action: yes; story: not really

Rating: Null/10 (15 August 2004)

If you go expecting a worthy sequel to the respective species' predecessors, you'll likely be disappointed. If you go strictly for the action and effects, you may be pleasantly surprised. It does appear to be a misguided attempt to pull in the fans of the video games, paperbacks, and graphic novels by pairing these species up. For my money (which was a matinÃ©e show on a gift card), none of these carryover attempts have much business influencing the present picture, as they would never have existed without the original efforts to inspire them. I guess what most of us find disappointing now that the movie is out, some of us find (as a famous Vulcan observed): having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting. We knew what we wanted, but we didn't get it. Nor can we agree on what it would have been.
As countless others have documented, this movie has plenty of holes. Some of them may be in the heads of the writer and director, but I digress. The pace is almost too quick, and continuity an afterthought, as though the director's cut had been slimmed down at Fox's behest for the (pre)teen crowd. Not unlike watching the original Predator on TNT in some ways. At any rate, the battle scenes and weaponry are definitely up to date, if a bit CGI-heavy.
I suppose we can put down the lack of grace and skill in the Predators to their adolescence, just as we can assume the presence of high-tech human firepower has something to do with the Weyland Corporation always having something else up its sleeve. The human characterizations are supplemental at best, but short of uncovering an alien Rosetta stone, I guess they had to move things along somehow. The alien incubation period is a fatal flaw, or perhaps the queen's metabolism was tampered with; so much is left unexplained. What little suspense there is, is incidental: regrettably, that's one of the things that made most of the preceding films worth watching. If director Anderson thinks he's being true to the creatures' legacy, then he's been breathing too much Yautja air mixture.
In short, see it for the roller coaster effect, and not for the storytelling, which is largely absent, but don't see it at full price if you can help it. I saw it, and liked it, but the true test is whether I would go right back in and see it again. In short: no. Perhaps the DVD will be worth a look, if only to find out what was deemed too strong for the children, of which there seem to be a number running loose on this board :)