Alien Vs Predator 2004 Sci-Fi Film
Director by Paul W.S. Anderwson Brings Together the two Franchises
Sep 12, 2009
The predators are the ultimate hunters and for eons they have been hunting down and eliminating prey. One of their hunts brings them back to Earth, where they see the reawakening of the aliens - creatures that match the strength of the Predators with a cold viciousness. A hapless band of scientists are caught in the crossfire.
Alien Vs Predator's Plot and Key Characters
A satellite over the island of Bouvetøya about a thousand miles from Antarctica discovers a heat bloom under the ice that was not there before. The wealthy industrialist and owner of the satellite Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) quickly gathers a team of various experts that includes paleontologists, archaeologists, linguistic experts, drillers, mercenaries, and a guide named Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan). The team is sent to investigate the heat bloom before any other rival companies send their own teams.
Meanwhile a predator ship is seen heading for Earth, and three predators begin to suit up as their ship fires a weapon at the surface.
When the team arrives at the heat bloom, they find that a perfect tunnel has already been cut through more than a mile of ice to the source of the bloom. The drillers are puzzled, but the majority of the team head down the tunnel to discover a pyramid which incorporates design features from dozens of different cultures.
On the surface, the drilling team is quickly killed as the three predators arrive. Meanwhile, below the ground, as the team enters the pyramid, they activate it and the process of reawakening a dormant alien queen begins. Several members of the team are trapped in a room with alien eggs as the pyramid starts to shift, rooms close and passageways change.
The remaining team members discover three predator weapons and take them.
With the vicious aliens on the loose and the three predators without their guns, the humans are caught in the middle as both species battle for supremacy.
A Film that was not Worth the Wait
Ever since an alien head was seen in the trophy cabinet onboard the ship in Predator 2, fans have been waiting for a crossover. Sadly, this film really misses its mark.
The set up is fine, and the audience wait with baited breath for the moment when the aliens and predators will confront each other. Unfortunately, without their fancy guns, the predators don’t seem to be anymore a match for aliens in a one on one fight than humans are. When the moment comes when a predator and alien come face to face, the predator is first impaled through the back, before being killed by that thing that comes out of the alien’s mouth. The second predator leaps into the battle and lasts just a little longer than his comrade. So within moments of the aliens and predators meeting, two predators lie dead with only one remaining.
Eventually the remaining predator gets his gun back and is able to kick some butt, but by then it is really too late for this film to be saved.
Henriksen establishes the film as part of the Alien and Predator universe because he played the part of the android Bishop in Aliens. However, the film just doesn’t have the shocks or gore of either the Alien or Predator films.
In the Alien franchise, the aliens were vicious creatures and in Predator, the aliens were noble hunters who would never kill someone that could not defend himself. In Aliens Vs Predator, the aliens are more than capable of overpowering any unarmed predator and the surviving predator is forced to team up with the last of the humans.
Alien Vs Predator is a disappointing film. The human characters lack the screen presence of the previous humans. The team’s guide Alexa Wood is no Ripley, and no one matches the sheer screen size of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the first Predator. Or even the presence of Danny Glover from Predator 2.
2/5
Die hard Alien or Predator fans will probably want to give this a miss, but those unfamiliar with either franchise will get a kick out of seeing big monsters fighting mostly bloodless battles.
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