Review of AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) by Ian G — 08 Jul 2015

This movie is probably the most underrated movie of all time. This movie is miles better than any movie from this crossover universe besides of course Alien and Aliens. I see this movie like Star Wars Episode 3. It was in a dying franchise, that produced a movie that was much better than any other movie in that phase of the series.

The first most pointed out complaint is that it's PG-13 instead of R. To me that means nothing. Requiem and Prometheus were the most deserving of an R rating, and also the worst in the series. In truth it has the best action and horror of any Alien/Predator movie after Aliens. The first Alien vs Predator fight scene is actually very memorable.

Many others complain about this movie being set in present day Antarctica. To address this problem I'm just going to say that the pyramid setting was an interesting enough setting to keep me interested. And also the time really makes no difference. The Alien movies aren't remembered as being awesomely futuristic like Star Trek. If someone tries to make a Star Trek movie set in the present without time travel then that's different.

The movie also does have good characters. They seemed more realistic than the cartoon characters from Alien Resurrection. And Sanaa Lathan plays the main character named Alexa Woods who is like an African American Ellen Ripley. She is quite beautiful, but also tough and passionate.

There are flaws, I will admit that otherwise I would have given it a higher rating. The first flaw is the pacing. The first half of this movie has no action and just sets up the plot, while the second half has no plot and only action. The second flaw is that the ending when Alexa Woods teams up with the Predator is kind of stupid. I do see the angle, because a theme in the games and comic books is that the Predator is less evil than the Xenomorphs, but that ussually ment the Predator would ignore some people and not just kill everyone.

In summary I will say that Alien VS Predator is a lot better than people make it out to be. However it is good, not great, and certainly no amazing.