"AVP" is set in the year 2004, where a group of archaeologists spanning the world over are gathered by one Mr. Wayland, played by "Alien" staple, the obviously aging Lance Henriksen. After picking up an unusual heat pattern in the middle of the Antarctic, Wayland funds this group of up and coming scientists to aid his research.
The group of rag tag explorers delve deep, hundreds of feet under the surface of Antarctica, where they stumble upon what looks to be a Mayan/Aztec temple. In the hunter's backstory, Alien pods were actually brought to the temple by the Predators, and used as guinea pigs for the Predator youth to hunt, and gain experience, as part of their right of passage. Needless to say, it's payback time.
Going into the movie, soon after learning of it's PG-13 rating, I lost a lot of hope for the movie initially. What I got was 100 minutes of rock em,' sock 'em, Sci Fi eyecandy.
The acting, while not the draw of the movie, pushed the movie along quite nicely. It was reminiscent of the previous "Alien" movies; the typical "group exploration" plot. This time, no corny one-liners, no overacting, and they were equipped with the most primitive of weapons. It added a nice dose of realism that was lacking in the other 2 franchises respective sequels.
As for the CGI, I feared that like so many other newer Sci Fi flicks, men in suits had gone the way of the dinosaur. Not so, the new costume design of the Young Predator crew was fantastic, especially the updated oxygen masks. The Dog Aliens, thankfully, were just as I remembered them in "Alien 3." The overall special effects remained true to the original movies, which I appreciated. i.e. Predator's cloaking, the plasma cannon explosions, etc.)
Ahhhh. The "showdown." It's fair to say that the two species were evenly matched, which may surprise some of you. Of course, there is the issue of the 5 Predator youth undergoing their right of passage, and being green to hunting, as well as being subsequently outnumbered, thanks in part to the Alien Queen [SPOILER - highlight to read]: who was in status underground before being revived by electrocution, gearing up the Alien pod factory once again.
Surprisingly, there was a lot of dismemberment, gore, and elements of all out war in this flick, thanks to the respective creatures having acidic and green blood being somewhat exempt from the MPAA ratings system. Oh, of course, there was a ton of action, most of which was delivered in the 3rd act.
The movie even had some character development! Playing on Predator's creed of hunting for sport only, Sanaa Lathan, the lead character, in a tense scene where she's in an isolated corridor [SPOILER - highlight to read]: attempts to befriend the Predator youth by sacrificing one of their plasma cannons, in which Wayland had taken as a souvenir. In doing so, the Predator understood she meant no harm. The two were ambushed by an Alien, which she took out on her own, solidifying her "enemies enemy is my friend" approach. In turn, Predator expressed gratitude by making crude weapons for her from the Alien's remains.
Of course, anticipation coupled with set up in the first act of the movie kind of had me a little squirmy, knowing what I REALLY came to see the movie for. There were typical lulls in dialogue, as well a little tension stemming from a cast of virtual unknowns. All subsequent qualms and uneasiness faded away soon after I saw a gang of 3 Predators, an a Infared scan of the temple, and it's "surprise guests." There was a very "old school" feeling throughout this movie which patched up the bumps in the road, which are standard in Sci Fi cinema, as well as most summer blockbusters.
Overall, there's no need to recommend this to Alien and Predator fans. Your tickets were bought days in advance. Everyone else? If you're just looking for some more mindless summertime Sci Fi fun, I recommend you see "AVP," ASAP.
8/10
Last edited by Cory Chaos on Aug 13th, 2004 at 08:59 PM
8/10? That's awesome, I've been somewhat excited for this movie, but also expecting it to suck. A positive review from you is quite uplifting. I'll definately go see it tonight.
Great Movie,I thought it was going to suck to but it turned out staying to the originals of both franchises.Leaving the Aliens spooky and mysterious at first,and letting the Predators have alot of action.
PG-13? cool, that means it's will be rated M in my country, for you see, if in your country it was R then here it would be R16, and I wouldn't be able to get into it since I'm underage, even WITH an adult.
What looks dumb what kind of bong r u on. This film looks like its going to be the movie this year. Well I think it will be. I saw the making of it on a dvd, the prediters are people in suits but not when thay take there mask of. The aliens are robots there 2 typps of face hugers differenrt typps of guns for the prediters and they even have swords, how can that be dumb
__________________
I regreat only having 1 life time to waste on games.
WO WO dude slow down.Movie of the year?Do you watch many movies? or are you just easily amused.Oh yeah and the stuff you saw was probaly on a Fox dvd.That is the crappiest making of the movie out there
The movies awesome but dont go giving it serious titles like "Movie of the Yeat" or a 10/10 unless you've seen it already.The film has its flaws
WO WO dude slow down.Movie of the year?Do you watch many movies? or are you just easily amused.Oh yeah and the stuff you saw was probaly on a Fox dvd.That is the crappiest making of the movie out there
The movies awesome but dont go giving it serious titles like "Movie of the Yeat" or a 10/10 unless you've seen it already.The film has its floors
True. I was overreacting but she said it loked dumb. and it it was on a dvd.
__________________
I regreat only having 1 life time to waste on games.
I know it was on a dvd,probaly something from fox.It probaly had trailers of "The Day After Tomorrow","Man On Fire" or the making of "Dodgeball" am I right.The making of it is crap
KMC Community Forums
Aug 13th, 2004 08:56 PM
