| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Movie Name | Alien vs. Predator (2004) |
| Director | Paul W.S. Anderson |
| Writer | Paul W.S. Anderson, Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett |
| Lead Actor | Sanaa Lathan |
| Cast | Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen, Ewen Bremner, Colin Salmon, Tommy Flanagan, Joseph Rye, Carsten Norgaard, Agathe de La Boulaye, Sam Troughton |
| Genre | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller |
| Release Date | August 13, 2004 (USA) |
| Duration | 1h 41m (101 minutes) |
| Budget | $60 million USD |
| Box Office | $177.4 million USD (worldwide) |
| Language | English |
| IMDb Rating | 5.6/10 |
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It was actually not as bad as I was expecting due to all the poor reviews, but it did ultimately fail. It’s hard to believe there’s an Alien movie in existance now that actually makes Alien Resurrection not the worst of the bunch. It’s definitely worth seeing if you’re a fan of the Alien or Predator franchises, but pretty much worthless for everyone else which makes it doubly ridiculous that the movie was toned down to a safe PG-13 instead of the nice violent R the concept so rightfully deserved.
The premise? Modern day Charles “Bishop” Weyland (of Weyland-Yutani, the ‘corporation’ in the previous Alien films, and played by Lance “Bishop” Henriksen) enlists a ragtag bunch of “experts in their respective fields” to excavate a mysterious underground pyramid in Antarctica. Luckily for us, one of the experts is an Italian archaeologist who can indiscriminately read ancient markings and hieroglyphs of any random origin.
He needlessly explains to us that the pyramid is one of many ancient sites of Klingon Predator rites of passage wherein members of the Predator species turn from boy into man by successfully killing everyone’s favourite acid bleeding xenomorph. The catch? Human sacrifices are needed to incubate the now famous chest bursters.
For a movie in which we cheer at every moment a predator or alien are on screen, we are otherwise forced to root for the “generic feisty female” played by Sanaa Lathan (previously seen in Brown Sugar and a couple of episodes of Moesha). It worked in the previous Alien movies because Sigourney Weaver can act and actually pull off being vulnerable and a powerful woman at the same time. Sorry, Sanaa. You’re no Sigourney Weaver.
The (few) fight scenes of hot alien on predator action are exactly how I envisioned a royal rumble between the two species would be (albeit a bit short on R-rated gore and a bit heavy on PG-rated off-screen deaths), so props to Mr. Anderson for at least not screwing that up. If only the whole movie was full of this good stuff instead of ridiculous exposition, the movie would actually be salvageable. Luckily, if you squint your brain, you can selectively block out the dumb parts of the movie and enjoy the handful of juicy bits. The story’s not that awful, just the way we’re force-fed the plot is.
Eventually, our sole-surviving wannabe Ripley teams up with the Predator, and for more than just a moment you swear they’re going to get romantically entangled for some interracial space lovin’ (I mean, since when does running together in slow-mo silhouette behind an explosion meaning anything but?).
I’m sure this versus craze will bring us more Hollywood deathmatches similar to this and Freddy vs. Jason, and other reviewers have already joked about the various combinations. But the ultimate showdown I’m waiting for? WALKEN vs. BUSEY. Oh yeah.
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