This Could Have Been So Much More.

Rating: 6/10 (10 September 2004)

I have always been a fan of the "Alien" movies. Even the weaker installments, I've found some traces of good in them. And admittedly, I found some parts in here that I liked....
But you can already sense the "but" I'm about to interject, can't you?
There were some gaping issues with this film, starting with the characters: You knew almost nothing about them, and what's worse, cared even less. Take "Aliens" for example. Every Space Marine, no matter how early in the film they died, you knew something about them. You knew about their motivations or relationships with the others, or even how they handled crisis situations. With the introduction of the "best of the best" hand-picked "Jurassic Park"-esquire team of scientists, you don't even get that luxury, even with the drawn-out meeting and trip to the dig site. A few nice "Bishop" references, but that's about all the viewer gets for things to come in the series. There was one female character who talks about "always being prepared" as she brings her gun along, but with that hint of foreshadowing, you think she'd play a pivotal role in the film. Think again.
And then the frustration with actual meeting of the Aliens. What did they do to the incubation period? I've seen bags of Jiffy Pop that don't complete as fast as the chestbursters in this film. What was an hours/day long process in the previous films was instigated and completed even before the researchers had time to leave the first room. After the long character set-up that established absolutely nothing, I can understand wanting to get the plot rolling, but you can't cheat the established "rules" of the characters to get there. But Anderson did anyway.
I had issues with the Predators, save for one hardier survivor. So much for the "great warriors" that they've always been known as. The fight scenes (which should have been the whole meat of this film), were reduced to little more than spastic jump cuts that obscured the majority of the action.
People have been waiting YEARS to see this, from all the video game and comic book stories, and it's reduced to a PG-13 slugfest that doesn't show the intensity and no-holds barred attitude that should have been there. Both "Alien" and "Predator" are R-rated franchises. They should have stayed that way for a reason. The main heroine was certainly no Ripley, which makes one wonder how she was able to survive through the continued challenges in the film. And lets not forget another "Jurassic Park" fight moment between the survivors and the Alien Queen. Anderson must love the JP films, because so many references were lifted from the first film.
It's not that I hated this movie, it's just that after waiting for so many years, it wasn't what it should have been. They cheated established character rules. They gave characters you couldn't care less about. It took too long to get to the title grudge match, and even when it did, poor editing destroyed any intensity it could have had. And the "surprise ending" is what should have been done a few minutes before the ending, so that there would have been more to play with in the film. I wanted to see THAT as the ending conflict. Not a Jurassic Park tribute with the Alien Queen. They had so much to work with, and they didn't.
The only positive aspect of the film were a few "Bishop" references, and a few cool moves during some of the conflicts.
I wanted more. I got a little. Hopefully they'll do it better next time, or release a "Director's Cut" on DVD to actually make the fights worthwhile.