Not Great, But Not Terrible Either!

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2020)

So far, the Alien/Predator Franchises has produced four films that I have rated great or good, and this is one of them. Personally, though I loved the concept of Predator, I hated the film. The acting was low-grade, the dialogue was trite and cheesy, and the script was formulaic at best. But if Predator was a popular dud, then Predator 2 was one of the worst films ever made. That said, I did like Predators, though it was far from perfect. OK, onto the Alien franchise! I found Alien to be the best of the lot, and then Alien 3. Whereas Aliens was destroyed by the bad dialogue and dismal acting by Bill Paxton, et al. And Alien Resurrection was just an insult that should not have been made at all. But you would have to read my brief review on that. So this should give you some idea of what I was looking for when I watched this film. Personally, when I'm watching a grim, dark movie I want it to remain grim and dark - like the Underworld series and not like Blade! Keeping this in mind, AVP never strays into Comedy, and its dialogue is reasonably logical for the situation, and the acting is fairly good. And the story is above average and somewhat plausible. This does not mean that I could not find bits and pieces of AVP to pick apart, but it certainly is not as bad as Predator, Predator 2, Aliens, Alien Resurrection, and its sequel AVP Requiem. I haven't even bothered to watch the latest Predator release, and I never will. Unfortunately, the makers of this film left us with a lone heroine stranded in a very cold and hostile environment (Like the Predators could not have offered her a lift to somewhere warmer instead of giving her a useless trophy!), and a pointless, meaningless summation. Other than that, AVP is still one of the better films of any of these two series - and that says a lot about how bad the other ones are!