In space no one can hear you scream.....
That has to be one of the most classic words written on any movie poster and that is of course written on the movie poster of the fantastic science fiction horror film Alien from 1979. Directed by legendary director Ridley Scott this is one of the most beloved science fiction films in movie history. A very well made horror film for it´s time and powerful acting performances from the whole cast where especially actress Sigourney Weaver became a female icon action hero as the character Ellen Ripley. Not only is Alien a true classic but the film also proved that on a budget of 11 million US dollars they managed to make a sci fi horror film that looked far more modern than anything we have seen before. I can not tell you how many times i have seen this film but i never get tired of it. Alien is without a doubt one of those films that you simply have to see especially if you can watch it on a 4K player with really good sound and lovely picture quality. The 1986 sequel Aliens is one of my personal favourite sci fi horror films of all time and i can watch this film over and over again. The Alien sequels that followed turned out to be of very different levels of qualities, where especially one of the films failed pretty big to capture the spirit of Alien. All of you who grew up in the 80´s might remember the 1987 action classic Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the best action films of the 80´s. I really enjoy Predator 2 with Danny Glover as well even though it´s a very different film than the original in many ways. The franchise of the Predator got more sequels as well and they also turned out to be less good. In the year of 2004 director Paul W.S. Anderson ( director of the classic martial art film Mortal Kombat in 1995 ) released his film AVP: Alien Vs. Predator where he combined both of these aliens in the same film. At the time this film came out a lot of fans of both franchises had their doubts, would it even be possible to match these aliens together on the big screen? I watched this film in cinema back in 2004 and i also bought the double DVD back in the day it was released. I decided to revisit the film now in 2024 since this film turn 20 years old. Is this still an entertaining action horror film or have AVP aged just as much as American televangelist Kenneth Copeland´s own video sermons?
A Predator ship arrives on Earth and use a heating device to melt a hole in Antarctic ice. Meanwhile, a satellite detects the heat bloom beneath Bouvetoya, and island about 1,600 km of the coast of Antarctica. Wealthy industrialist Charles Weynland ( Lance Henriksen ) discovers through thermal imaging that there is a pyramid buried 2,000 feet beneath the ice. He assembles a team of experts on a mission to investigate this pyramid underneath the surface.
When this film came out 20 years ago i already knew it wasn´t going to be as good as Alien, Aliens, Predator or Predator 2. I knew that this would be a completely different approach on these aliens battling each other and i knew i shouldn´t take this film too seriously. Perhaps that is why i enjoyed this film back in 2004 because im a big fan of both franchises and just wanted a fun sci fi horror action film. Looking at this film now after 20 years a lot has happened, especially when it comes to CGI effects and you can tell this film looks very 2000´s in the style of how this film was made. And i am completely fine with that, because honestly there are plenty of monster movies out there that are far more worse than AVP if we are being honest. You can probably say that AVP is a perfect example of how a popcorn movie night should look like, if you just want to unplug your brain cells and just be entertained for a moment. I do have some issues with this film but let´s talk about what i enjoy about AVP. I feel that having this film take place in Antarctica is a really good idea, it is almost as if director Paul W.S. Anderson felt influenced by John Carpenter classic The Thing where an alien monster attacks human beings. This is pretty much the same in AVP except here we have 2 different alien spieces attacking each other while humans are sacrificed as well. While the film The Thing is much better as a horror film than AVP on many different levels i do feel that if they were going to make this concept work between alien species they choosed a perfect location for this battle. Regarding the monster design you can tell especially that the Predator aliens looks different from the Predator films. I can still accept that though since they still function well as alien hunters. The classic Alien design is still there with some changes made as well, i don´t have a problem with that either since i enjoy the battle scenes. Lead actress Sanaa Lathan as the character Alexa turns out to be pretty tough on the big screen, which fits well with this film. Ok so one of my biggest issues in this film is Italian actor Raoul Bravo as the character Professor Sebastian. He does a terrible performance in this film and you can not connect with this character at all. I would like to know if he even wanted to be in this film at all because he doesn´t seem engaged into his character. You can tell that the plot have several diffent issues that could have been fixed, especially when they can´t even explain the pyramid maze properly. If we look outside of these issues i do still feel that AVP is still a horror action made for fans of sci fi horror. Director Paul W.S. Anderson give us a film that knows what audience it was made for and that alone shows that he have passion for this project. AVP: Alien Vs. Predator is a film that may not change movie history in any way, but for a popcorn movie night this is definetely a great choice. Let the alien battle begin and sit back and enjoy this silly but entertaining monster film.
Rating: DDD
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