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catalyst2 ([personal profile] catalyst2) wrote2007-07-14 09:44 pm
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Movie Review #41 - AVP: Alien vs Predator

Clearly, 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.

[identity profile] asgaja.livejournal.com 2007-07-14 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
As you might already know I won't agree with you in this one. Really there are too many things that bug me about the movie but that doesn't stop me from watching it every now and then.

If you're not too into the books and games than I can completely understand that AvP can be seen as a entertaining movie. But for me, it sadly just felt... messed up. ^_^''

[identity profile] catalyst2.livejournal.com 2007-07-15 11:30 am (UTC)(link)
Love the icon!

As is so often the case for me, I don't have the background AvP stuff to judge against so I don't have anything to contrast it against. Having said that, when I think about it, it could have been so easy to fix up the Alien life cycle thing - have one expedition go and disappear and then the movie is about the second expedition arriving much like they do now at about the same time as the Predators. The Predators also needed to be far more competent warriors too to make this more believable.

[identity profile] asgaja.livejournal.com 2007-07-15 01:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh that's just the beginning of it and those are the parts that hasn't annoyed me as much as a lot of other things. But rather than to go on about that here I'll just point towards the review post I made a few months back. It's just far easier than explaining it all over again. ^_^''

[identity profile] catalyst2.livejournal.com 2007-07-15 01:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry I caused you pain by bringing all that back to the surface for you! Much of the background I wasn't aware of (the AvP books etc, that is) but I hadn't even thought about how controlled and calm the aliens were but yes, you definitely pointed out something there that I never even noticed.

And I'll stop talking about it now before I cause you any more pain! :-(

[identity profile] asgaja.livejournal.com 2007-07-15 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Hahaha no worries, I have some machocistic tendencies that makes me watch it every few months and I always throw a hissy fit when I do, but due to forgetting it at my best friends place when I went south the last time I have to do without it for now.

There are a lot of people, well the majority of the people that've seen the AvP movie that have never even heard about the books. The games are pretty famous and the comic books somewhat but the books are a rarity that few know of. Sadly because they really are so many kinds of awesome.

[identity profile] catalyst2.livejournal.com 2007-07-16 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
I think I saw some AvP TPB's (whoa, too many abbreviations in a row!) the last time I was at my local comic store - I might just check them out.