All of these aliens versus predators movies are such a waste of potential. I mean here you have a movie with two of the most iconic and most awesome but also most threatening and scary aliens, out of movie history, how could you mess things up? Very easily as it turned out, since after "AVP: Alien vs. Predator" this movie is even a bigger disappointment and a serious waste of some fine potential.
Things already stat to happen way before story lines get properly set up and 'important' characters get introduced and developed. The movie got directed by two brothers Colin Strause, Greg Strause and let me tell you, it also really feels as if it got shot by two persons. It feels like one brother did all of the human scene's, while the other was having as much fun as possible and going totally overboard with all of the alien sequences, involving the aliens and the predators.
There is not ever any real sense of danger, since nothing gets build- or set up properly. Things just happen and both the aliens and predator kill all of the humans that cross their path at random. Here is a guy in the kitchen. Lets send an alien in to kill him. Or here are a bunch of kids in a swimming pool, time for them to die. There is really no logic behind anything and in fact it's kind off insulting for both the aliens and the predators to get used, or rather said wasted, in such a way by the film-makers. They must have thought that aliens and predators killing off each other and as many people as possible, on Earth, equals a great movie. And perhaps I should admit, on paper this also sounds awesome and like a fan-boy's dream but they have basically done absolutely nothing creative, original or interesting with its concept.
And I say that there are lots of killings in this movie but I'm only guessing, since you can't see much of what is ever happening in this movie. It's so dark you really can't tell what is going on half of the time. Also the editing ensures that you often have no idea what is going on during all of the action sequences.
I'm also still left quite puzzled as to who was supposed to be the main 'hero' of this movie. All of the human characters remains such incredibly shallow ones, who are left at the background of the story. I seriously also couldn't really tell who was who, since nobody gets developed properly and the movie is severely lacking in good or even likable enough characters. Why should you care for any of them or what happens to them.
But also the aliens and the predators can't really impress. I just don't get it how they actually managed to make both the aliens and predators look bad and cheap in this movie. Out of all of the alien-series movies this has got to be the one with the worst and most cheap looking aliens in it. Even the special effects used for the predators, such as its heat vision, is something way worse looking than the effects used in the first 1987 movie "Predator". And to put things in perspective; "Predator", "Alien" and "Aliens" combined cost about just as much as this movie did in total.
A good Aliens vs. Predators movie should still be really possible and could potential even truly become something awesome but only with a more decent director involved (James Cameron or Ridley Scott would obviously be perfect) and a better written- and more original script, that can manage to bring the best out of both worlds together, without feeling the need to exploit it.
I really can't think off one thing this movie impressed me with. I have ever seen cheap B-movies that are way better, more entertaining and more original than this movie ever remotely got.
3/10
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