Heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft

Rating: Null/10 (14 August 2004)

The more I watched this movie, the more I realized that the screenwriters must have be familiar with Lovecraft's novel "At the Mountains of Madness" in which an expedition to Antartica finds a million year old temple in which primitive humans worshiped aliens as gods. The flashback to primitive Earth, the pictoglyphs detailing the "Cthulu" even the lay out of the temple reminds me of the one described in "Lost City"
I'm not complaining. I was surprised, even delighted, to see Lovecraftian themes in a big budget picture for once. Some may not like the fact that it had to show up in the Aliens/Predator franchise, but Lovecrafts name doesn't have very much box office draw. (They made a Mountains of Madness film in '95. No one cared.)
Other than that there is little I can say. (SPOILER) Towards the end the only survivor, a female, makes a kind of pact with the Predators. This might seem odd, but when you think about it, that is the most rational conclusion: the Predators are smarter than the Aliens, have the ability to reason, while the Aliens are more like insects, they do what their natural instincts and hive mentality tell them. After all it is the Predators that have weapons, build ships, wear clothes... Furthermore if the Predators win, what happens? A dozen or so people get knocked off every hundred years. If the Aliens win we have a global holocaust. The ending may seem a little corny, kinda Anne Rice but for Predators instead of vampires, but its really the only plausible way a human could survive this situation. (END SPOILER)
This is a good movie if you take it for what it is. Great visuals and FX, a few explosions, action and suspense. But they should really recognize Lovecrafts influence.