Paul Anderson gives us an exceedingly disappointing film.

Rating: Null/10 (16 August 2004)

Alien Versus Predator is perhaps the worst science-fiction film I have seen this year. The fact that Anderson (director, writer) had such intriguing franchises from which to draw inspiration, coupled with my lofty expectations of his abilities given his successful turn as director of Resident Evil, make the film all the more disappointing.
First of all, both the Alien and Predator franchises are dependent on their restricted ratings in order to provide the visceral horror intrinsic in the respective villains actions. To release a combination of these franchises as PG-13 compromises their very nature, turning them from horror to pablum. Perhaps even this betrayal may have been ignored had there been at least one interesting moment in the film itself. Instead we are left to squirm uncomfortably in our $13 seats as we attempt to find a link of common interest between ourselves and a thoroughly improbable team of 'experts' who are at once cartoonishly knowledgeable about there specific field, and utterly banal. In addition to this, as mentioned in another commentary on this film, the action direction is pathetic. If you are going to insult audiences with a franchise destroying plot and Steven Segal caliber dialogue at the very least don't mangle the fight sequences, which is presumably the main focus of the film. I mean it is a 'versus' movie, right? There are some points at which I may as well have been watching a puppet show at a rock concert. In short, Mr. Anderson has dropped the ball. They should have got Cameron.