Aliens vs Predator - Review

[Leisher]

I waited patiently for the DVD as I didn't want to see the watered down PG-13 version. I'll be honest and say that I didn't have high hopes for this film as it had a small budget, a shitty director/writer, no name stars, and Hollywood has a habit of screwing up existing franchises. In fact, a few months before its release, I said this movie would suck.

Was I right? Nope.

Saying this movie sucked would be an insult to sucking, which in proper moments can be quite nice. This movie is an abomination. In fact, my one thought throughout the movie is that in 30 years I'll be watching Mystery Science Theater 4000 and this is going to be one of the films they mock.

Now I know that there are people who liked this film, including some on this board, and I hope they send me some of what they were smoking when they saw this film. But honestly, I'm not sure how people can bitch about Hollywood's lack of creativity and their arrogance in destroying franchises and then turn around and say they liked this film.

To me this film ranks right up there with other SciFi franchise continuing classics like Starship Troopers 2. Yes, I thought it was that bad.

Let me clarify that though. If you come into this film without ANY knowledge of Predators and/or Aliens and you just want a mindless SciFi flick, you will probably enjoy this film. In fact, had this film been the sequel to Pitch Black, I would have enjoyed it.

However, for anyone with knowledge of Aliens and/or Predators, I don't have any idea how you could possibly enjoy the film unless you're as forgiving as the Pope.

I'll go more into the countless reasons as to why I hated this film in another thread because I don't want to give away any spoilers. In fact, I'm thinking of challenging myself to see if I can stop finding faults in the film before I reach #100.

For those of you on the fence, don't think I'm a perfectionist, because I do forgive bad movies if they bring something cool to the table, like Pitch Black. This movie brings NOTHING to the table except bad acting, bad writing, bad direction, and a total lack of respect for the existing franchises and their fans.

The story goes like this: Rich guy's scientists discover a temple in Antartica. He then collects a no name team of experts in unnamed fields to explore this place. It turns out that the temple houses Aliens and the Predators come to visit. No hilarity ensues.

This whole movie just stinks of greed. Had it been a sequel to Pitch Black, as I said before, or a new franchise with new monsters, I'd rate it much higher despite its numerous plot flaws. However, since its essentially an example of Hollywood shitting on their fans:

3 out of 10. (1 for Aliens, 1 for Predators, and 1 for Antartica.)

[GORDON]

Ok, the unrated director's cut is getting released Tuesday...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AP04P6/002-7613518-3804031?v=glance&n=130&n=507846&s=dvd&v=glance

Not official, but here's what a commentor said...

I just read a report of an interview with director Paul W.S. Anderson (director of AVP). He said quote "that all the best scenes were cut from the film." He also said that the movie was always going to be R-rated until the studio enforced a PG-13 rating 3 WEEKS before releasing the film. In addition to the violence and gore cut from the film, a sub-plot that further explained the plot was cut as well. If it had been in the film, the cut footage would have cleared up many continuity issues. For example, the sped up alien life cycle in this film is not a careless error at all; the machine that holds the alien queen captive also injects horomones and drugs in to her, speeding up the facehugger/chestburster process. The footage that was cut would have explained that and also would have given the characters more screen time. Director Paul W.S. Anderson also mentioned that the explosion at the end took up HALF of the 65 million dollar budget (which is ridiculously low for a film like this).

So when you see this film and end up hating it, dont blame the director. He made a film that, if it had been released in the original cut, would have pleased long time fans of the franchises. But instead, the studio made it PG-13 (so more people could see it) and cut out a lot of footage to make the film way too short (to fit in more screenings per day).

BUT, the changes the studio made are helping. Currently the film is making A LOT of money, mostly because of the PG-13 rating. This means that the studio will be more likely to greenlight AVP 2 or, more importantly, ALIEN 5. But try to realize that if the film had been released in the original uncut version, it probably would've only made half the money the current cut has because not as many people would have been able to see it.

Luckily, an R-rated Director's cut WILL be released on DVD sometime in the future. This edition will up all the violence and gore to an R-rated level (all the off screen deaths will now be ON-screen as originally filmed) and add in an additional sub-plot that will clear up continuity issues, give the characters more screen time, and make the plot development clearer. As a long time fan of the original 6 R rated movies, I was ECSTATIC to hear this.

Unfortunately, movies aren't made to be good anymore. They're made to make money, and AVP is doing that right now. So when you see this film, know that you aren't seeing the final version of the film. But PLEASE see it because it needs all the money it can make. And also, PLEASE buy the director's cut DVD when it comes out because its gonna kick a**.

The website that containes the link to the original report can be found here:
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news04/040819d.php

If anyone can find an official version of what has been changed, I'd be interested in seeing it.

[Malcolm]

32.5 million to blow shit up during one scene of the film? What the fuck were they blowing up? Platinum?

[Zetleft]

32.5 million to blow shit up during one scene of the film? What the fuck were they blowing up? Platinum?

all hope of a good movie.