Some Non-overanalyzed Opinions

Rating: 8/10 (25 August 2004)

There are some spoilers ahead, but not as much as the whole plot.
First of all, the comments here seem to have come from people who have really gone far in overanalyzing the film. It would seem that the content as far as the Alien/Predator lores go is more important to people than the movie itself. I thought I'd give commenting on this movie a shot as well.
The basic idea of the film, that it takes place on Earth has always been a good one, as far as aliens are concerned, so no wonder Fox went for it. Now that we got that, I would've liked to see more of Earth than what the film showed us.
I'm sure people expected to experience the same horror and excitement that Alien gave us, or even Aliens, like we did with Alien Resurrection and Alien 3. Both of which seemed to be a bit of a disappointment to the public. This isn't a true alien movie though, since it basically is a crossover.
Visually I found the movie very pleasing, with more than adequate CGI and special effects, and a nice mood. The dialog could truly have been better, and the movie could have done without the one-liners. There's especially one that irritated me a lot, but I guess you'll see it when you see the movie. The dialog seemed to be a bit forced and dull at times.
The action scenes were just a bit of a blur every now and then, but all in all kept me at the edge of my seat. The acting sadly won't bring the film any Oscars.
The film may have had a bit too much of the alien/predator lore here and there, but I guess this was a movie for the fans of those franchises, and with the rating being so low, I'm betting the movie was meant in parts for the kids who liked the games (AvP, AvP2). Sure, there were things that didn't seem quite right, things wrong with the lore, with what we know, but being that this is an imaginary tale of imaginary beings, I'm sure someone can imagine a reason for everything that happened.
The film didn't really get boring at any point, so the plot progressed very smoothly, which I liked a lot. It had a couple of scares and for a good part of it I really was on the edge of my seat, waiting to see more.
All in all, I don't think this was the fifth alien movie, but I do consider it to be the third predator movie. If you think about it, that's actually what it was. It more or less delved into the world of the predator, instead of looking at things from the perspective of the human, scared s-less of the alien.
I've heard a lot of negative about this movie, but I think most of it was expectations. People really should get it through their skulls that nobody is going to make an alien movie that'll ever satisfy the audience. Don't expect it to be great, because it most likely won't be.
And is there going to be another Alien vs Predator movie? Well, just look at the ending.
Personally, I just wish Renny Harlin WOULD make the movie about the alien planet, as he was about to when he was asked to make Alien 3. He is after all Finnish. Go Finns! :)