It’s early yet but some of the major critics are starting to weigh in on Alien Versus Predator and the ratings are coming in even lower than they did for Catwoman. Madness, I say, madness! Some quotes, mostly pilfered from Rotten Tomatoes:
“It’s a murky, empty-headed dive into the depths of the Antarctic and the heart of monster movie cliches that leaves you praying for most of the cast to get killed off fast, to put them (and us) out of our misery.”
— Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE“Going from the noisily routine to the ludicrous, AVP’s final reel or so are likely to produce howls.”
— Dennis Harvey, VARIETY“How many awful, monotonous, stupid movies does Anderson have to make before they take away his scissors and crayons?”
— MaryAnn Johanson, FLICK FILOSOPHER“like watching a very non-scary, screeching, interstellar cockfight”
— Annette Cardwell, FILMCRITIC.COM“Anderson (Resident Evil, Event Horizon, Mortal Kombat) has a thing for gamelike killing sprees. What he doesn’t have is talent.”
— Roger Moore, ORLANDO SENTINEL“Uninspired, dull and utterly forgettable.”
— Kevin N. Laforest, MONTREAL FILM JOURNAL“‘Whoever Wins…We Lose!’ Thank you, Fox, for the truth in your advertising.”
— Collin Souter, EFILMCRITIC.COM“In this contest it’s boredom and stupidity that are victorious…though loud and brutally paced and edited, far more silly than scary.”
— Frank Swietek, ONE GUY’S OPINION“Who is the big winner in Alien Vs. Predator? Everyone who avoids going to see the film.”
— Willie Waffle, WAFFLEMOVIES.COM
And most of the nastier critics haven’t even weighed in yet … scary …
WOW!!!!!!!! Am I ever AMP’ed up after seeing this movie. I was having the time of my life, we laughed and clapped during certain scenes I almost stood up and danced in excitement. I can’t wait to buy the DVD to watch it again and again, I bet the extra’s and deleted scenes are unbelievable.
Aliens: what more needs to be said, they were totally awesome.
An the Action: most of the action was good. Watching humans getting there butts kicked by either side, what could be better. But bar far the best part was the preditors vs aliens the action was really good, top shelf, better than watching and Disney Movie. I think it would be a crime if this film didn’t win some sort or academy award, best director.
Did I mention the humor, and not the corny kind, so much better that the corny scenes in Spiderman 2. Could that movie be any more fake, what’s up with that, well that’s another review I’d prefer not to get started on. It was so bad I needed psychiatric consultation after seeing it.
It lived up to it√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s potential, on of the top Sci-Fi fighting creatures ever, it brought me to tears when it ended. Visualize stunning. As it got closer to the end, it seemed almost thrown together and wrap up to quickly. I remember leaving the theatre thinking “is that it!?” I am looking forward to the sequel, I think they left some things unfinished that needs to be addressed. Having said that how about a prequal, that catch√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s us up on where these dud√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s came from, now that would be totally awesome.
In conclusion: I’m not sure they could have done better. I wasn’t even a little bit disappointment. My thinking is if you didn’t like this you have a screw loose. Take it for what it was, Entertainment. It more than measures up to any other movie put out in 2004. You want disappointment watch any M. Night Shyamalan movie. Talking about no talent. Once the movie with the line “I see dead people” faded he’s only created trash. What a hack and has been.
This movie leaves you wanting more, it leaves you inspired and exhilarated.
It’s movies like this one that gives me HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. Restores my faith in the movie industry.
Jimbob
“id like to say this film rocks.i loved it.its really funny and realistic.not like this crap you get with all the computer graphics.”
How old are you? Twelve? Despite the fact that the movie was a horrible abuse of a popular franchise (which as of now is at a state comparative to having had its head sawed off and pissed all over), was directed by that bargain-bin director Anderson, and as the biggest slap in the face disregarded what little established continuity there was by not taking advantage of the countless probable scenarios that could have arose, you have the audacity to give this pitiful excuse of a “film” positive merits that aren’t even accurate?
