Release Date: August 13, 2004 Studio: 20th Century Fox Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Screenwriter: Paul W.S. Anderson, Shane Salerno Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen, Ewen Bremner,
Colin Salmon, Agathe De La Boulaye, Tommy Flanagan, Carsten Norgaard, Joseph
Rye, Sam Troughton, Tom Woodruff Jr. Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for violence, language, horror images, slime, and
gore) Official Website:
AVP-movie.com
Plot Summary: The iconic monsters from two of
the scariest film franchises ever, battle each other on Earth for the first time
on film. The discovery of an ancient pyramid buried in Antarctica sends a team
of scientists and adventurers to the frozen continent. There, they make an even
more terrifying discovery: two alien races engaged in the ultimate battle. No
matter who wins, we lose.
This is a hybrid of the Alien and Predator
franchises from the 80s and 90s (Alien, 1979, spawned three sequels and
Predator, 1987, one) which pits an expedition of scientists to the
Antarctica seeking to uncover the remains of a buried ancient pyramid which has
been inhabited for centuries by aliens and another grotesque planetary race, but
the expeditors are unaware of the long standing war between them.
Alien
vs. Predator is straight forward science fiction
which has none of the same suspense of the earlier films. The basic idea is
hackneyed, but the movie is nonetheless enjoyable and has good special effects.
The last third of the movie is the most entertaining after we have witnessed
profuse gratuitous scenes of alien verses predator verses human mayhem.
You’re left wondering in the first half why this war exists, so is initially
confusing. Into the second half we are let in about what has been going on
between the aliens (‘serpents’) and the predators. It is a piece of imaginative
but ludicrous “revisionist” history.
However, it might have been more interesting to have the set the story there,
which recounts the history of alien and predator warfare, when one special
effects laden montage sequence (and used seductively in the trailer) promises
much more scope than the action here which is set in a claustrophobic over
activated pyramid. It potentially offers a palette of wars and feuds beyond this
film’s claustrophobia, more reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings, rather
than 13 Ghosts.
Theme can be summed up in a phrase. Plot, dialogue and characterisations,
including the performances, are sketchy. Lance Henricksen and Sanaa Lathan (Blade)
make the most of meagre material, which offers a strong African American woman (Lathan)
the chance to connect and emphasise with a predator!
- Almost phony baloney