Serious vs Groovy

Rating: 4/10 (26 November 2004)

I suppose it's hard to make a serious movie about aliens and predators. But what you sure can do is a movie that looks groovy and feels good to the eye. It's not even that hard, given that since the last Alien/Predator films, which looked and felt good, technology has advanced at an absorbing rhythm. In a way, that's also the problem: you have to know how and when to use special effects. If you don't, you risk a big flop.
Is AvP a flop? Sadly, yes. Its rather eye-brow raising story and character "development", as well as the terribly distant cinematic experience just add up to an unsatisfying product. It's not bad for a Friday night, but if that's your standard, then there's nothing anyone can do about it. Anderson is incurable. I wouldn't say he's a big idiot, because it'd be a bit harsh. He did kind of ruin/diminish some interesting franchises (Resident Evil and this here), but I'm sure he was all well intentioned. Maybe things would've worked out different if he hadn't written the script, but it's a mystery to me why people keep on laying this terribly heavy burden upon his shoulders.
AvP is another recycled flick, as are all of Anderson's "creations". A bit of this, a bit of that, even a reasonably big bit of Resident Evil techniques and: voila! Here's your blockbuster. I don't know how to describe this feeling inside. Maybe the actual lack of it is enough of a fact. Also, I don't understand why people keep saying "it feels like a video game" to all the recent adaptations of games for the big screen. None of the films actually feel as a video game, because while playing a VG you immerse into an extravagant universe and become obsessively accustomed with it. This just doesn't happen with the films. Oh, so you mean games are nearly stupid and rather simplistic, not material enough for the brain-chewing audience? Well, if a film could achieve half of the atmosphere, tension and involvement a good game does, then it'd be a terrific experience.
I wonder whether AvP is based on the games...or whether it is a face off between the two films. It's difficult to make a connection based on the film and that does say something. Anderson has to stop writing screenplays the way I have to stop singing during breaks at school. And I HAVE to stop singing during breaks at school. 5.5/10