Review of AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) by Jordan E — 03 Sep 2018

Hindsight is 20/20, and so is the love of this movie as time goes on. At the time of release we can obviously see the reviews of AVP had been harsh. With Prometheus, Alien Covenant, AVP requiem, and Predators being the only movies we've seen since AVP I can wholeheartedly say that AVP stands out above most of those listed. Prometheus gave us something interesting to digest but ended up being confusing and requiring a sequel to tie loose ends. The sequel to do this was Alien Covenant which really failed on a few parts but mainly on missing the point of what we wanted to see after Prometheus and relied on the complete idiocy of an entire crew of space-colonist to move forward. Most questions were skipped over or completed eradicated right before our eyes. Predators was pretty good but added in a "more scary" version of a monster that was plenty scary and powerful to begin with. Etc. Etc.

See what I loved about AVP was that it had some of the best action out of the most recent installments to both franchises. Did the plot make sense, in some ways but there were a lot of holes. Were the characters the most remember-able? Yeah the lead Miss Woods, and Wayne, thats about it (Shout out to badass female leads!) I think the main problem is people expected this movie to tie into each franchises cannon-lore and that wasn't the aim. The point of this movie was to see Aliens and Predators duke it out to the death. The movie focused on this concept almost entirely and setup everything else to surround this concept. Badass A meets Badass B and they prove the point that Miss Woods mentioned to everyone in the beginning. How important it is to be prepared. Her preparedness to adapt and survive proved her the better of her comrades and earned her the respect she deserved. The tech the predators used was gorgeous and a much needed upgrade from the previous installments, Predator, and Predator 2. The Aliens were the antagonist in a way but I wouldn't say they were as focused on as the Predators. The sets were beautiful and the I loved the changing pyramids and some of the "wow" moments it setup. All in all I enjoy AVP each time I watch it and not because I'm a fan-boy of the lore from Alien or from Predator, but because I enjoy seeing my two favorite franchises duke it out. Its a fun movie, its not meant to be the intense thriller of either franchise but to be the answer everyone had in their minds before AVP came out, "Who would win? A Xenomorph or a Predator?".