Alien vs. Predador

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.

Reading some of the harsh reviews I thought I would comment. The big disappointment for me in the movie was the lack of gore , fox did get it wrong to make it a pg13 even though they tried to substitute it with monster gore. All that being said this movie is a visual master-peace, the effects are top notch with very good fight scenes and creature effects with the best looking Alien Queen to hit the screens, The story is pretty cool and it gives more insight of the Predators, It takes a while for the introduction of the creatures but once the ball is rolling its none stop action. Not the horror feast we all wanted but fun.

A team assembled by a billionaire investigate a heat signal that reveals a pyramid below the surface of a whaling station in Antarctic. However, the pyramid is a hunting ground for Predators who kill Aliens as a rite of passage and the team find themselves caught in the middle of their hunt.

It shouldn't have been mixed, Paul W.S. Anderson's AVP: Alien vs. Predator was more so unjustly panned by critics and fans due to the hype and anticipation. It has the feeling of an Alien film, a great premise, good cinematography, some amazing effects and a fine score.

Paul W.S. Anderson is successful in bringing the franchises together, respecting ideas from both Alien and Predator movies. I haven't seen a bad film that he's made and I'm not sure why there is such a geek gang hatred against the mans work. The ever-improving Uwe Boll he is not! The strong leads include Sanaa Lathan as the heroine and Raoul Bova. However, unfortunately actors Carsten Norgaard as Rusten Quinn and Tommy Flanagan as Mark Verheiden disappear far too early. Overall the acting is good, Lance Henrikson shows up as the 'real' Bishop but some of the characters lack development and the editing feels choppy in places.

The Predators and Aliens look great apart from some badly executed CGI. It not Ridley Scott or John McTiernan, but Paul Anderson pulls off the almost impossible task of putting these to aliens together on screen.

If there was not an Alien or Predator film prior to this it may have been haled as a science fiction adventure classic, but alas that's not the case.

Alien vs. Predator (2004) is a movie in my DVD collection that I recently watched on Amazon Prime. The storyline follows a research expedition that recently was discovered miles under the ice. The research team doesn't know the pyramid was setup as a hunting playground for Predators to test their hunting skills against the ultimate beings...and we aren't talking about humans.

This movie is directed by Paul W. S. Anderson (Event Horizon) and stars Sanaa Lathan (Love & Basketball), Lance Henriksen (Pumpkinhead), Ewen Bremner (Rundown), Tommy Flanagan (Gladiator), Raoul Bova (Under the Tuscan Sun).

The storyline for this picture was actually okay and was a good setup for this premise. I enjoyed the settings and the cast. I'd never complain about Lathan and Henriksen movies. The special effects were awesome and the kill and action scenes were very good, loved the depiction of both the Aliens and Predators. The alien vs predator fights were excellent, including how the face huggers were mixed in.

Overall is this a perfect movie? No, this premise had no chance of that. Is this worth viewing and entertaining? Absolutely. I'd score this a 6.5-7/10 and strongly recommend seeing this.

Just watched it again yesterday - it's striking how good the action is compared to the ridiculous dialogue. I completely understand why this movie got such terrible reviews; after all, it marked the first "let's make a quick buck" entry in the two beloved Alien and Predator franchises and was done by a director who many felt didn't treat the material with the respect it deserved. When I watched it yesterday I got angry at times because some of the dialogue - well, most of it, actually - is truly awful. It's hard to take characters or a story seriously when nearly every sentence spoken resembles lines from a parody of cheap science-fiction and horror movies from the fifties and sixties. But despite all those flaws I have to admit I enjoyed the movie from start to finish - because of the amazing set- and creature-design and the more than decent action sequences and special effects. Whoever designed those really scored and seems to have a great love for the art of Giger and the previous films. So if you can get past the silly characters and you're able to ignore the more obvious shortcomings (like the idiotic decision to make the film PG-13) you're in for a fun ride. My vote: 6.5 out of 10.

Favorite films: http://www.IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls075552387/