MOVIE REVIEW : Action-Packed, Derivative ‘Predator 2’

Like the original, “Predator 2” (citywide) has a jungle setting, only this time it’s an urban jungle--downtown Los Angeles in 1997--instead of the strife-torn Central America of the first. Another Predator, a member of that gigantic alien species with hideous, crablike heads hidden by a helmet and claws for hands, pops up in the midst of a garment district shootout between Colombian and Jamaican drug gangs, making quick work of these criminals.

Unfortunately, the huge creature with his awesome weaponry makes no distinction between good and evil, which spells big trouble for veteran L.A. cop Danny Glover and his partners, Maria Conchita Alonso and Ruben Blades.

“Predator 2” may be a sequel, but it plays like a reworking of “Predator” punched up to the max to distract from this unavoidable impression. This means the filmmakers hit us hard with elaborate special effects, stunt work and production design plus plenty of violence.

Since writers Jim and John Thomas’ plot this time involves much stale, tough cop talk and a trite jurisdictional clash between the maverick Glover and Gary Busey’s rigid federal agent, the film essentially marks time until the inevitable showdown between Glover and the Predator, again played beneath heavy masking by 7-foot-2 Kevin Peter Hall. Because it’s like a repeat match, it cannot hope to equal the effect of the scary suspense generated when Arnold Schwarzenegger took on the first Predator.

We can be grateful that “Predator 2” has first-rate actors, even if the demands placed upon them are mainly physical, and that director Stephen Hopkins (whose last picture was “Nightmare on Elm Street 5”) is relentless in his swift pacing. Virtually everything about the film is derivative--even the design for the eerie setting for the climactic struggle recalls the interiors of the more exotic old movie palaces--but its makers can’t be accused of cutting corners. No doubt about it, those who ask only for pure action will be getting their money’s worth. “Predator 2” (rated R for violence and language) makes it clear that we haven’t seen the last of these ugly, outsized aliens. After all, only poor box office can kill off monsters.