Monday 3 September 2012

Film Review: Alien vs Predator

Director: Paul Anderson

If you thought Prometheus was bad (I didn't) then you really need to see Alien vs Predator. It isn't full of holes as a film, more one great big hole with nothing to hold it up. There had been much talk of trying to do a crossover between the two franchises but many felt it was a hugely ambitious project and didn't pursue it. Unfortunately Paul Anderson with the help Shane Salerno wrote a screenplay based on a comic book to finally bring the two creatures together into one film.

The plot is based around the idea that hieroglyphics reveal that a pyramid buried beneath the icy sheets of Antarctica is a hunting ground for Predators who kill Aliens that they have bred purely for sport and killing as a rite of passage for young Predators. A team from Weyland Industries decides to go investigate the pyramid to see what life is there after heat sources are detected there but stumble upon a war.

Movie Poster
The premise itself is laughable that Predators used Earth as a hunting ground to breed and kill Aliens for sport because they needed humans to help produce the Aliens. In action-horror movies like this the plot doesn't have to be fantastic and complex but some aspects of plausibility need to be included. The characters are all hugely wooden and unlikeable meaning that you are actually rooting for the Predators and Aliens so that they all die as soon as possible whilst it is easily predicted which character will survive at the end.

Despite a big budget of $60 million, the special effects and action sequences seem heavily reliant on poor CGI which makes them look like they are happening independent of the rest of set. At times it reminded me of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat where you fight in front of a background that has no bearing on what happens in front of it. Even as a silly bit of fun this film is quite unlikeable and easily forgettable so much so that I'm sick of writing about this film already.

0.5/4 terrible acting, terrible plot, poor special effects

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