Alien vs. Predator

December 9, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 87 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Alien vs. Predator is one of the ultimate cool concept movies if you’re a big sci-fi and action fan. Alien and Aliens rank among our favorite movies of all time, and Predator is right up there as well. But our expectations were low. When you have a concept with this level of appeal, but the studios opt to release it late in the summer movie season and do not screen it for critics, it’s never a good sign. Throw in a PG-13 rating when all of the other movies featuring these two critters have had a well earned R-rating, plus a 1:27 minute runtime and we smell trouble. Unfortunately we were correct and this movie underachieves.

Alien vs. Predator

A pyramid is discovered 2000 feet under the ice of Antarctica. Charles Bishop Weyland, billionaire owner of one of the world’s largest corporations organizes a group of the worlds best explorers and scientists to go investigate. And yes, his name should sound familiar to you if you are a fan of the Alien movies. What they find is a hunting expedition with the universe’s best hunters pursuing the universe’s most challenging prey. And neither species is particular impressed with humans.

We wont spoil the story or any of the surprises, but the plot is acceptable in terms of backfilling from both series of movies and explaining how and why both species are here. But beyond that, check your disbelief at the door. Dont expect the level of suspense of even the worst of the sequels. We weren’t exactly on the edge of our seats at any point.

But hey, why did we go to this movie? We went to see the fights of course, and that’s what everyone wants to know about. The visuals were pretty good, maybe a tad darker than we would like, but the critters looked and moved well. Some of the early fight sequences were in so tight they ended up being jerky and made you wanna yell “zoom out so I can see what the heck they’re doing!” But they got much better later in the movie, I’m not sure if that was on purpose or not. The only complaint is there wasn’t enough of the fights, and the darned PG-13 rating limited the level of violence. Though we must say Predators dont need an airlock to take out an Alien!

We give Alien vs. Predator 3 stars. It didn’t really even come close to living up to our expectations, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. If you’re a fan of either or both series, go see it. But we think you’ll find yourself wondering what James Cameron or Ridley Scott could’ve done with the movie when it’s over.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 3 Stars, Action, Colin Salmon, DVD, Ewen Bremner, Lance Henriksen, PG-13, Raoul Bova, Sanaa Lathan, SciFi