| DVD: Predator 2 Special Edition
[image=left]http://www.alternativenation.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=40849&stc=1[/image]Predator 2 – Special Edition. ( DVD, 2004 )
Back before Stephen Hopkins was giving Sky One the opportunity to indulge in its annoying habit of giving away the next big plot development in its trailers for the next episode of 24, he took on the daunting task of directing a sequel to an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie – Without Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The original Predator was already a classic of the genre – And stood alongside the two Alien movies that had been made to date, The Terminator and Blade Runner, as one of the few sci-fi films that crossed over into horror just enough to appeal to an adult audience without descending into the realms of the “blood-and-guts splatterfest with barely enough plot to tie the gore scenes together”.
True, it was “An Arnie Movie”, but like The Terminator before it, the stunning creature design and the smarter-than-usual plot stood it apart from his more pedestrian “Und dis is wheah I choot him wit my lahge gun!” works.
The question then, became “Would a sequel work without him?”
My opinion is “Yes”.
Predator 2 is a good example of how sequels need not simply retread the same ground as their predecessor. Some elements obviously have to be kept, and there’s a limit to just how far from the source material it’s possible to stray without the link becoming pointless. I think this film managed to find a fair balance in this respect.
With the action transplanted to a near-future Los Angeles, during the hottest summer in history, the odd sense of claustrophobia in a wide open space that the first film managed to convey so well is carried over neatly. The shift in colour palette and environment from green trees to towering grey buildings and filthy damp alleyways gives the creature’s camouflage effect some new tricks to try too, and Danny Glover proves that you don’t have to be build like the proverbial brick Austrian to go toe-to-toe with an alien killing machine and live to tell the tale.
Add in a few nice touches – like the hint that the Predators have been coming to earth to hunt for hundreds if not thousands of years, and the mythos is fleshed out just enough to make for a satisfying addition to the canon.
And yes, there is a scene in which you can see an Alien skull in the background. It was put there as a nod to the Aliens Versus Predator comic that was being published at the time ( A fact mentioned in one of the featurettes on Disc 2 ).
Which reminds me – Isn’t it strange how this 2-disc special edition finds itself being released round about the same time as the Alien Versus Predator movie comes to DVD?
Hey, I’m not complaining. Like I said – I love this movie, and have wanted a Special Edition for a long time! The fact that it’s taken so long to be given the S.E. treatment, after only being available as a bare-bones edition in a boxed-set, means that I now possess three copies of Predator and two copies of this doesn’t annoy me in the slightest. Honest.
So what makes this re-release “Special”?
Well, to my pleasant surprise, this set actually does have rather a lot of extra features! Far more than I expected from such a blatant cash-in re-release.
The first disc contains not one but two audio commentaries – One from Hopkins, and another from the writers ( Jim and John Thomas. Three cheers for them, I say! ) – as well as a superb transfer of the movie, graced with a neighbour-bothering DTS / 5.1 soundtrack that makes very good use of your subwoofer if you have one.
The second disc is filled with the usual mixed bag of trailers and TV spots which, if you watch them all, have the unnerving effect of making you unconsciously start talking like that mainstay of sci-fi and horror trailers… The one and only Voiceover Man.
There is actually some good material on here too – Since of late, I’ve added “Theatrical Trailer” to the list of “Things That Aren’t Actually Special Features”, alongside “animated menus, chapter selection and subtitles”.
We’re treated to one reasonably long “Making Of” documentary, containing footage filmed on set and during shooting as well as more recently conducted interviews with the cast and crew. Gary Busey comes across as somewhat strange, and while not the most in-depth documentary of a film’s production it’s still worth watching.
The special effects of the movie are covered in a number of shorter featurettes and interviews with Stan Winston and crew with topics ranging from the various methods tested and used in the main title sequence to the gradual change from practical and optical effects to CGI that was going on at the time. It’s revealed here that Predator blood is nothing more than glow-stick juice and K.Y. jelly, and that they actually got a one-armed stuntman to play the Predator as it falls from a ledge after having its arm severed with its own weapon.
The evolution of the creature and weapon design from the first film to this one takes up another section, broken down into another set of short featurettes and the whole package is neatly topped with a tasty cherry in the form of the full versions of the “Hardcore” news reports, the filming of which causes Glover’s character so much grief in the movie.
Overall, I’d recommend this set to even a casual fan of the series as no matter why it was re-released it’s still a great film. I have the Region One edition, but if you’d rather buy from a shop and have the UK version the Region Two will be available to buy here from the 4th of March. | |
