Predator Alien meets Indiana Jones

Rating: 7/10 (10 August 2016)

Don't go into this movie with high expectations or you will be disappointed. The premise that Predators hunt the Aliens as part of their trophy in attaining the status of super warrior is awesome! I love it. The Predators are so cool and the Aliens are gnarly. Here's a short version of the plot: scientific team goes to Antartica to explore a strange pyramid found by satellite. They discover they are the bait in the Alien vs. Predator game. The rest is a slasher/alien horror (though not really scary) movie. You are not cheering for the humans but for either the Aliens or the Predator. It's Team Predator vs Team Alien. This isn't a horror movie but a game night movie. The question is will the Predators win or will the Aliens win and take over the world? Who cares about the humans..
In fact, two of AVP's biggest problems seem to be the result of breakneck-speed sloppiness: 1. The Alien life-cycle is inexplicably abbreviated, with chest-bursts making their nasty debuts in tens of minutes rather than tens of hours; 2. The Predators' long-range weapons (e.g. spears and throwing stars) are acid-resistant, yet their close-quarters materiel (e.g. wrist blades and body armor) are not. All in all, AVP did its job. With the exception of a handful of (de rigueur) overly-jittery/super-slow shutter-speed shots in otherwise well-made action sequences, AVP is a polished piece of work. Thanks to Anderson's direction, the ADI FX Workshop was forced to abandon the Mr. Hanky-looking design of the creature from "Alien 3," as well as the beastly, overly slimy appearance of the extraterrestrials from "Alien Resurrection," and provide the silver screen with its best looking xenomorphs since 1986.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10.