Not THAT bad

Rating: Null/10 (12 March 2005)

This movie didn't deserve the slaughtering it got.
There were some genuinely heart pounding action sequences such as the one-on-one fight sequence with the Alien and Predator,the jumping, the diving,punching,scraping,slicing,whipping,throwing,roaring-pure genius and entertainment. And the cleverly shot piece featuring the Predators preparing for a typical day out instilled real excitement and when they first got busy with bodies flying around at will I was shuffling in my seat like a small child with worms. My favourite sequence, the frozen Queen and her return from he chilly enclosure was well shot and allowed for some admiration and joy on seeing the return of our beloved ,with the billowing fires surrounding and the wails from her majesty all adding to a suspense filled and exciting prospect for a downright cool encounter with her galactic buddies. And although it has to be said the dialogue was a little weak it still provided some clever ideas,such as taking the ancient cultures and using them to try and give the involvement of the predators and indeed the movie as a whole some meaning and merit.
Still the main problem was the movies pace and subtlety,there were moments were I felt fear and anticipation but it was ruined by the slow and bland introduction of the creature that I so wanted to jump suddenly from the darkness snarling and writhing around. If the dialogue took a less frantic pace and allowed for stronger character building and more suspense rather than throwing so many aliens and predators in at once that they looked not dissimilar to a Metallica moshpit then the movie could have really held its own against its predecessors.
Yet when the action ensued and out little buddies were scurrying about at will there were some fantastic action sequences,the best of which was when the big girl (the queen) busted her way triumphantly to the top and caused pure havoc similar to her short smash in "Aliens". This along with some loose connections to the previous movies allowed me to sit back and relax and enjoy this movie,although I felt it could've been better it still provided action and entertainment and deserved a second viewing which I actually appreciated all the more.