First and fore mostly, this film was not funny or even humorous by intention. Every piece of dialogue reeked of clich√©, overemphasized by the low-budget actors failed attempts to bring emotion and drama to a situation that no one even bothers to relate to, because everyone knows they’re going to die. The only thing amusing is the fact that not more people got up and left, because the movie made no attempt to retain an audience.
Secondly, this isn’t the early 90’s and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Muppet technique doesn’t haul as much weight as it used to. The costumes were pass√© and outdated, and when the computer animation (which you claim to be non-existent) did come into use, it looked poorly done and clashed with the rest of the visuals, especially during the final climactic battle which some of you may or may not have been awake to view.
Thirdly, this movie was in no remote way “realistic.” Every scenario from the privatized attempt to uncover whatever secret in Antarctica all the way up to the sole survivor allying with a Predator was laughable at best (something that I guarantee was not the desired result). And, if you happen to be referring to the visuals as being realistic, I’d have a hard time agreeing with you, seeing as the lighting and editing of the entire movie was comparable to a Paris Hilton home video (which probably received higher ratings than AVP).
Don’t deny the fact this film was an awful display of Hollywood abuse. If Anderson had done the same thing to a child, he’d be in a situation worse than Michael Jackson’s. Aliens Versus Predator was and will forever be, until the time the universe explodes and we’re all burning in hell, one of the worst movies EVER.
-Matt
PS: Comic continuity doesn’t count, and is the last resort of a dwindling cause to save face in a situation where the face has been ripped off the skull of the victim, namely the AVP fandom, and tossed into a pit of starving hyenas.
The Director should die for this atrocity.
i dont understand that after 10 years of concepts being thrown around for this movie, why on earth they picked this lame crap. theres only 1 fight in the movie because the woman kills the queen.
the only good thing about this movie is the somersault the predator does at the end to spear the queen in the side of the head.
its a complete and utter disaster.
id like to say this film rocks.i loved it.its really funny and realistic.not like this crap you get with all the computer graphics.and it was set in today not the far future.the storyline was a bit lame but just seeing alien verses predator was cool.it wasnt boring and i like how the predator went with the women.but the fight scenes could have been longer.if they put arnold schwarenegger that would have been exellent.
i would like to see AVP 2 but i couldnt see how 1 alien on a predator ship would survive.i like seeing the history of we met the prdators.but was what it woth the aliens growing so fast.wiked film go see.
well…wot can i say? i totally agree with all of you without a doubt. AS mentioned before, what a better way to totally kill 2 of the biggest sci-fi characters of all time by giving it to a lame arse director to handle. This movie seriously lacked a real hero – instead they throw in sum mountain climbing B*tch. And what another great way to kill off the concept of the predator by making him befriend this stupid heroine. If it was sum1 like ripley instead of a ripoff, or gud old arnie you would have thought…yeh they deserved to befriend this great ruthless predator cos they can kick arse too, but it just made the predator look weak despite this happenin in the comics. i sooo wish it was directed by sum1 like james camron. what else can i say? – very disapointed…(Arnie keeps sayin he’ll be back..come on now is he politically correct about this?)
I agree witht the majority of the comments in general. The film had so much more potential to offer than it delivered. In my opinion though the graphics, special effects and sound effects were good. Just as good if not better than any of the other movies.
This film though lacked action… badly! It was too short. It was just after it begun. There should have been another 30 mins or so i reckon of them inside of the ancient pyramid with the aliens and predator fighting each other. The film was wrapped up too quick.
PG-13 also runined it. It should have been an 18/R. Why do they get it so wrong when it could have been so right?
If you like the alien and predator films, i’d recommend this one. I enjoyed it – and would quite happily wathc it again. Thouroughly hoping that they will bring out an 18 version for DVD…
OKok we all know the story sucked, we all know they screwed up BIG TIME. but just seeing the two titans of sci fi battle onscreen was enough for me, even with the crappy story.
and i enjoyed seeing that one alien pwn the 2 predators, even though i knew that would never have happened. and the way the queen died was just… lame….
they really should have made it based off the games instead. and gotten a better director
I liked this movie at some certain parts. But the one thing i laughed at cause it was lame, was when the woman and the Predator kind of befriended one another, they were runnin away, and all you could see were the womans and Predators silhoutte running like Batman and Robin through mist. Corny.
