Mildly Entertaining Crap

Rating: Null/10 (18 August 2004)

As a big fan of both franchises, I felt let down. As a fan of Science Fiction movies, I felt let down. As a fan of action movies, I felt only slightly less let down.
I didn't expect this film to recapture the artistry of the original "Alien" or the intensity and humor of "Predator," but I did expect it to at least be a good movie. It wasn't.
A friend remarked that he hoped the DVD release would restore some of the cut violence and make this a better movie. While some blood and guts could really help to restore the horror element, nothing can make up for the horrible dialog and flat acting.
Was it just the cutting of the R-rated material that made the edit so bad? The movie was 87 minutes long but seemed more like 60. Characters who I feel like I'm supposed to care about are dismissed too soon and without any humor, irony, or anything to show that the writers and director have any real creative ability.
The fight scenes were a mixed bag. I admit it was a fanboy's dream to see the two species go at it, and the use of animatronics (as opposed to too much CG) gave the creatures a gritty, slimy edge that computers have yet to capture. I'm not a fan of quick-cut fight scenes and was happy that the camera would occasionally pull back a bit to let me see the monsters pounding the crap out of each other.
I tried to think of how I would have thought of this film if I had never seen an Alien or Predator movie. It was OK. A cut above straight-to-video or a Dolph Lundgren film, but that's about it. But if I were a neophite, I'd be asking so many questions about the creatures that the 87 minutes would be done before I got half of them answered.
A disappointment to a fan, who hopes for some small redemption in the DVD release.