I'm a fan... and I hated it!

Rating: 2/10 (22 March 2007)

My Take: Good special effects can't save this crappy AVP.
Honestly, I am a big fan of the "Alien" films. I remember watching "Aliens", the 2nd in the series, and really enjoyed it, so what do I do? Watch it over and over again. Easy for you to say that it was one of my favorite films of all time, but too me, "Aliens" was a lot more, as in other films I consider "the best". I like "Alien", "Alien 3" and "Alien: Resurrection" too. I wasn't as much of a fan of the "Predator" films though, but I think the 2 films were awesome action adventure/sci-fi hybrids.
So with all the facts mentioned, it's easy to say I'll be enjoying "AVP" that much as I did with the originals. But sad to say, I didn't. In fact, what a letdown! Well, as much as I'd expect or as I did with the originals. Why? That's it, it's pretty hard to say how such a film that aims so low still falls short of the mark. Was it the story? Well, the story was about a group of renowned adventurers and explorers summoned by billionaire Charles Bishop-Wieland (the man who designed an android version of himself to hide his identity in two of the "Alien" films) to join an expedition in Antarctica to investigate an Aztec pyramid, which sent them a mysterious message. So was it the story?
Was it the acting? Sanaa Lathan was the lead actress who, by any chances, makes an alliance with a Predator to fight the Aliens to hell. She was pretty heroic, but her acting, not much Sigourney Weaver-like heroic. The rest of the supporting cast was a mechanical and awfully boring (both characters and acting), for a lackluster film as this. So was it the acting?
Or how about the over-abundance on special-effects and under-emphasis on a better plot? Well, that may be the biggest explanation, but was it the element that screws this all up?
Perhaps it's a little bit of all the wrong things about this movie that left me totally disappointed. It's a movie about Aliens battling it out against Predators! Who could you screw that up? But don't let my comment stop you from showing this to the kids. They may be the ones who'd enjoy it (anyway, it is PG-13 so why not?). It's pretty hard not to like a package that offers you two of your favorite film creatures facing-off, but it is easy to mention the bad things about this so-called "film" (in my opinion, it's on the wrong threshold between movies and video games). Bad acting and bad plotting. I am a fan of the ALIEN series, and I did like the two PREDATOR films, but AVP is still a total letdown, and for those who haven't seen a single ALIEN or PREDATOR film, it's still bad enough for you. In fact it may just get worse than it is.
Rating: * out of 5.