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Echoes |
Topic: [Movie] Alien Vs Predator
Posted: 2004-08-14 @ 15:14:02
 | You know you want it |
There is a certain mystique surrounding movie crossovers. People have long fantasized what would happen if Arnold fought Sylvester, if Spinal Tap played a battle of the bands against the Blues Brothers, if Freddy fought Jason. At the top of every fanboy's list of 'versus' flicks, is the crown jewel of crossover geekery, Alien Versus Predator. This has been brewing since Predator 2 (if not earlier), when we see an Alien skull inside a trophy case in the Predator spaceship. So the mythos was born, which spawned comics, novels, and even two video games. What better way to make money than to give spacegeek fans what they want, which would be a combination of two of the most popular films of the 'terror' genre.
I will admit, I went into this movie with absolutely zero expectations for a decent crossover film, my faith being desiccated by the abysmal Freddy Vs Jason (or was it Jason Vs Freddy? I really don't care). I was merely expecting my favorite two movie monsters go at it in a visually pleasing way, presumably discarding any and all plotline halfway through the movie in order to concentrate on an orgy of acidic blood and chest-bursting glory. The humans, assumably, would be nothing more than vessels for fortifying the ranks of Aliens, and occasionally they would be used as a way for the Preds to show off their mad killing skills (er...so to speak).
As it turns out, there are NO space marines, as the videogames have taught me. There aren't even any confining spaceship passageways that are the trademark of the Alien Quadrilogy. Rather, it takes place in our day and age, starting with the discovery of a massive and mysterious pyramid 2000 feet beneath the surface of Antarctica (because lets face it, how many action movies star penguins? Well now we have one, if only for a brief moment). Naturally, a rich multibillionaire (Lance Henriksen - the android from Aliens, watch for a cool scene paying homage to the knife game scene from Aliens) sends an archeological expedition down there, to see what they can find out. It seems that the Predators use that are as a 'proving ground' for adolescent predators to hunt the ultimate prey, the Xenomorph as a rite of passage. Of course the humans set off the sequence which begins the production of Xenos just as the latest batch of 3 predators arrive. So now the humans are hunted by Aliens, who are in turn, hunted by predators. And that is the basics of the plot.
Amazingly enough, this movie was not a complete train wreck. Granted, the PG-13 rating takes away from some of the swearing and blood, but there is still plenty, and this rating forces the movie to rely a little more on a plot, as opposed to senseless violence. The movie is very fast-paced, which is a major setback at times, as the first few chest-bursting scenes seem to happen abnormally quickly. The acting is more or less solid, and the scenes that seem plain silly (ie, slow motion action of a human doing something heroic) are kept mercifully few and far between, if not nonexistent. The best acting is brought courtesy of Ewen Bremmer(the stuttering guy from Pearl Harbour as a chemical engineer with an adorable Scottish/Welsh accent. The fight scenes tended to be a little fast paced, especially with the first few in the pyramid, where it was hard to tell what was happening beyond the obvious fact that an Alien was grappling with a Predator. The lack of clarity in those fights were kind of frustrating
The Aliens were done very well, in the vein of the earlier movies, with equal parts hiding in the shadows and scuttling about like a spider from hell. The Queen gets to roam free for the first time since Aliens, and looks quite impressive, although similarities have been noted between it and the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. Face Huggers were the same as they've always been, and the there were a few great shots of Aliens posing about and look downright badass. The Predators seemed bulkier than their previous incarnations, and seemed kind of clumsy the first few time we see them. Granted, as the movie wears on, the Predators become less awkward looking and more lethal, which is a good thing. The assortment of Predator weapons are all here, including discs, spears, cloaking devices (which look a LOT like active camouflage in Halo : Combat Evolved ), shoulder cannons, and of course, the wrist nuke.
Fans of the series will either love it or be terribly disappointed, seeing as there may not be enough blood and terror to satisfy them as them previous 5 movies could. Such is the bane of the PG-13 rating. However, people seeing this on a whim will not be exposed to a travesty such as Freddy VS Jason, but instead be treated to a brief thrill ride with some impressive special effects.
This movie is enough to interest a casual fan, and will probably receive mixed review from the more hardcore fans of AVP. As for this intrepid reviewer, I give it a solid 7.75 out of ten. Better than a 7 and a half, but not quite an 8. A great ride, and I was impressed by the fact that the movie was not terrible, and did not feel my ten dollars were wasted.
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