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Alien Vs Predator -- a review


I was watching a movie talk show the other day and one of the pundits on the panel mentioned just how awful Alien Vs. Predator (AVP) was. It made me realize that I haven’t watched this film in a while. I had been a huge Alien fan since seeing the original Alien in theaters back in 1979 (and had seen Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection) in theaters, also. I had never been a big Predator fan, seeing how the first film with Arnold (“Get to da Choppa!”) is really the only one that’s best of that bunch. But I enjoyed AVP when I first saw it on DVD back in 2004.


Granted, the movie takes liberties with the backstory of both franchises--which may be the major sticking point for most fans of the Aliens and Predators, but upon re-watching this flick I realized that the backstory that AVP creates for Aliens actually fits into the mythology by having Lance Henriksen return to play the original owner of the Weyland Corporation, an early version of the firm that keeps popping up in one form or another in the Alien films. But while it scores points for trying to add to the overall Alien mythology, AVP stumbles in how it posits that the Aliens had already been on earth centuries before Ripley first met one in Alien.



Another stumbling point with AVP is how cheesy the movie is, lacking the gravitas that directors Ridley Scott and James Cameron brought to the first Alien and Aliens, respectively. Paul W.S. Anderson, who wrote and directed AVP, is maybe better known for the slapdash (and seemingly never-ending) Resident Evil movies that star his wife Milla Jovovich. He brings the same popcorn mentality of the Resident Evil films to AVP, eschewing the attention to small details and gritty reality that make Alien and Aliens each masterpieces of cinema. Thanks to its dumbing down of its plot, AVP is nowhere in the same league as the first two Alien, films, or even the first Predator.



Still, AVP is entertaining in showing the battles between the monsters--Anderson brings his kinetic action style to good use here--and there are some really cool moments between the beasts, such as when a Predator casually lops off the head of an alien, who remains still for a second before collapsing in a heap. And the lead actress, Sanaa Lathan, makes for an engaging presence whom you want to root for. Granted, AVP is lacking--especially compared to the first two Alien films--but its popcorn film mentality (which makes the film dim-witted and disposable) also makes it an enjoyable lark. And, despite all of its faults, AVP, is still a much better film than its sequel, the risible AVP: Requiem.



Re-watching AVP: Requiem made me very bored and cranky. The movie is very dark--and I don’t mean tonally, but literally: you can’t see a damn thing that happens onscreen for the better part of the movie’s running time. It made me wonder if they ran out of money for the effects and simply decided to turn off the lights to hide the cheap monster suits they were using. Add a lame script with cardboard teenage characters--none of whom are sympathetic in the slightest--and you have a movie that’s truly a waste of time and film. If you really want a decent Aliens Vs. Predator story, you may be better off reading the original Dark Horse comics. --SF


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