I wanted to like it...I lost!

Rating: Null/10 (21 October 2004)

Firstly what's PG-13 to America is 15 here in the UK- and considering almost every other Alien/Predator related flick has been an 18, the rot set in right there. Considering there's plenty of yellow and green blood flying around all over the place, it's a mystery why the fights have been "MTV'd" to death since there's no human blood going on - hardly a spoiler when you look at the certificate.
If Anderson had been honest and told us the great historical setup he hyped on the official site was going to be 30 seconds in the finished product, I wouldn't have been so disappointed. Setting this in Antartica brings back fleeting shades of John Carpenter's The Thing and reminds you that there's no attempt to bother scaring anyone, once the characters have been moved to where the action will start. The script is just travelog and smacks of Jurassic Park as Colin Salmon and Lance Henriksen do the Jurassic Park fairy Godfather routine, bribing the cast to go on the voyage. Sanaa Lathan and Lance Henriksen make more of the dire script through their acting ability, but Ewen Bremner's the comic relief and everyone else, forgettable. I would say rent it and wait for director's cut(s) on DVD, then at least you can see a complete mess for adults in the comfort of your own home, rather than this edited one for kids and teens. Disappointment. Anderson is no David Fincher but the same thing has happened with him v the studios, and he lost. When we see what was intended on the small screen, that's when we can blame Anderson rather than the producers who were giving orders to the editors.
If there's a sequel, just closely adapt the comics, that's why they're classics. It's getting to desperate times in Hollywood when the PC game from five years ago gave better entertainment, was a bigger hit and cost a hell of a lot less to make than the film you just went out to watch.