A good as could be hoped with Anderson at the helm

Rating: 2/10 (29 October 2004)

**SPOILERS BELOW**
I have seen this movie twice now, my brother runs the local cinema so I don't have to pay (Great!). I'm happy this is the case because I would feel cheated to spend my hard earned cash on this rubbish. There is little in this movie to praise, most is clichéd tripe. The fights between the aliens and the predators are balanced and Anderson decided not to root for one side and let them win a scrap each so as not to incur the wrath of their respective fans. It's a pity he did not have the same idea in mind when he wrote the poor script that tarnishes (and ignores) previous information from the two franchises. The human element was required, few people would want to watch two hours of film with no speaking characters except maybe the obsessive fanboys, but why use the same old stereotypes we've all seen for years in any Roland Emmerich film? Even Lake Placid had more original characters although still standard horror fare. The predators not having their guns was a simple but effective plot hook but the shifting pyramid was pointless and poorly developed but the most criminal mistakes were the most obvious, the selective acid. One moment the aliens acid blood can melt anything, the next it couldn't dissolve a sugar cube and sometimes it was missing completely. There are many errors which I could list here but they've all been said elsewhere.
To sum up, most people leave the cinema laughing or shaking their heads, not exactly a thumbs up.