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Dan Owen reviews
Alien Quadrilogy:
Predator Sp.Edn:
Predator 1 & 2:
- Cert:
- Running time: 101 minutes
- Year: 2004
- Released: 22nd October 2004
- Widescreen Ratio: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- Sound: DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, SDDS
Director:
- Paul W.S Anderson
(Mortal Kombat, Soldier, Resident Evil)
Producers:
- Gordon Carroll, John Davis, David Giler, Wyck Godfrey, Lawrence Gordon,Thomas M. Hammel, Walter Hill, David Minkowski, Henning Molfenter, MikeRichardson, Matthew Stillman & Chris Symes
Screenplay:
- Paul W.S Anderson
(based on characters created by Dan OBannon, Ronald Shusett, Jim Thomas & John Thomas)
Cinematographer:
- David Johnson
Music:
- James Seymour Brett, Harald Kloser, Thomas Schobel & Thomas Wanker
Cast:
- Alexa Woods: Sanaa Lathan
Sebastian de Rosa: Raoul Bova
Charles Bishop Weyland: Lance Henriksen
Graeme Miller: Ewen Bremner
Maxwell Stafford: Colin Salmon
Mark Verheiden: Tommy Flanagan
Joe Connors: Joseph Rye
Adele Rousseau: Agathe De La Boulaye
Rusten Quinn: Carsten Norgaard
Thomas Parks: Sam Troughton
Alien Vs Predator (AVP),has been a project trapped in that cinematic abyssknown as development hell for 10 years now. Unfortunately, hell seems to bedefrosting recently, with the success of last year’s Freddy Vs Jasonspurring 20th Century Fox to finally make this clash of the titans.
Set in the present time (just one of the movie’s budgetary-influenced sins)AVP finds industrial billionaire Charles Bishop Weyland discovering apyramid 2000 feet under the Antarctic ice. Weyland quickly assembles a teamto venture under the ice floor, where they find themselves caught in abattle between Predators and Aliens.
The reviews have been pretty scathing for AVP, with fans sharpening theirknives way back when Paul W.S Anderson was announced as the writer-director.Anderson is a British director with good intentions, but he lacks theability to create anything original with his limited abilities behind thecamera and formulaic writing.
Having made a niche for himself in Hollywood, by creating relatively cheapand moderately successful video-game tie-ins (Mortal Kombat and ResidentEvil), Anderson was handed the reigns on Alien Vs Predator.
The idea has been in gestation since an in-joke in Predator 2 – when anAlien skull was seen in a Predator’s spaceship. It was an inspired momentthat quickly spawned a successful Dark Horse comic-book series, a series ofcomputer games… and now a Hollywood movie.
Putting aside the fact Alien Vs Predator is a ridiculous idea that shouldhave remained inside the pages of a comic; Anderson’s movie is actually agreat deal of fun if you’re looking for boneheaded action and an occasionalthrill for fans of either extra-terrestrial killing machine.
Anderson desperately tries to crank up the tension by slowly introducing usto his cast of dispensable, clichéd characters. It’s a laudable attempt, butwith a title like Alien Vs Predator it only serves to test the audiences’patience. Anderson’s 45-minute build-up is slow and painfully formulaic -introducing us in mechanical fashion to the gutsy no-nonsense heroine, thegeek with a family, the handsome foreign scientist, etc.
Only B-movie stalwart Lance Henriksen (The Terminator), in an admittedlyneat link to the Alien saga, manages to carve out a half-way decentcharacter – as the progenitor of his Bishop character fromAliensandAlien 3.The rest of the underwritten cast just wander the screen as alienfodder, spouting terrible dialogue designed to drive the hackneyed plotforward.
However, for all its faults, the promise of Alien/Predator fisticuffsmanages to keep you entertained and occasionally thrilled – despite the lossof make-up wiz Stan Winston, whose absence renders the Predators asoversized wrestlers with silly masks.
Fortunately, the Aliens are brought to the screen with much better success.Even their CGI doubles are more successfully integrated than in 1997’s AlienResurrection. Well, for the most part, anyway…
Unfortunately, in a sly effort to increase Fox’s profit, AVP has been givena 15 certificate (PG-13 in the US!) So the blood-letting we’ve come toexpect from the Alien and Predator franchises is seriously diminished. Thepotent, brooding fear of an Alien movie is missing – as is the blood-soakedhorror of the Predator films. In their place is a variety of fight scenesstraight from an episode of Power Rangers. Fortunately these contain enoughviolence to wake audiences up – despite the manic editing and overused ofclose-ups!
In a nutshell, AVP is a cynical crowd-pleaser for audiences who just want tosee Aliens versus Predators on the big screen. Anderson’s attempt to weave aback-story into the Alien/Predator mythology comes across as a flimsy mix ofCongoandStargate.His attempt to combine the two franchises only serves todemystify the Predator character and ride roughshod over the Alien saga’schronology
On the bright side, AVP sustains its runtime fairly well once the puzzle-boxpyramid traps the human victims inside to contend with the aliens. Itcontains enough sequences to please teenaged fans of both horror characters- particular the return of the Alien Queen; visualized here as a crossbetween a Praying Mantis and a stampeding T-Rex!
If you don’t take AVP seriously (and with a title like that, who will?) thenthere is enough here to satisfy its target demographic. Connoisseurs ofeither standalone franchise will find much to grumble over here, and it’s ashame budget/certificate restrictions limited the possibilities of theproject… but, this isn’t the total turkey you may have been expecting.
PERFORMANCES
PLOT
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OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.