Alien vs. Predator

I first saw in in a theatre in 2004. Revisited the 109 mins unrated version recently.

This is the first film installment of the Alien vs. Predator franchise, bringing together the creatures of the Alien and Predator series. In this one, scientists are caught in the crossfire of an ancient battle between Aliens and Predators as they attempt to escape a bygone pyramid. The film is fast paced with tons of action, aided by top notch special effects n amazing set design. Thankfully it doesnt have any shaky cam stuff, no flickering lights n none if the scene is shot in dark light. We can make out what is going on. Compared to most films where too much darkness takes away the fun, this one doesn't have bad lighting. They have toned down the human body count n reduced the gory moments. Nonetheless, it is a good monster action flick. Gore wise, it is nowhere close to the original Predator.

I went into this expecting a horrible movie. From all the reviews that I read I thought it would be HORRIBLE! I've seen many, many worse movies than this.

A previous comment stated the movie went a bit too fast in explaining things and developing the characters. While I can certainly agree on the former, the latter, well, you just know most of the people are going to get wasted so character development isn't that necessary. We came to see Predators hunt and fight with Aliens.

One thing I didn't like was the movie showed the Aliens more powerful than the Predators. I believe the canon shows the Predators are much more powerful than the Aliens. Regardless, I liked this movie.

This movie surprised me because there were many things I didn't expect. Were some scenes over the top? Absolutely, but this is Hollywood and we're talking Aliens V Predator here :) IF you are a fan of these genres you really should give this movie a chance.

The 'Aliens versus Predator' storyline has been with us ever since the 'Predator 2' when Danny Glover huffed and puffed his way across what looked like an alien's skull in the Predator's trophy cabinet. This brief image sparked a storm among fans, whose dreams and wishes were subsequently realised by volumes of comics and graphic novels regarding the subject matter. And they were actually pretty good! Having read a fair few of them, it seemed no end to the possibilities of pitting two of the big screen's most famous monsters against each other. With so many ideas as to what could be done, how could they possibly lose?

The answer: they gave it to Paul W S Anderson. Now, Paul W S Anderson is a very competent director who can stylishly bring action scenes to life. However, his films' major flaws all are that they're 'almost great.' They're not bad. They're watchable. And that is their major crime. They leave you thinking that if you were given $60 million to make a film (in this case one starring the aliens and the Predator) then you could do better than him. And there's a reason for this - you could. And so could I.

Aliens vs Predator sports the tagline 'Whoever wins - we lose.' Isn't that the truth? The film gets its rating taken down from an 18 to a watery 12A, removing all gore and much of the suspense with it. Instead of brutal tough Predators we have a trio of young, inexperienced ones who are - quite frankly - a bit rubbish at killing aliens. Instead of the gun-totting Colonial Marines from Aliens, we have a team of bland, disposable scientists who are there simply to increase the body count. At least the aliens perform on camera, but the battles you may expect between the two races are few and far between. Also, if you saw the trailer and witnessed a million aliens tearing towards some Predators on top of an weird and wonderful pyramid, that's only a flashback. That's about the best bit of the film.

It sort of tries to tie into both the 'Aliens' and 'Predator' mythology, but fans really don't want it to. Like I say, it's not bad. I know I'm making it sound terrible, but it really isn't. It has action, special effects and, um, that's about it. It's perfect for your average sci-fi monster-munching movie. However, when you have either an Aliens film or a Predator film, people expect a little more than something that's 'just okay.'

At least it was more understandable than Prometheus I suppose.

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AVP is one of my favourites from both the Alien and Predator franchise. It does not attain the golden standard that the first two movies in both franchises have set, but no other movie has done that. And it's now 20 years and several sequels/prequels later. I have to say AVP aged really well.

But I always liked it from the start. It's very entertaining. There's all kinds of interactions between humans, predators and aliens. There's a lot going on at once, it's not simply linear when it comes to the action scenes. The same doesn't really go for the story itself (yes the plot could be a bit thicker here or there). However, while it may not be perfect, I had absolutely no problem running along with the story. I also like the setting and how it gives off this part sci fi, part thriller, part action movie vibe.

It's still good after all this time, possibly even better when you compare it to many of the so called blockbusters that are poured out over us nowadays, a lot of which ar so lacking in quality and originality.

Maybe it's not iconic enough for the general public, like Alien and Aliens. Those were groundbreaking, I admit that. I guess I happen to be a fan of the genre and this movie fits right in.

First off, I'll try to make this short. Second off, I generally just don't write reviews as there's already plenty out there, mostly covering just about everything you'd want to read already.

That said, I watched AVP last night for the first time in I don't know how many years (probably since the 00's) and I must say, this flick absolutely does not deserve the hate it generally gets from fans and critics.

What you have here is an absolutely ridiculous concept taken from comic books adapted for a movie, and to be honest, it's constructed better than one would think for something of it's nature.

For a 2004 sci-fi flick combining two VERY heavy hitting characters and concepts, you've got the a blend that works well here story wise, and is it completely out there and unbelievable? YES, and that's exactly what you'd want to witness from an Alien Vs Predator flick.

Script: Well written and out there enough and still flows.

Set design & Cinematography: Kept my eyes peered to the screen the whole time, looking around every frame, trying to catch all the little details.

CGI: What use it has, honestly looks pretty sharp for 2004, and twenty years later, absolutely holds up compared to many other flicks in that era.

Concept: Totally insane and awesome, and as stated, executed rather well for what it is.

I flew through AVP's 100mins like it was a 18min short film, and honestly could have used a little more, even though it wrapped itself up setting itself up for a sequel (let's not talk about that one) in about as hilarious and daunting fashion as it could.

My one main complaint here is how all this fits into the whole franchise:

• How did we not know this was here before?

• Is this why the Weyland Corporation even sends Ripley's team out into space in the original Alien?

• Will we ever hear from the Queen at the bottom of the ocean again?

Other than that, this flick packs an out there concept into a tightly knit package that does it's best to stay true to both franchises, while blending it in a way that surprisingly Paul W. S. Anderson pulls off here, and well enough that I may just put this right under Event Horizon as his other best flick.

I hope I covered everything I wanted to that was swimming around in my head after watching this last night.

Long story short - this one actually holds up and is 1000000% worth another fun rewatch.