During an archaeological expedition on Bouvetøya Island in Antarctica, a team of archaeologists and other scientists find themselves caught up in a battle between the two legends. Soon, the team realize that only one species can win.
When a private satellite encounters an unidentified source of heat in Antarctica and it is found to be a pyramid buried deep underground , a search team comprising of top-of-the-line archaeologists and engineers is sent to Antarctica to find out more . Once there , the team comes across signs which indicate that the place is inhabited by an unknown alien species . It is not long before the aliens begin to hunt the team members . At the same time , a trio of coming-of-age Predators have arrived to collect the skulls of the aliens as trophies , and the humans are caught between a deadly battle between the two warring species .Written by
Soumitra
Simon Pegg, a big fan of both the Alien and Predator franchises, was well known to have disliked this crossover, and made a quip about the film's tagline - "Whoever won, we left". See more »
Goofs
(at around 11 mins) Graeme Miller's description of the aurorae as being caused by protons and electrons in the atmosphere is inaccurate. Aurorae are caused by the interaction of high energy particles (usually electrons) with neutral atoms (oxygen, nitrogen...) in Earth's upper atmosphere. However, as a chemical engineer, his knowledge of atmospheric photochemistry may be expected to be somewhat rusty. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Technician:
Hey. Hey, hey, come here, take a look at this.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The opening titles and closing cast/crew credits first appear in the Predators' red digital alphabet (as seen on their self-destruct devices) before being translated into English. See more »
Alternate Versions
The Premium Cable version of the film (networks such as HBO) includes the addition of the 1904 alternate opening, but no additional scenes beyond that This version includes some, but not all, of the CGI blood and gore additions prevalent in the unrated home video release. See more »
Most people going into this film want to see one thing: Aliens and Predators rip into each other. I suspect a great many geeks and lame individuals inhabiting message boards of every corner of the internet will complain that this film spends too much time with the humans when the name of the film is 'Alien versus Predator' and they couldn't care about the humans, and another sect will whine about how shallow the film is to jump right to the big fight as soon as it can possibly set it up.
The nice thing about the Freddy vs Jason premise is the fact that most of the Elm Street films and none of the Friday the 13th films had any substance to them, so throwing the two juggernauts into a battle rumble with each other with a side of useless characters and uninspired plot shouldn't have phased anyone but the most deluded of fans. I really liked FvsJ more so than all but the Craven-driven Elm Streets and the all the F13s.
Alien vs Predator is quite a bit different since I love Ridley Scott's Alien and James Cameron's Aliens, and though I don't hold Predator 1 & 2 on the same level, I'm still pretty fond of the original Predator film (been too long since I've seen Predator 2). The Alien series (and to a much lesser extent, the Predator series too) has always been about depth . . . so to just throw the two monsters at each other and let them rip into each other really does not do them any justice and strips away what makes their films so good to begin with.
So . . . AVP takes a middle path. It attempts to build up the characters to an extent, it attempts to give a valid reason for both the Aliens and Predators to be in the same location, and it attempts to do it as quickly as it can. How well does it succeed? I found myself wishing it would either slow down more or pick up the pace.
I'm very pleased to see the stylish Paul Anderson lead this tangled and difficult project. His nods to the original films, in jokes, and slower paced setup were much appreciated from me. Ninety minutes of guys in rubber suits cut with CG monsters fighting constantly just will not cut it. I felt Anderson rushed the setup (or the studio rushed him); but part of me did grow bored of the characters rather quickly, and I did want to see the Alien and Predators get together sooner than they did.
The lingering time between bouts did create more tension and anticipation for the coming fights, which I admired, and when the beasts finally sank claws and teeth into one another I found myself more or less satisfied. At first I felt somewhat let down by how seemingly easily a few Predators went down; however, then I remembered these things were fighting Aliens with bare fists and blades when Space Marines were getting slaughtered with state of the art artillery.
A classless director would have started with a bang, ended with a bang, and had a boring parade of bangs. When I want meaningless, yet entertaining, bangs I buy firecrackers and save myself both time and money. Paul Anderson strived for something more, and pretty much came through. While I did like the film and the idea of Aliens and Predators fighting it out, I couldn't help but compare it to the superior films that inspired it. As fun as AVP is, and as much as I like Paul Anderson . . . he is not Ridley Scott and this is not Alien.
196 of 361 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
Most people going into this film want to see one thing: Aliens and Predators rip into each other. I suspect a great many geeks and lame individuals inhabiting message boards of every corner of the internet will complain that this film spends too much time with the humans when the name of the film is 'Alien versus Predator' and they couldn't care about the humans, and another sect will whine about how shallow the film is to jump right to the big fight as soon as it can possibly set it up.
The nice thing about the Freddy vs Jason premise is the fact that most of the Elm Street films and none of the Friday the 13th films had any substance to them, so throwing the two juggernauts into a battle rumble with each other with a side of useless characters and uninspired plot shouldn't have phased anyone but the most deluded of fans. I really liked FvsJ more so than all but the Craven-driven Elm Streets and the all the F13s.
Alien vs Predator is quite a bit different since I love Ridley Scott's Alien and James Cameron's Aliens, and though I don't hold Predator 1 & 2 on the same level, I'm still pretty fond of the original Predator film (been too long since I've seen Predator 2). The Alien series (and to a much lesser extent, the Predator series too) has always been about depth . . . so to just throw the two monsters at each other and let them rip into each other really does not do them any justice and strips away what makes their films so good to begin with.
So . . . AVP takes a middle path. It attempts to build up the characters to an extent, it attempts to give a valid reason for both the Aliens and Predators to be in the same location, and it attempts to do it as quickly as it can. How well does it succeed? I found myself wishing it would either slow down more or pick up the pace.
I'm very pleased to see the stylish Paul Anderson lead this tangled and difficult project. His nods to the original films, in jokes, and slower paced setup were much appreciated from me. Ninety minutes of guys in rubber suits cut with CG monsters fighting constantly just will not cut it. I felt Anderson rushed the setup (or the studio rushed him); but part of me did grow bored of the characters rather quickly, and I did want to see the Alien and Predators get together sooner than they did.
The lingering time between bouts did create more tension and anticipation for the coming fights, which I admired, and when the beasts finally sank claws and teeth into one another I found myself more or less satisfied. At first I felt somewhat let down by how seemingly easily a few Predators went down; however, then I remembered these things were fighting Aliens with bare fists and blades when Space Marines were getting slaughtered with state of the art artillery.
A classless director would have started with a bang, ended with a bang, and had a boring parade of bangs. When I want meaningless, yet entertaining, bangs I buy firecrackers and save myself both time and money. Paul Anderson strived for something more, and pretty much came through. While I did like the film and the idea of Aliens and Predators fighting it out, I couldn't help but compare it to the superior films that inspired it. As fun as AVP is, and as much as I like Paul Anderson . . . he is not Ridley Scott and this is not Alien.