Review...

Rating: Null/10 (15 August 2004)

So I just got back from from seeing AVP. I have to admit up front that I am a fan of the Alien vs. Predator comic books by Darkhorse Comics. Thus I am partially biased in my opinions.
First off, the director did a somewhat good job with the pacing of the movie. I was rather pleased with how evenly dispersed it was. Kind of reminiscent of the original Alien movies. The action sequences were fairly short, and as noted previously rather murky and jumpy. Overall though the director did a good job with what he had.
My main problem arose from the script. FIrst of all I liked the whole premise of where it took place. I like the back story as to why it is there, and what it really is. Those were the things that I liked. On to the things that I disliked. I disliked how the Predators appeared to be weak. I understand that they are new to the hunt and all of that, but Predators have hunted before. Especially as old as those were. They have hunted but never gained the mark of the hunter. Basically you hunt aliens if you are going big game hunting. They hunt humans etc. much the same way that we hunt squirrel. Anyway, I did not like how weak, or how few predators there were.
It was wild how few there were, and they tried to write it into the story as to why there were only three. When I first heard Alien vs. Predator, I naturally assumed it would be an all out major war. I was wrong. So as far as the script goes I was unhappy.
************Spoilers Ahead***************
So I figured I might as well add another thing that I truly enjoyed. I enjoyed how someone on the set knew something about the comics. The predators followed certain rules, the rules of the hunt. This explains why the Predator doesn't kill Weyland. The Predator saw that Weyland had a heart pump. That means he is a weakened prey. Therefore it is not honorable to kill him. So he didn't. Then the predator was attacked by Weyland, and the rules shifted. Weyland was now prey that could be taken. Even though he killed Weyland the predator did not take the trophy because he would be violating the rules of the hunt. He exposed himself to a weakened prey and the prey attacked. Dishonorable to take a trophy. Kinda cool.