AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)

Wonderful character development!

Powerful

Great Film overall

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I'm still scratching my head as to why folks didn't like this movie. It's got a great story, good cast, top-notch special effects and the action and fight scenes between the two infamous creatures is thrilling. It's definitely one you want to sit down with your kids and a pizza and enjoy it for what it is...a great sci-fi action flick, that will not make your top 5 of favorites of all time, but is definitely worth an evening in front of the tube. There are some unrealistic scenes, but we're talking about a movie where humans are unwittingly trapped between two alien species battling in a gillion year old pyramid under the Artic Ice Caps....were you expecting Lord of the Rings or Schindler's List? Anyway, this is one of the best examples of why you should ignore the whiners that thought this movie strayed too far off the original story of the aliens, or the critics that panned it for, well, whatever the so-called expert critics panned it for. The story does nothing to change the whole story of either species in the previous movies and is actually quite original. Sanaa Latham does good in the pragmatic and brave 'Ripley role' this time. Lance is great as a sick billionaire that can't wait to get down there and discover something that will change the history of humanity before he dies with cancer and Italian star Raoul Bova is great as another scientist that the team is glad that they brought along for the adventure. Watch the Director's Cut as it shows some more stuff that explains things a little better, about what happened to the first unfortunate souls that got caught in the crossfire of the two species.

From the review scores it would seem a lot of people were disappointed with this first installment in the AVP franchise. I counter that the setting and story are almost perfect for the scenario of the film - Aliens fighting Predators, in a sort of earth game reserve, with unwitting humans caught in the middle. The film moves fast and there's not a lot of fluff or wasted scenes. Every story element advances the viewer faster and faster to the bloody battles that are the whole reason for "alien vs predator" and for the most part, they don't disappoint. Predator and Alien species seem more then evenly matched and it's hard not to simply want to see the two creatures destroy each other - which they very nearly do with the crew of an antarctic research team caught in the middle. Is it the best Alien or Predator film, certainly not. However for die-hard AVP fans there's plenty here to like. I was a fan of the dark horse comics series, (at one point Dark Horse most popular comic book)and there are elements from several of the comics present, in this competently made and reasonably suspenseful story.

Read reviews. What the director does do, and to some extent he said so himself, just make money. He explores scripts, movies or franchise movies if you will, that were already successful or at least in the public consciousness. These movies he does, and this one AVP: Alien vs Predator (2004), all will make money just on their merits alone. Just like if I was to make a King Kong vs Gozilla movie. I would bet you the bank that I would turn a profit. By picking an established "character" it then becomes how can I make 10 to 15 minutes of suspenseful scenes, albeit not Hitchcockian, and maybe 6 or 7 minutes of action (fighting between the Alien and Predator), so as not to raise the budget to high where the profit will be reduced. And, as in all of his films, almost all has achieved success. He makes movies, his words (and I am paraphrasing), that are not for the critics, this websites reviewers, but to make the majority of the audience happy, thus, having a profit and allowing future investors to allow him to direct because he is a "profitable" director, albeit with already proven " stars" or "monsters" or a universe set up. The directors highest rating for a movie, on rotten tomatoes, I think was 41%. Most of all the other movies were in the 20 to 33% range, yet some of them turned a profit, case and point. When you make movies that appeal to the lowest common denominator intellectually, well, it does a disservice to those with an intellect. But, as usual it's not about making a great, new, provocative movie, it is about (this director at least) making money. Now that's okay but you are making money, as I said before, on an already established "franchise." Too be a really great film maker one has to explore their own interior and make that movie or movies that have no previous formula, but only your own creativity. From idea to script to pre-production and so on and so on till the movie, your "baby", is completed. Then and only then will you truly be called a film maker. Until then, money aside, you are part of the assembly line and not the stand alone artist. Further, the people calling the "monsters" classic are way off base. When this movie , AVP: Alien vs Predator (2004) was made it was only 17 years removed from the first one and the creators didn't, at least I my opinion, think is was going to be anything more than one movie, much less a "universe." You need at least 25 years, in cars at least, and certain states at that, for something to be a classic. So simmer with the classic thing. Also, again the director knew what he had and that's why she ("The main character ") can stand around in the Antarctica without a hat or a coat and have a 118 pound woman survive where (in the original Predator) three guys (Blain, Dillon & Mac) who are taller and in some cases a better athlete (Weathers) than Arnold not come close to surviving. Oh, and they are specially trained for this. But that is the way of Hollywood. Try to shape society and stop the social ills even if the truth be told, that most pilots flying the aircraft's (stats by the government) are 95% male worldwide. The movie, as a movie, isn't a on the edge of your seat thriller or a turn away, I'm scared movie. The acting, agian, think budget, because these "Joes" are not Gielgud or Olivier. For that matter they are not Bill Duke or Carl Weathers. Thanks for reading God Bless James

It's so easy to jump on a bandwagon when your a sheep, and that's exactly what happened to this movie. AvP is a solid action sci-fi film, and there' just no getting away from that. To start with, it looks great! Director Paul W.S. Anderson (the man who gave us the ONLY good video game film ever in Mortal Kombat) has a remarkable eye for visuals, and here is no exception. It's a pretty film with decent CGI and some really stunning set design.The story is interesting as well, and to address the elephant in the room, yes the first third of this film is pretty much Identical to the start of Prometheus, only AvP got there first by nearly a decade. When things kick off the action is fantastic and it's just a well made and fun film all round, plus it's GREAT to see Lance Herikson back, and he does afar better job as a Weyland than Guy Pearce.Is it perfect? No. It's not as good as any of the first three Alien films not is it as good as the first two Predator films. There's a real lack of character development and most people there are just meat sacks waiting to be killed. Some questionable representation of the gestation cycle of the Aliens is on show here and having the lead teaming up with a predator was just a bad idea. Another fault is that, even though the action is fantastic there's just not enough of it.Still, these minor quibbles aside I found AvP to be a great and fun action sci-fi film, with plenty of thrills, spills and monster madness. Infinitely better than the atrocious sequel which followed.Don't listen to the sheep. Something being "not as good as..." doesn't automatically = "Bad".