However this still could of been a fantastic movie. Oh and i got this off comingsoon.net;
“Paul Anderson announced today that for the DVD there will be an R rated directers cut. He says Alien versus Predator was made as an R rated picture and he is mad the studio censored his movie to PG-13 3 weeks before release.”
You can always trust corporate Hollywood to make a film great (LIES!)
check da page out: http://www.comingsoon.net/forums/showthread.php?t=32227
I have not seen this film yet, but I was so looking forward to it. Now that feeling has gone.
Paul Anderson’s reputation is obviously crap, his movies are crap and now this potentially marvellous and colossal sci-fi event sounds as if its turned into crap. Lets face it anything this guy touches turns to shit, and somebody should really go up to his face and say that.
(I know I would)
The director Must have done his homework. The movie followed the original comic very well in a few key areas. (eg the ‘slave’ alien queen, the acid marking/tattoo and the friendship between pred and human) Anyone who has read the first avp comic will agree. Unfortunately the comic had far more action than the movie. That is the major problem with this film. Not enough fighting. Only two satisfying fights that i remember (celtic pred vs alien warrior and then the fight with the queen). This movie should have been a “HOLEY S**T” but instead it was a “Is that it?”. I hope this movie is just a set-up for the ‘big one’ but perhaps that is just wishful thinking. dissapointment.
I havent seen the movie yet as it aint out over in the uk right now, but judging by what i’ve read here i doubt if i want to. I, like most other sc-fi fans absolutely loved both ailens and predator movies and when the game was released thought it was fantastic. Then i heard news that they were finally gonna do a movie and now look. A total hash they made of it. I am upset to say the least, why did they give it to a man who had such a bad track record of films, what a waste of a top license. And whats with the pg-13 rating!?!?
That movie could have seriously gone somewhere if they weren’t in a hurry to release it. The fact that ONE alien took out two preds is just unheard of. It could have been so much better.
Did he just call Carl Weathers ‘the black guy’?
I saw the original Predator movie with Mr. California over a hundred times. It was my favourite movie, knew the lines of the movie almost by heart, like Arnie says “you set us up!” and the black guy replies “we are assets, expendible assets”.
This AVP movie is a major disappointment. It wasn’t scary like the first Alien, it had a kind of Walt Disney feeling (if your IQ is over 100, you can always guess what Pluto is going to do next – it’s very predictable), and of course the story had nothing new to offer. It should have been a 2-hour long action-thriller with some real horror scenes.
And what’s up with the ‘silence’ in the movie? It’s something i noticed, the supposed-to-be thrilling scenes are mute, did they ran out of money to produce some cool background-music?
this movie sucked royal ass
I don’t understand why so many people hate the movie. Excellent action and special effects. Story is secondary in a movie like this. I wasn’t surprised the Alien thrashed some Predators. When stuck to melee combat the Alien is just superior. Plus this movie is obviously a set up movie anyway and rather good one at that.
There was so much potential for this movie that it didn’t live up to. The Alien and the Predator are my favorite Sci-Fi creatures ever, and it almost brought me to tears when they gave the movie a PG-13 rating, considering that most thirteen year olds weren’t even a twinkle when the first Alien was released, and that every Alien and Predator movie made has been R. How can you get the full effect of the chaos these creatures can create with a PG-13 rating? The only thing I really enjoyed was actually being able to visualize the Alien/Predator. They both had great new looks on screen. It is too bad they didn’t actually DO much. The predator is a bad ass and all three of them got schooled real quick. I have to admit I did cringe when I found out who the director was. I really hate the story line too. For all of us die-hard pred/alien fans let us hope if they make a sequel they do not torture us with the same mediocrity as they did this time.
