AvP or A very poor Performance (Alien vs Predator (DVD))

Member Name: isvikthere

Product:	Alien vs Predator (DVD)
Date:	20/07/05 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Something to watch when maybe nothing else is on

Disadvantages: Lightweight cast, Nothing new and thus Lacks Originality

INTRODUCTION

In one of my reviews I mention this film based only on the huge pubicity campaign that accompagnied it. So because I mentionned it I felt almost compelled to review it, but it is only just recent that I managed to lay my hands on the videocassette. So I slid it in the VCR, installed myself snugly in the sofa, ajusted the lighting and waited for things to come...


THE MOVIE

On the website www.avp-movie.com I read that it was the intention of the director to build upon both the Alien and Predator "mythology", so before I delve into that here's the creme of the crew and cast :

Director = Paul W. S. Anderson of Mortal Kombat, Soldier, and Event Horizon fame
Producer = John Davis

Cast
Sanaa LATHAN plays Alexa 'Lex' Woods, explorer and survival guide
Raoul BOVA plays Sebastian De Rosa, archeaologist
Lance HENRIKSEN plays Charles Bishop Weyland, industrialist and expedition financer
Colin SALMON plays Max Strafford, Weyland's righthand
...

Here of course I am now compelled to comment on the cast of the film and unfortunately here we touch upon one of the first weaknesses of the film. The cast is not really composed of top actors and I have to confess to having recognised only Lance 'Millenium' HENRIKSEN who is defintely linked with the Alien movies through his appearance as the humanoid robot Bishop. Also Colin SALMON I easily pinpointed as M's assistant in the James Bond movies featuring Pierce Brosnan.

The others, and especially leading lady Sanaa Lathan, were completely unknown to me. So no one of the stature of Sigourney Weaver for the Aliens or (like him or not) Schwarzy for the Predators. Of course this needn't be a serious handicap if the movie is well made but alas .. it's all very well saying that one wants to add something to the mythology but I wasn't at all impressed with the offspring the Alien and Predator wedding produced.


THE STORY

I hesitated first if I should reveil anything at all on the storyline, I really don't want to be a spoilsport, but the initial lukewarm reactions on my first version of this review pushed me to divulge at least the basics :

Lex and Sebastian and a bunch of other specialists are somewhat briskly recruited by Charles Weyland and his assistant Max : It seems that a heatsign was detected by one of Weyland's spy satellites somewhere on the southpole. At the same occasion a solid structure hidden under the ice was also discovered.

So they all speed off in an icebreaker and end op in a whaler's station that was abandonned in 1904. They start their search for the hidden structure below only to find that a perfect tunnel towards it is already present in the compound.

This tunnel leads them straight to a temple that seems to be a mix of Mayan, Egyptian and Cambodjan construction. 100 years after the strange incident that emptied the whaling station, in this place of sacrifice and worship they set of a mechanism that wakens up She-Who-Drools-Alot-and-Has-Many-Sharp-Teeth and at the same time sends off an alert signal to Those-that-underneath-their-helmet-have-an-even-ug lier-snout, once they uncloak that is.

So there was a sniff of Lara Croft and some Mummie and other Scorpion King added to the soup but did this really make for an outstanding film ? Well, not really, it just ended up to be another one of those typical Hollywood creations, leaving no time to develop the characters or to let the viewer get into the spirit of things. With today's technology credible special effects and convincing scenery are no longer a challenge and this movie is no exception so at least those are good. But these days a movie that relies solely on said special effects to capture the audience is absolutely nowhere. Of course the drooling Aliens and the Predator manierisms are present and accounted for but nothing really new is added to the mix. So onless you are a die hard Alien and/or Predator fan eager to know the smallest detail about them I really don't see the interest in the project. Well maybe it's because I'm not a true believer in the Alien and Predator myth, so I should be spiked to a wall for that, or better I should get my head bitten off or whatever the two monsters like to do to us mere mortals.

But this story just rushes forth making sure to kill off all deeper thoughts/feelings/reflexions that may risk to develop or grow and just quickly gets up to a very predictable and equally uninspired ending.


CONCLUSION

So a bit of a deception this "epic" fight between two of mankind's most formidable extraterrestrial threats. And unless I would stumble upon the DVD for a pound of less in a clearance sale I wouldn't even bother. Not really worth spending any hard earned cash in a cinema either although in today's large and well equiped movie theatres with the screen and sound installation you do get that litle extra which even on a home cinema you can't quite manage to recreate. This can give an added value to even a mediocre film like this one turned out to be.

Summary: A bit of a purposeless enterrpise with no real added value