Yeah, you know me!
Having your expectations exceeded is a truly wonderful thing. When I first heard about an Alien vs. Predator movie being made I was really excited. Then I heard it was going to be set on Earth and I thought, “oh hell, here comes a suckfest on par with Alien 3.”
Thankfully, I was wrong.
Paul W. S. Anderson has done it again. He’s made a movie that’s going to have “love it” and “hate it” camps with very little middle ground – just like he did with Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil. Myself, I’m in the “I dig it” camp on all three. Meaning, “I like it, but I’ve got a few quibbles.” His movies aren’t masterpieces, but they are very enjoyable. Very much what TNT calls, “movies for guys who like movies.”
I thought putting AvP on Earth in the year 2004 was going to totally violate all the “universe” established in the Alien and Predator series. Amazingly, they found a way to make it work. They did bend a few “rules” of the franchises (chestbursters hatch too quickly, and it seemed like the aliens grew too fast), but nothing that ruined the movie. Not for me, anyways.
I’m sure the purists will be up in arms.
I’ll bitch up and down about the flaws in Star Wars, but the Alien and Predator franchises are there just for fun. (Well, as long as they don’t totally suck.) This one doesn’t measure up to the best of either series, but it doesn’t deserve to be ripped to shreds either. (I’ve not checked the IMDB comments on it yet, but I’m sure there’s a fair bit of slagging going on over there.)That said, I need to take a few slight digs. First, PG-13? What the fuck? Alien and Predator movies are supposed to be R-rated. I give a damn about summer box office and the bottom line. By making this PG-13, you’re going to have to strip out some of the stuff that makes both series what they are. (Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which Anderson wrote, and passed on directing to do AvP, will be rated R. As it needs to be.) Next, do not attend the “Bourne Supremacy school of fight scene filming.” I want to see what’s happening. The fight scenes between the aliens and the predators were really cool – but they could’ve been better. Third, Lance Henriksen? Come on. He had a solid role in Aliens, and was also in its abortion of a sequel, but putting him in here is just gratuitous.
Kinda makes you wonder if Bill Paxton was too busy or something.
As it got close to the end I found myself thinking “no sequel, no sequel,” since it looked like there’d be no reasonable way to do another AvP on earth, at least not in the early 21st century. Of course, the last scene does set things up for a sequel, which has become standard for any franchise flick nowadays. I won’t give it away, but I will say they took an angle with the setup I hadn’t expected.
Heck, a sequel could even be as good as this one….