In search of new fans... they let down the old.

Rating: 3/10 (19 March 2007)

To be honest when i first heard the news that AVP was being directed by Paul W S Anderson i was sceptical, mainly because i'd witnessed Resident Evil... a movie which he seemed to lose interest in after about 15 minutes! Don't get me wrong, it had some nice ideas and a couple of nice little bits here and there but the more i watched the more i was horrified... and not in the good way.
As a big fan of the Alien and Predator films (apart from Resurrection)i remained positive, watching small clips of Paul on the internet telling us he was a big fan of the franchise blah blah blah. The trailer looked good too! (school boy error, if the trailer is good the film generally is bad) So i sat in my seat at the local cinema happy as larry... it was the first time i had ever had the privilege to witness an Alien or Predator film at a cinema, but both in the same film... a dream come true! My first annoyance was when the certificate came into view... a 15? The film hadn't even started yet!!! For these films we need the 18, the people who want to see this movie are the ones who were 18 in the first place or have grown up with the film... i deserve the right to witness a full 18 rated film... it's double the monsters, that means double the carnage... it should by all rights be double the rating! So as i watched i noticed the gore was lacking! Killing machines from another world armed with mops and sponges?! If there is less blood does this mean the swearing has been knocked off? One of the things i loved about Predator 2 was the bad script with a swear word thrown in here or there! With the lack of bad language when the only swear word near the end of the film is emitted from the heroines lips it just sounds lame!!! (A tear roles down my cheek) My major hope would have been they had taken the main idea for the film from the'Aliens Vs Predator' Dark Horse comic series (the Randy Stradley script one), or at least an edited version! Nicely in the distant future, with a made up planet, with big open areas to battle in! Some of the shots with the use of CGI would have been amazing. A predator running through an open area armed with a sword-staff thing facing a horde of aliens, not as a short flash back!!! My rating for this film was a 3, maybe a little harsh but i felt very let down. There were some really nice bits sure, i enjoyed the Queen Alien fight, the Kung fu face hugger bit... not so much the almost wrestling esquire one on one but there, like Resident Evil, were things i enjoyed in sections! The bit with the Predator space craft flying over the unsuspecting guards' head I loved, the opening tease shot of the satellite as well. The problem in general for this film was the little things that as a fan i picked up on. The over-weight Predators with overly long dreadlocks and tarted up expressions... they didn't look disgusting enough as well as the aliens looked a bit too CGI at times! The lack of blood, the lack of swearing, it all added up.
I tried to like this film, i really did... but my willing suspension of disbelief was no way strong enough!!! I even bought it on DVD to listen to the commentary in hope that Mr Anderson might say sorry... i was let down! I can see Paul W S Anderson in the future being quite a good director, but i wish he wouldn't practise and perfect his art with things I hold dear! p.s. My new annoyance with this film is that I have just spent all this amount of time writing about this film!