A well crafted homage the genre ...

Rating: Null/10 (13 August 2004)

So much negative speculation preceded last night's Los Angeles midnight screening, I was surprised the theater was packed with fans ... reminiscent of the 1970s/1980s, pre-megaplex era, when waiting on line (5 hours for "Return of The Jedi" ... 3 hours for "Total Recall" was the norm on opening night for blockbutser sci-fi). After all, the premier had been cancelled... no previews were made available to the press, hence no reviews. Personally I disagree as much as I agree with the Ebert's of the world whose cinema scholarship can't help but render jaded viewpoints no matter how intent their sincerity. To be sure, despite my childlike anticipation & a good lookin' set of trailers, I went with diminished expectations. And, as with "I, Robot" - was pleasantly surprised. One does not expect character development or catharsis from popcorn sci-fi. One DOES demand state of the art production design & EFX ... AND the respect of the film maker in knowing the mythology of the franchise(s) as we fans do. This was David Fincher's mistake in "Alien 3," resulting in the near destruction of the "Alien" franchise & principal reason (IMHO) "Alien Resurrection" had such poor attendance. That wasn't a bad film, but suffered fallout from the misbegotten "A3."
Paul W.S. Anderson's "AVP" pushes all the right buttons for the fans. If watched closely, there are hidden treats to be found & I heard a lot of people go "Ah!" when they turned up on screen. The earlier films AND Dark Horse comic origins are well sourced, and perhaps, in an effort to please everyone (principally his Fox masters) Anderson misses a golden opportunity to pull off a "Cameron" style nailbiter. At 100 minutes, "AVP" seemed too short for a story that required touching all the familiar bases and adding new ones. There's plenty of action which (like in Spielberg's dino flicks) is not diluted by a relative lack of viscera. This might bug horror/gore afficianados, as might it's PG-13 rating, but great sci-fi is about big ideas, not wetwork. I suppose my greatest objection & Fox's greatest boo-boo lies in the inane tagline: "Whoever wins, we lose," which has nothing whatsoever to do with the film. Surpirsing, considering Fox's history of brilliant tags: "Alien: In space, no one can hear you scream." "The Fly: Be afraid, be very afraid." If it were up to me, the film would be called "Aliens And Predators," because there sure is a kit-n-kaboodle of both.