A let down

Rating: 6/10 (13 August 2004)

As a huge fan of both the Alien and Predator films, and the comic/video game version of the series, this film was a major let down. Although the creature effects of the aliens were amazing, the CG was top notch & the fights (though few) were pretty sweet, this movie lacked in two major aspects it needed most...good story telling and at least some what decent acting. I wish that director Paul Anderson had spent more time on casting and creating a complex story to tell then just effects, since so many questions have been left unanswered in both the series and as to how they truly come together. They could have went much more in depth with Henriksen's Weyland character, and established how, when and exactly why Bishop came to be. They didn't really set the time frame well either, as to how. I wanted answers as to how Weyland appears in Alien 3, assuming that is much, much further in the future, yet does not even make it half way through this so-called prequel.
The first 3 Alien films had a strong lead character, Ripley, who really made the movie, Weaver's acting was great and really put you in the film. This movie tries to do so with it's new lead female character, but doesn't even come close. The film is way too rushed, in the prior Alien films, when a face-hugger attached itself to the victim, ready to lay it's demon seed into the unwilling chest, this was usually a long and dramatic time frame, while in AVP, the entire episode of being impregnated to having the creature burst through the chest literally came into play within seconds. When the anticipated scene of the predator removing his mask finally happened, frustration ran through my body. I thought we passed the point of bad creature design and effects when we left the low budget Predator 2 behind - the new predators, while they look amazing masked, look worse than the poor looking predators from the second film. The original 1987 predator still looks the best by far. The movie is worth checking out though for the effects (namely the alien) and fights, the last scene in the movie is awesome, and lives up to what the comic series intended. Although I was upset with how this film turned out, especially in the lack of story and horrible acting, I do hope it grosses a lot of money, in hopes that another sequel to the originals can come into play and hopefully succeed and live up to the originals.