There was so much potential for this movie that it didn’t live up to. The Alien and the Predator are my favorite Sci-Fi creatures ever, and it almost brought me to tears when they gave the movie a PG-13 rating, considering that most thirteen year olds weren’t even a twinkle when the first Alien was released, and that every Alien and Predator movie made has been R. How can you get the full effect of the chaos these creatures can create with a PG-13 rating? The only thing I really enjoyed was actually being able to visualize the Alien/Predator. They both had great new looks on screen. It is too bad they didn’t actually DO much. The predator is a bad ass and all three of them got schooled real quick. I have to admit I did cringe when I found out who the director was. I really hate the story line too. For all of us die-hard pred/alien fans let us hope if they make a sequel they do not torture us with the same mediocrity as they did this time.
I was so excited when I found out there would be an AVP movie, I enjoyed both franchises, so I figured both together would be earth shattering.
I did enjoy the beginning, there was even a build-up in anticipation, then the “carnage” started, I think they did not develope the characters enough, they killed them off too soon, the fight scene with the alien and predator was almost too
jumbled (editing maybe?) As it got closer to the end, it seemed almost thrown together to wrap it up. I remember leaving the theatre thinking “is that it!?” I was so disappointed and let down, this movie did have potential to be more than what it was. I hope they don’t do a sequal, given the ending. As with the trend nowadays, they may do a “prequal” to make up for their mistake-just joking!!!! (I hope)
i couldn’t agree with the critics more. The people that made the movie didn’t follow the history of aliens, or predator. it left more questions at the end than answers. And whats with the ending!!! an alien in the dead predator, i sure hope that doesn’t mean they’re making a second one. They just made there own agenda, and whats up with one alien killing 2 predators. Predators are spose to be “trained in the art of war.” So what the hell!!!
alright alright. wasn’t a great movie I know. But seriously the theatre I was in actually had people laughing aloud and clapping in some scenes. I’m sure everyone was at least a LITTLE disappointed. I was too but at the same time I was also pretty satisfied. Heres why.
Predators: I know they are newby hunters and all but still you think they would have been a little more mentally prepared for something like this instead 2 of them got OWNED within the first 5 to 10 minutes of an alien encounter. Infact the first pred was nailed or should i say tailed from behind and the second one could have prevented his death had he not WALKED (yes that incredibly annoying walk that seems to take forever) up to the alien TRAPPED in a net.
Oh ya get the SAME alien killed the first 2 predators. Thats a kick as xenomorph considering he was JUST BORN.
Anyways the last pred although started off crazy style STILL managed to get face hugged thus makin him practically as much a newb as the other two were.
Aliens:well they didn’t jump around or crawl on walls as much as the avp game xenomorphs did and in one scene one seems to have a hard time getting up for now specific reason. Plus, despite the fact that the humans started the game a lil early by takin the plasma guns(which seems to have really screwed up the preds plans),the aliens kicked a lil too much pred ass.
Action: most of the action was good. most of it really was humans gettin there asses kicked by either side. but when it got down to preds vs aliens the action was really good, X ept!!! with one almost turn based wrist blade tail swipe fest that was poorly done with both pred and alien standing still practically swinging at each other no one hitting.
Humor: didn’t know there was supposed to be any but apparently there was. and it was funny if you ask me. it was corny and sooo corny that i believe it was purposefully done (as were a few corny scenes in spiderman 2). and it to me was done well enough to get a laugh out loud from me which it did.
In conclusion: It could have done better. And there ARE some disappointments. Especially compared to the hype. PLUS it would have been better if it were more adult oriented like the aliens/predator movies were but HEY!!, personally I’m hoping the PG-13 rated movie was to set up for the rated R movie which will take place in the future (alien movie times with colonial marines and all that hi tech weaponry)and will hopefully be directed by someone new and just plain be a little better. SO I STILL HAVE HOPES FOR THE FUTURE.
In my theatre the audience laughed and clapped with certain scenes and at the same time when everyone walked out I can tell there were a few disappointments, well alot. But if you can afford it and you can prolly sneak into another movie I say you DO go watch it cause it’s not as bad as the critics say it is.
P.S. Sorry bout all the run on sentences.