It's okay--better than Resident Evil: Apocalypse at the very least!

Rating: 5/10 (15 July 2005)

During an Archaeological expedition in Antarctica, the crew finds an ancient temple, undiscovered by modern man. Once they enter it, they discover a race of aliens are inhabiting it, and that another alien speciesthe predatorsare using this temple as a hunting grounds for the aliens. And the humans are caught right in the middle Alright, I'll be honest. AVP is by no means perfect. There are many flaws/plot holes, a lack or gore and scares, and the CG is awful. But seriously, this is a HUGE improvement over the jaw-droppingly stupid "Resident Evil: Apocalypse", Paul Anderson's previous film. Starting with what works here: The actors, especially Lance Henriksen, one of my favorite actors, all did a fine job. There was no actor who gave a wooden or bland performance, unlike "Apocalypse" which had it's fair share of awful acting. The creature effects, courtesy of Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr., who were also responsible for the creatures in 1990's "Tremors", were quite impressive. The aliens had very lively, fluid movement, and the predator make-up was top-notch. The pacing was brisk but never too fast, and the film has a satisfying (albeit predictable) twist ending. Thankfully, all the things I hated about the Resident Evil filmsthe bullet time shots, loud rock music, unbelievably stupid plot twists, lets-make-the-story-up-as-we-go-along writing and lack of credible performanceswere all absent from this film. There are many problems, yessuch as glaring plot holes you could march a parade through, and an obvious ignorance fore the time-line of the "Alien" trilogy (If the REAL Bishop is seen at the end of Alien 3, which is set hundreds of years in the future, how can he be in this film, which is set in 2004?!?!?), not to mention the occasional moments of over-the-top action (Such as our Heroin's escape from a HUGE explosion with the help of one of the predators), and the alien queen, once she shows up to do battle at the end, is one truly awful CG creation, especially the shots of it runningthose were B-A-D! There is also, as I said above, a disappointing lack of gore, though there is a lot of alien goop splashing everywhere, which is always fun.
Through all these flaws, though, I managed to enjoy AVP more than I had expected to. Give it a chance and you might like it. By no stretch of the imagination is this a great film, but it isn't all bad, either.
5.5/10.