Movie Review #41 - AVP: Alien vs Predator
Jul. 14th, 2007 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catalyst2Clearly, I am a strange person because I managed to like this movie. There are a number of faults in it but it looked great and worked for me. Now, I did only view the extended version, so all the comments about "cutting away before any gore" didn't seem to apply. It was appropriately gory, imo.
First check of the watch - never did, the whole way through
OK, the timing for the entire Alien life cycle is all messed up and the acidity of their blood is intermittent, but other than that - hang on, one more - this batch of Predators must be the runts of the litter or something because they are useless warriors when it comes down to the crunch, I thought this was good.
There was enough action to keep the pace rolling and the outcomes were generally as expected except that the first 2 Predators basically rolled over and died .... and humans, by and large, were simply splattered by both "sides" - as they should be.
Characterisation wasn't great in the human team - but at least the survivor turned out to be a strong female character, very much in keeping with the Alien series outcomes (generally, any way).
The setting was wonderful and the unpredictability of the "maze" added to the obstacles in everyone's way. I really enjoyed the final moments of the movie and felt that it was in character - the returning Predators honoured Alexa's scars as their tradition demanded and showed her the respect a fellow warrior deserved. A lot of reviewers commented about how silly it was that the "Predator fell in love with a human" or a variation on that theme. I just didn't see that happening. I saw a Predator impressed by a being fighting back against hopeless odds and so it was, at best, admiration and, at worst, just plain curiosity to see just how long this weak thing could survive.
If I ignored the distortion of some of the biology of both species, and just watched it not knowing those things, this was an enjoyable, if a little cliched, alien (small 'a', note)-vs-human battle and a pretty good ne at that.
First check of the watch - never did, the whole way through
OK, the timing for the entire Alien life cycle is all messed up and the acidity of their blood is intermittent, but other than that - hang on, one more - this batch of Predators must be the runts of the litter or something because they are useless warriors when it comes down to the crunch, I thought this was good.
There was enough action to keep the pace rolling and the outcomes were generally as expected except that the first 2 Predators basically rolled over and died .... and humans, by and large, were simply splattered by both "sides" - as they should be.
Characterisation wasn't great in the human team - but at least the survivor turned out to be a strong female character, very much in keeping with the Alien series outcomes (generally, any way).
The setting was wonderful and the unpredictability of the "maze" added to the obstacles in everyone's way. I really enjoyed the final moments of the movie and felt that it was in character - the returning Predators honoured Alexa's scars as their tradition demanded and showed her the respect a fellow warrior deserved. A lot of reviewers commented about how silly it was that the "Predator fell in love with a human" or a variation on that theme. I just didn't see that happening. I saw a Predator impressed by a being fighting back against hopeless odds and so it was, at best, admiration and, at worst, just plain curiosity to see just how long this weak thing could survive.
If I ignored the distortion of some of the biology of both species, and just watched it not knowing those things, this was an enjoyable, if a little cliched, alien (small 'a', note)-vs-human battle and a pretty good ne at that.
