promising premise falls short of expectations

Rating: 6/10 (13 August 2004)

The recent additions to the Alien and predator sagas have fallen short of their original first films. Alien, Aliens and the original Predator are the classics that set the stage for countless imitations. Alien 3 lacked the suspense or action that the first two films possessed while the 4 installment was so awful as to not be worthy of the being considered a true alien movie. Predator 2 also was a mediocre attempt at capitalizing on the first films successes (it should be noted that the original was Arnold's true break out film as his marketability rose substantially after this movie's release, a feat unable to replicate). In combining the two genres in the much anticipated aliens vs. predator we have a film that could have been much better, much worse but managed to be in the middle. First critical point was the overuse of bad music (why not keep with the original scores of either aliens or predator), another sore point why did the film take place on earth why not follow the plot of the hugely successful video game Aliens Vs. Predator 2, budget perhaps?, it also lacked the claustrophobia that the first or second films had, also the action started too quickly, the people died to easily for you to care. The dialog between the grunts lacked the authenticity of the rapport that bill Pullman had with his fellow marines in aliens finally the new heroine in this movie lacks the magnetism or authenticity that Sigourney weaver offered Ripley. In short go to see it to get out of the house not too view another classic in the making.