Do Vs. Movies Ever Really Work?

Rating: 4/10 (16 May 2005)

I saw Alien Vs. Predator and had ambivalent feelings about it. It definitely could have been a lot better, had better actors, better script, better reason and logic, and better atmosphere. It also could have been much worse than it was as well. What is does have going for it to some small degree is that the film was directed by Paul W. S. Anderson,a competent suspense, science fiction director accustomed to working with this kind of material. Anderson gives the audience what he thinks they want to see, and going by the money his movies make he doesn't fall far off the mark most of the time. For me(being someone I gratefully acknowledge as being outside the majority of the movie-going population) he disappoints with his cliché-ridden dialog, tissue-thin, stereotypical characters and plot threads, his over-used CGI effects, and his general arrogance to presume how little the movie-going population knows. Notwithstanding all of that, Alien Vs. Predator has some special moments. What did I like: some of the sets were impressive, a couple of the fights were well-executed, Lance Henriksen(being the only "real" actor in the film, and the Artic setting surrounding this hidden pyramid. I haven't gone into any detail of the plot for two reasons: (1)many other reviewers have already done so and (2)the plot is so ridiculous that any real scrutiny would be more enlightening than anything that happened in the film. Is ALien Vs. Predator entertaining? Yes, it is - like many accidents are. It has just enough going for it to keep the viewer engaged but never really satisfied.