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Predator 2: (Alan Silvestri) Despite the longevity
of the
Predator franchise since its 1987 debut, its original
direct sequel of 1990,
Predator 2, has long been considered a
tremendous disappointment, artistically and financially. The star of the
original film, Arnold Schwarzenegger, abandoned yet another concept
because of an incredibly lame script, and the popular actor was vocal
about his dismay in regards to
Predator 2's intent to take the
battle between alien hunter and human forces into an urban environment.
Replacing him is Danny Glover in a decent performance, though the
insertion of a Predator into the middle of a Los Angeles turf war
between competing drug gangs left critics and audiences without much
reason to care (though the Predator's redesign did add to claims of the
use of racial stereotypes by the filmmakers). Glover's character,
comparable in some ways to his
Lethal Weapon role, chases the
Predator through the city and has to contend with federal forces that,
still investigating the initial film's events, are trying to capture the
alien. The plot was laughably poor, in part due to some intentionally
and unintentionally humorous scenes (an old lady chases the Predator out
of her apartment with a broom) but also in part due to its attempt to
better the ridiculous violence of the first movie, with displays of
dismemberment and other unpleasant injury and death that initially
earned
Predator 2 an NC-17 rating in America before being trimmed
down. The film recouped its production budget but not much more,
temporarily killing the concept on screen before 20th Century Fox
combined it with its
Alien franchise. The score for the original
Predator by Alan Silvestri became a cult favorite much like the
film, its initial two, limited CD releases both becoming scarce and
commanding top dollar on the secondary market. The composer was one of a
minority of crew members to return for
Predator 2, and the
accompanying commercial album of the sequel score long represented his
only music from the franchise to be readily available. The differences
between the two scores are quite striking, though, with only a handful
of passages from the first score, along with some thematic cameos,
carrying over. The action material connects the two, and this is where
Silvestri truly excels in the concept. But the generally militaristic
attitude of the first score is replaced by a distinctly foreign sound
with even more enhanced jungle aspects, an irony given the switch of
locales on screen. Silvestri also took the opportunity to explore the
horror and alien aspects of his basic template from the first score,
resulting in an interesting listening experience but ultimately a less
satisfying one.
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For diehard enthusiasts of Silvestri's work for
Predator, there are enough reprises of the familiar, ballsy
action style from that score in the sequel to merit some interest. The
composer really is at his best when he establishes ass-kicking
percussive rhythms and uses brass muscularity to explore a motif on top
of them, a characteristic of highlights from
Back to the Future
to
The Mummy Returns. Here, such driving passages in "Tunnel
Chase" and "El Scorpio" are noteworthy. The primary theme returns,
though not frequently; its application in "Tunnel Chase" is a teaser for
several minutes of full reprise in the first half of "End Title." The
wondrous space theme makes a brief appearance in the realization scene
in "Danny Gets It" and the solemn solo trumpet theme of military honor
is heard in "Rest in Pieces" (before being overtaken by truly hideous
horror material). A number of other general motifs relating to the main
theme's interlude are interspersed as well. Silvestri doesn't make much
of an attempt to define the sequel score thematically, using eerie
fragments of the main theme at times and only really developing a
solidly fresh, deeply choral idea (of paired notes) for the new Predator
in "Truly Dead" and "Dem Bones" before a summary at the end of "End
Title." The use of an animalistic wailing effect over jungle drums is
the most interesting new identity to extend out of the previous score.
Here, it sounds almost like a baritone saxophone badly manipulated (as
in John Debney's portion of
Sin City) so that it emulates the
twisted cry of an animal. While its wails in "Main Title" seem random,
you eventually start to hear Silvestri pulling them together into
fragments of his main franchise theme, and twice in "End Title" (and
most clearly and with cool results at 3:25), he actually states the full
idea in this manner. That "End Title" suite of nearly nine minutes
represents all the best that Silvestri has to offer in
Predator
2, including two long statements of the prior score's main theme.
That said, this cue and several others still have major detriments. In
two places during "End Title," there are abrupt changes in gain levels
or mix (2:13 and 2:22) that an editor apparently attempted to match up
with the beats of the percussive rhythms. Elsewhere, the contents of
Silvestri's horror and suspense sequences are dissatisfying. The creepy
cues practically do not register, "First Carnage" barely audible. The
latter half of "Rest in Pieces" uses oddly performed and mixed vocals
that alternate in the stereo soundscape obnoxiously while dissonant
strikes pound away. The synthetic and percussive techniques in "Swinging
Rude Boys" are barely tolerable as well. Overall,
Predator 2
constantly shows more promise than it delivers upon, adequately
achieving its goals but inhibited by a rather poor album presentation
with an uneven mix. The original
Predator score remains a
superior alternative.
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| Bias Check: | For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.34 (in 32 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.27
(in 30,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
