Review of AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) by Kai82 — 12 Jan 2020

A movie that didn't match the expectations of the audience. It made missteps that add up to low ratings but it is not a horrible movie or even a failure. Lets summarize the missteps: The expectations of an Alien vs Predator movie were high.

We wanted many interesting battles, fight scenes, new insights into the Predators culture / lore, Predators hunting Aliens and vice versa. This movie has not enough of it. The set up for the story is really good and would be praised if it were not in this movie.

It takes away a lot of time when the audience waited for the Aliens and Predators to appear. Then the focus is on the human characters which do a solid performance. I will praise Sanaa Lathan for her performance.

She was a character that we care for and a fitting lead role. (I want to confirm: This is no critic to the actors. I think everyone does a good or solid performance, its more missed expectations). Again that would be awesome in another movie but not when the focus was expected to be on Aliens vs Predators.

I think the 2014 Godzilla movie had the same problems. Godzilla was barley used when he should be the main actor (They even showed him briefly and then cut away at least 2 times). It was also the main critic for the movie if I remember correctly.

But back to this movie. The fights between the Aliens and Predators are good and intense. If they had more it would have pleased the audience. Also the hunting ground was a good idea and again not used well.

You could create scenarios with lots of challenges and more intense fights. Then the movie is not that scary. Watch the first Alien movie as a study how to create fear in the audience or the first predator for the dread the Predator creates.

I am a divided by this movie. It does so many things right but only halfway. For the good parts: I enjoyed the acting, climax / final battle and the set up for the sequel (Had so much potential). The other aspects are missed opportunities or divided into hit and miss.

Overall I enjoyed the movie and was slightly disappointed at the same time.