Not only bad as a part of the Alien and Predator franchise but also a bad movie on its own.

Rating: 5/10 (20 July 2005)

Everything about this movie is extremely average and the movie doesn't feature one thing that hasn't been done before. Its extremely formulaic simple entertainment with a way too simple story and uninteresting characters.
Where did it went wrong? Simple, it went wrong from the moment they hired Paul W.S. Anderson. He hasn't made ONE movie in his career that is interesting, original or simply above average. This movie really is no exception. It has a typical Anderson style, meaning that it's filled with flaws. But Anderson is even worser as a writer, the story he wrote for this movie is incredibly simple and features awful dialog and dull characters.
Anderson's directing is truly the weakest thing of the movie. His directing of the actors feels lacking, with as a result that the actors don't have an awful lot to do in this movie and their performances come across as bad. Even Lance Henriksen's role. Also the directing of the action sequences are seriously lacking. Although some of the action does has its moments, it is badly filmed and horribly edited. Halve of the time I couldn't even exactly tell what was happening.
The characters are completely uninteresting and of some you don't even get to know their names. Why should you even care for the characters in this movie? None of them is likable or easy to relate with. Also what was with the many accents in this movie? It was quite irritating to be honest.
But even worse were some of the sounds that the aliens and predators were making. The predators made the sounds of lions and the aliens that of elephants. It made me seriously laugh when I heard the queen alien trumpet. So thumbs down for the sound department as well.
The movie is not as bad as I make it sound now maybe but it's just that this was a movie with so much potential but somehow Anderson turned it into the most formulaic and average movie possible. I mean when you have to concept of making the aliens fight the predators, then surely there is something better they could had come up with.
The movie is slightly below average because of the extremely simple and uninteresting story and characters. Still the special effects are good and some of the action is enjoyable enough to make this movie still a watchable one.
5/10
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