Opening with a newly added scene that takes place in 1904,
Alien Vs Predator gives us a foreshadowing of what is to come as we watch a
lone, desperate man being hunted through a seemingly abandoned whaling station
in Antarctica. The hunter is an invisible creature that corners the hapless man
and swiftly moves in for the kill--until another creature abruptly charges forth
and attacks the unseen hunter. Jumping one hundred years later, in 2004, a
satellite orbiting over Antarctica discovers an unknown heat source beneath the
ice. This startling discovery sets off some alarms, and action is immediately taken.
A team of scientists, explorers and security personnel is quietly collected all
over the globe and brought to an icebreaker ship off the coast of Antarctica.
Led by expert Arctic explorer Lex Woods (Sanaa Lathan), the team has been
assembled by billionaire industrialist Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henricksen, now
appearing in his third film with the Aliens), whose satellite found the heat
signature in the first place. Weyland explains to the team that the heat is
coming from an underground structure beneath the ice, a structure that turns out
to be a man-made pyramid. Hoping to be the first modern-day humans to find the
remnants of a lost civilization, the team races towards the site, located on an
island off the coast of the Antarctic continent. It will take several days for
them to dig their way to the pyramid. However, once they arrive they discover
that a circular tunnel has already been dug, leading at a 30-degree angle to the
underground chamber. And what makes this mystery even stranger is that this
tunnel did not exist 24 hours ago.
Although the team is at a lost to explain who could have dug a tunnel so quickly
and efficiently, it's revealed that a group of Predators, acting on some sort of
warning signal, have arrived on earth and taken up position at the site. And
once the team enters the site, they set off another pre-arranged signal that
awakens a captured Alien Queen, who gets busy laying eggs. The Weyland team soon
finds itself in the middle of a Galactic Royal Rumble between two sets of
beloved latter-day movie monsters. And after many years of the superb Dark Horse
comics featuring Aliens Vs Predators, it's about time we finally get to see the real thing.
Directed by Paul Andersen, Alien Vs Predator pretty much turns into a video
game once the slaughter starts. With the exception of Weyland and Lex, the team
is mainly made up of interchangeable characters whose sole purpose is to die at
the hands of the monsters. Yet despite this, and the fact that the movie
basically ignores the story continuity that had been laid down in prior Alien
and Predator films, once the beasties finally have at it, their battle scenes
are pretty spectacular. It's this clash between the Aliens and Predators that is
the main reason people watch this film, and Andersen does not disappoint in this
regard. However, I can't help but feel that the true potential of this story has
largely been ignored. One example of this is a flashback exposition scene that
explains the convoluted history of the temple. We see several Predators standing
on top of a pyramid, battling hordes of Aliens who are attacking in a mass wave.
This is truly an exciting and impressive scene that should have served as this
film's climax, instead of being tossed off as a few seconds of exposition.
Unfortunately, AVP's actual climax winds up being a tired retread of stuff that
we've already seen before in previous Alien movies (and which was done much better).
Still, despite all of the film's flaws--and there are many--I found myself
enjoying AVP. Is it the masterpiece that Ridley Scott's Alien and James Cameron's
Aliens were? Of course not. But taken at face value, AVP is still a lot of fun to watch,
especially in the intense scenes of combat between two alien races that are both
predators in their own right.
As I mentioned before, the DVD has a newly added opening scene. However, you
still have a choice between viewing this new edition or the original theatrical
version. There are also two separate commentaries: one by director Andersen,
along with actors Henriksen and Lathan, and another commentary by the effects
team. There are also deleted scenes; a gallery of AVP comic book covers, as well
as DVD-ROM content. So if you're looking to see two classic monsters mixing it
up, give Alien Vs. Predator a shot. It'll be a better--and safer--way to watch these two
extraterrestial creeps go at each other than meeting both of them in a dark alley. --SF
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