Aliens vs Predator (2004)

I absolutely hated this movie when it was released. The biggest reason for that was the fact that it was rated PG13 (11 in Sweden) and there is absolutely nothing worse when moviemakers start to dumb down franchises just to sell more tickets. Paul W S Anderson has a tendency to do that with his movies, which is odd when this comes from the guy who made Event Horizon, but he has proved it on several occasions with his awful Resident evil and the production of the even worse Resident evil 2. He did redeem himself a bit by hiring Russel Mulcahy to do the third, superior Extinction. I do think that it's mostly part of the movie companies influencing him since he does seem to be quite a fanboy if you listen to his commentaries. Maybe I'm just jelaous because he gets to have sexual intercourse with Mila Jovovich every night?

So, for some reason I decided to watch AvP again. Why, I have no idea but I guess I needed a bit of acid blood that sunday morning. It turned out to be a good thing because the movie isnt as awful as I remember it. Actually, it is a nice little romp which has its loopy plotholes and corny dialogue, but the positives far iutweight the bad. I had no idea.

The plot is AvP:s weakest thing. The Weyland corporation (Yes, half of what will be Weyland Utani) discovers heat signature on an island in the Antarctic. A team is sent there to mine whatever riches are there but discover an underground pyramid. Before you can say "the comics are better" alien embryos are bursting out of the crew and the survivors have to battle not just aliens, but Predators as well. The plot itself is not bad though, but it's pretty daft when you try to fit it into the rest of the alienverse when all of a sudden the Aliens have been on Earth all along, wiping out entire civilizations. Yech.

Other than that, it is a fairly decent movie with truly superb set designs. The abandoned village on the island gives the movie that ole The Thing feeling and the tunnels below with that cool pyramid are inspired even though the changing corridors feels just like a gimmick. The actors arent given much to do other than trying to look scared and they are never really given any chance to create any characters with the meager script. Cannonfodder. But both Ridley Scott and James Cameron managed to serve up cannonfodder with souls, so why not Anderson? Oh well, the aliens are cool, the Predators tough as nails and the Alien queen looks truly awesome so in the end we actually have a decent little romp that is'nt as bad as it's generally thought of. It's James Camerons fault. Why oh why did he have to create a sequel that's equally as good as the original and making everyone that came after look like talentless hacks?

So, should I give AvP: Requiem another spin? Maybe I should wait four more years... at least it has all the gore that this one is missing.

Btw, I do like to read trivia on Imdb.com, but some of it is really useless: How about this: First Predator movie to feature a left-handed predator.
Oh thank you, I didnt know I could survive without that little tidbit.