Not as bad as everyone keeps saying.....

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2008)

(I don't work for fox and I'm not a crazed freaky fan) I watched this movie with all the warnings of bad acting, bad screenplay, poor script and all of the other stuff still in mind. I find the script rather interesting and think it's a unique way to join the two infamous species. The idea of having the predators breed aliens for right of passage hunting for 1000s of years is certainly creative. And some of the predators presence in history are the writers ways to explain unknown facts in history. Some say the director knew nothing of the movies. This is a lie. The special DVD proves he watched all the alien and predator movies and was a huge fan of it. A lot of work went into this movie that was left unappreciated by haters. Hardly any CGI is used in this movie which brings back the old school ways and adds to the realism and when CGI is used, it is convincing and well done. The fight scenes are full of action with cool choreography. The predators are well designed with improved technology and a lot of cool gadgets. Some say the gadgets are unfaithful to the series because they're different. Predators can get new weapons and technology just like any military on Earth can. And after watching all the alien movies, it can be said that the chest-bursters development is not an exact time, hence why some could burst really early. While the acting is not Oscar-worthy, everyone does a convincing enough job and Lance Henrikson's acting and presence in the film is a nice treat for fans of the Alien series. I can understand why some people hate it. It's unfaithful to the comics and has quite a few plot holes that don't fit with the other movies. But most of them are only obvious when a fan points them out, so no harm done. This movie is still enjoyable to me(a fan of both predator and alien movies) and I'm sure there are more who enjoyed it. A good flick for fans of the movies, or new comers. Forget what you've heard, it's worth a look. A rent is justifiable at least. (I own the unrated edition 2-disc set which makes the PG-13 movie an even more enjoyable blood and guts flick.) This movie is more appreciated if you know how much work went into building the sets, designing the animatronics and simply convincing fox to let the movie be filmed.