like an odd decision on the part of the writers, as we've seen the first film, and we've already gone through the "what is stalking us?" storyline. This section of the film is filled with all kinds of bloody violence and mayhem, but the action all seems quite pointless at times, as we are waiting for the Predator action to begin. In the same vein, Predator 2 becomes one of those movies where the monster isn't the primary threat to the main characters. The cops are fighting the drug lords and while they are busy killing each other, the Predator is sitting on the sidelines. We want to see the characters fighting the Predator, not street thugs! There is also an issue with the miscast Danny Glover. Harrigan is supposed to be a tough-as-nails, rule-breaker cop, and we simply never see Glover in that light.

Having said all of that, the last act of Predator 2 is interesting. It's at this point that the movie actually becomes about the alien. We get a better look at its physical form and we see some of the tools which it carries. (Is that a gas stove?) Of course, the most memorable part of the movie is the finale, which sets the stage not only for Aliens vs. Predator, but presumably for other stories which show the Predator's visiting Earth. Predator 2 isn't a terrible sequel, but because it lacks surprises, it doesn't live up to its predecessor. If you can make it through the first half of the movie, the second delivers some good action and interesting story points.

Predator 2 polishes a skull on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 35 Mbps. For a film this old, the transfer looks pretty good. The image is very sharp and clear, showing only mild grain and no defects from the source material. The picture has a nice crispness to it and the picture is never too dark or bright. The colors look good, but there is some mild smearing of skin tones. The picture has a very nice amount of depth, especially in the city-scape shots. The Disc offers a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.5 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are nicely detailed and show good stereo separation. The action scenes deliver nearly constant surround sound effects and we get good bass from the explosions.