IronWatcher’s review published on Letterboxd:
Watched on Blu-Ray (Extended Cut)
Rewatch Road to The Predator (2018)
Step 3 of 5
It must have been 10 to 12 years ago that I have watched Alien vs. Predator the last time. At that time I was about 16 years old and thought the movie was awesome. Because of that, I was really curious if I would like it as much as I did then. Spoiler: no!
At the time, obviously, I did not care about neatly crafted characters at all. Because this is by far the biggest flaw in the film: the characters are all unsympathetic, idiotic assholes, with whom you will never get warm. Even the main character Alexa is totally disagreeable from the start due to her mean behavior towards the character of Ewen Bremner. Shockingly bad!
The premise with the pyramid as Hogwarts for Predators is actually quite nice. The cast of the alien queen as magic potion teacher was daring, but it fit.
But joking aside: the true stars of the movie are of course the Predators and the Aliens. The battles against each other are quite cool and fortunately staged more often than expected with practical effects. It could have been more violent, but 2004 wasn' t the time for gory brutality as shown in Predator 2. Although there are many scenes with mediocre CGI, they are compensated by the suitable equipment of the pyramid chambers and the practical monster effects.
Paul W.S. Anderson has created some wonderful images that are atmospheric and that could be hung on the wall as a poster. Unfortunately, good images are far from a measure for a good movie. The sad truth: the flat characters and their stupid behavior make Alien Vs. Predator a half-baked concoction. I started the disc with the expectation of 3.5 stars and was disappointed.
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