AVP: Alien vs. Predator
Rating: 1.5/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
The Alien and Predator franchise are huge staples of the sci-fi genre, with both titular villains being such iconic creatures in the horror/sci-fi iconography. While both of their series have dealt with the themes of horror and camp, Paul W.S. Anderson hoped to bring these two together to have them square off in a film that will hopefully thrill audiences and capture some of that magic that was found in the original films for both of these franchises. While I don't think it works on many different aspects and I do have my own problems with it, Anderson does try his best to seamlessly bring these two franchises together and does deliver a cheesy, somewhat fun popcorn flick.
The picture revolves around an expedition funded by an elderly Charles Weyland (Lance Henriksen), who wants to have one more discovery before his death. When they find a mysterious heat source in Antarctica, the crew, consisting of tour guide Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan), Italian archaeologist Sebastian (Raoul Bova), chemical engineer Graeme (Ewen Bremner), and more, decide to go and discover where this heat signature is coming from. When they discover an ancient pyramid temple that houses parasitic aliens, they realize they have dug too deep into a discovery and now must find a way out. To make matters worse, another alien species, known as Predators, are now coming back to Earth to wipe out this rival alien species once and for all.
This idea seems like such a great concept for a crossover sci-fi horror flick. We had Freddy vs. Jason come out a year before this one, and Anderson thought he could capitalize on this whole team-up or versus craze going on. I mean, you have these two massive horror villains from space going against each other, what could go wrong? It turns out quite a bit. I just don't think Anderson knew what to really do with these two iconic characters and franchises. He has all this lore from the series that he needs to dive into to really connect these two stories together, and yet he ends up crafting a very simple premise and plot for this film that could have really dived deep into the connected stories.
Anderson definitely spends too much time with the human characters and their stories, and sort of just has the titular characters as features here. He is trying to jump-start these two ran-down franchises, and he thinks it would be a good idea to introduce these new characters and plot points that the audience simply doesn't care about. Why would we care about characters that exist in the present day and time when the other Alien films are hundreds of years in the future? I truly think if he had spent more time trying to really incorporate these extra-terrestrial life forms into the overall story, it could have worked so much better.
At the same time, these two series have had powerhouse performances from actors like Sigourney Weaver and Arnold Schwarzenegger. These two actors are able to thank their respective films from these two series as helping to jumpstart their acting careers and putting them where they are today. So, the actors here have a huge expectation to reach in terms of their performances. While I think they all did a somewhat decent job for the most part, there is simply nothing here to write home about. Even a hour after watching this movie, I couldn't remember anything special or real standout-worthy of any of the performances here. Sure, they did what they needed to move the story along, but I wish they had really allowed Lathan or Bova to shine here in the main protagonist roles.
Now, when you look at an Alien or Predator movie, you're going to want to know if it'll scare the bejeezus out of you. Consider the first film of the Alien franchise by Ridley Scott; there are some nightmare-fuel shots and scares present throughout that movie. Here, unfortunately, this movie is not scary or keeps the viewer on the edge of their seats at all. Sure, it has some nice visuals and some good chase scenes, but there is nothing here to make the viewer squirm in their seat or really get scared. I think a huge part of that is because of the PG-13 rating. It blows my mind why this movie would settle on a rating that shows less gore and graphic content when the two franchises are known for being over-the-top. In my opinion, this was a very idiotic decision, and they should have taken the risk and explored this concept in the more adult territory. Sure, it's fun and does a decent job of keeping the viewer entertained in a sort of turn-your-brain-off type of way, but I was expecting more scares and thrills.
I think this was a good idea and I applaud them for trying to bring these two franchises together, but I was honestly expecting a lot more from this movie as a whole. It feels like a total misfire on many different levels, and there are numerous things I would have changed if I was in Anderson's position. While it may not be as awful as the sequel to this movie (which is way worse than anything this film did), it still could have been a lot better and thought-out.
Comments
Post a Comment