Predator 2 saw the “City Hunter” swap the actual jungle for the concrete jungle of Los Angeles, which was every bit a war zone itself. It’s strange to think that after this 1990 sequel, the Predator movie franchise lay dormant for 14 years. The sequel was still a success, but the film grossed significantly less than the original, with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s refusal to return for Predator 2 being cited as a problem. Despite a tepid critical response at the time, the sequel is considered an action gem now.

The sequel also expanded on the lore of the тιтular hunters, giving more of an insight into their culture and honor system; Predator 2’s Alien easter egg also set the course for the eventual Alien vs Predator crossover movie in 2004. The follow-up’s main villain is dubbed the City Hunter, who finds plenty of targets in the “future” year of 1997, with Danny Glover’s tough cop Harrigan being the trophy he’s seeking. The heatwave the city is experiencing helps the hunter out too.

LA’s Abnormal Heat Wave Became The Perfect Environment For The City Hunter In Predator 2

The City Hunter takes a summer vacation in Predator

The original Predator establishes that the тιтular alien comes in particularly H๏τ seasons to hunt. Since L.A. is experiencing a heat wave when Predator 2 opens, that makes conditions ideal for a little skull collecting and general mayhem. Since the Jungle Hunter was defeated in combat a decade prior, according to the movie’s timeline, the clan may have decided it was time to test out another environment filled with heat and violence.

Cities are likely something the hunters avoid, so their visits to Earth go undetected. Since the Los Angeles of Predator 2 is a blazing inferno of bloodshed, they may have decided that the sheer brutality of the gang warfare was ideal to mask their activities. There is no exposition that lays that out, but it’s a logical deduction based on how smart the creatures appear in other entries. In short, the City Hunter came for L.A.’s heat and stayed for the various hunting opportunities it provided.

The Gang Violence In LA Was Seen As A Challenge For Predator 2’s City Hunter

Harrigan was the trophy the City Hunter had its eye on

Despite the setting, the basic structure of Predator 2 isn’t very different from the first installment. Both involve the leader of an elite squad (Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch in the original and Danny Glover’s Harrigan in the sequel) chasing down the invisible hunter and when their team gets wiped out, it’s up to them to take on the creature alone. In taking part in L.A.’s gang warfare, the City Hunter is challenging itself against opponents with powerful weapons while also seeking prey worthy of its skills.

Just like the Jungle Hunter found Dutch, the City Hunter sees Harrigan in action. In Predator 2’s opening, the alien watches from afar as the fearless detective drives a car right into the middle of a raging shootout and kills multiple attackers by himself. From that point on, Harrigan is marked as a prize by the killer, who goads and plays mind games on the detective – such as killing his partner and leaving the man’s destroyed necklace in his graveyard – before the two face off in the finale.

It’s interesting how violent and reckless the City Hunter becomes, too. In the beginning, it’s tactical about the prey it chooses to fight, but later in the story, it attacks a subway car full of armed pᴀssengers. The hunter seems to become addicted to the violence inherent in this version of Los Angeles and always chooses to run toward a fight instead of stalking his enemies. This same recklessness later allows Harrigan to slice off the hunter’s arm, before killing it in a one-on-one battle.

Reportedly, a key reason Arnie turned down Predator 2 was because he didn’t like the city setting, and critics would later point to this as another reason the sequel underperformed. I think it was a natural progression for the series, and the concrete jungle gave the film a distinct feeling from the original.