Cast and character fall victim to FX

Rating: 5/10 (13 January 2012)

First published on Aug. 19, 2004
With the success of Freddie vs. Jason earlier this year, the rush to join together popular, one-word films titles will no doubt continue. I eagerly await the release of "Gigli vs. Patton," "Shane vs. Ghandi" and "Hamlet vs. Rocky."
The latest example from 20th Century-Fox, however, "Alien vs. Predator" (or AVP, as it's being billed), is a textbook on how to make a modern, action-packed movie with as little exposition or explanation as possible and still produce a decent outcome.
This film does not ask you to think too hard, and that's a good thing. It just tells you to sit down for 90-plus minutes, except its premises and hold on for an often frightening ride.
Plus, there's only one recognizable star, Lance Henricksen ("Milennium," "The Right Stuff"), as corporate boss Charles Bishop Weyland. That's okay, though, because the real attraction here is the amazing, seamless CGI efforts, anyway.
Story has one of Weyland's satellites detecting what appears to be an ancient pyramid 2,000 feet below the Antarctic ice. This structure seems to incorporate the styles of the Aztecs, Egyptians and Cambodians.
With his teams of drillers, scientists and guides assembled, the group lands at a small whaling village abandoned over 100 years ago. The drillers are not necessary here, though, because someone (or SOMETHING) has already made a nice big conduit that runs all the way to the bottom of the structure.
Character development is no longer needed at this point, because we all know what's going to happen with most of these people. The adage goes that the bigger the cast, the more people will die (in various ways, incidentally). This picture is no exception to that fact.
Sure enough, once the gang is in place, they discover to their horror that they are in the middle of a longtime, ongoing battle between extraterrestrials - the stainless steel, warlike creatures first introduced in the classic 1979 sci-fi film, Alien" and the ugly, dread-locked, more humanoid monsters that Arnold Schwartzenegger went up against in 1987.
One by one, the cast is slaughtered until only a few are left to fend for themselves. Director Paul W.S. Anderson ("Mortal Kombat," "Resident Evil") keeps the chatter to a minimum while getting the battle started quickly. Special effects whiz, Gerd Fuecher ("Around the World In 80 Days") also holds our interest with some amazing and very scary monstrous creations.
This film is sure to bring in huge box office revenues and its conclusion leaves no doubt that a sequel is soon on the way.