your average post 1992 sci-fi / action blockbuster -- all SFX and little else thanks to the meddling of 20th Century Fox

Rating: 5/10 (13 August 2004)

Let me start by saying I am a huge fan of both the Alien and Predator franchises. I had been waiting for this film since the very first day I came across the "Aliens Vs Predator" mini-series from Dark Horse in the fall of 1990 at the wee age of eight years old. I have been following the evolution of this idea to the silver screen ever since.
Midnight. August 12th. My 14 years years worth of wait comes to an end. I wasn't expecting anything superior to "Aliens" or "Predator" -- unlike most of the fanboys on all the forums -- just a fun time at the movies and the return of my two favorite creatures to the big screen. I got what I was expecting -- though perhaps a little less.
Let me just break it all down like this ...
Great creature effects courtesy of Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis -- especially concerning the Aliens. I didn't really care for the altering of the mandibles on the Predators though. That was my only gripe with any of the creature effects. Everything else was very adequate.
Great special effects courtesy of John Bruno (a veteran FX master of such great effects-laden films as T2 and True Lies amongst many others). All the computer generated imagery is damn near close seamless. By far the best (and most epic) effects of any film in either series.
Quality action through out -- though I will admit the PG-13 does hamper a good deal of the proceedings. I wasn't expecting it to be so obvious after witnessing the overt amount of violence in recent films like The Chronicles Of Riddick and The Lord Of The Rings -- but it most definitely was at certain points (Namely because of the obvious edits made by Fox in order to ensure a lower rating than "R" to attract younger audiences.
My main problem didn't lie with the the direction, writing, acting, etc. I actually thought all of the above was just fine. Its not all on par with the greater films of either franchise -- but (as I said prior) I wasn't expecting that. I can say it was definitely an improvement upon Alien - Resurrection (though I know that really isn't saying much).
My main problem with AvP is the obvious meddling from 20th Century Fox. Here's just a few of the obvious indications that AvP was given SEVERE cuts prior to release. The script for this film is 110 pages long. Its a common fact that one page of a screenplay equals one minute of screen time. AvP is nowhere near 110 minutes in length if you subtract the EXTREMELY long ending credits. Further proof that numerous edits were made is the lack of crediting co-screenwriter Shane Salerno in the final cut of the film. Another fact -- the tracklisting for the official film score (which really wasn't all that good or bad) lists "1904" as the score's opening -- yet the scene in 1904 is completely absent from the final cut.
All in all -- a sufficient way to kill 2 hours of boredom if you are a casual fan of action / sci-fi hybrids. There were two showings at the theater where I saw AvP and both were full of extremely young people. Nobody older than myself (21) and most everybody who was a casual fan had a great time and began clapping and cheering at all the right parts.
I really don't know what to say if you are a devout fan of Alien and Predator like I am though. I guess you should all go see it to satisfy your curiosity. Just don't go into the theater with high expectations. Its not so much like an Alien or Predator film as it is your average creature feature of the summer.
At least there's hope for the director's cut DVD -- as there is surely a copy laying in wait for release after witnessing the many obvious edits through out. A few extra scenes of character development and plot setup would surely be a welcome addition (and most surely exists on the cutting room floor at 20th Century Fox).