Alien vs. Predator (2004)
“It seems…that we are rats…in a maze.” – Graeme.
Alien vs. Predator (2004)
Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson
Written by: Paul W.S. Anderson, Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen, Ewen Bremner, Tommy Flanagan
I’d categorise Alien vs. Predator as a ‘good shit movie’. That is, it’s clearly a bad movie – the production quality is crap, the script is terrible, and there’s no real benefit to watching this. However, if you want to switch your brain off and watch a couple of iconic movie sci-fi villains try and kill each other for a few hours, it’s perfect. Also, it had a reasonably big budget of $80 million USD, so at least the set pieces and special effects are passable. In summary, it’s a crap movie, but it’s a good crap movie. Got it? Ok.
A bit of background is needed here before I go into the overview. Alien (directed by Ridley Scott in 1979) and its sequel Aliens (directed by James Cameron in 1986) were revolutionary at the time. These two films, along with Cameron’s The Terminator in 1984, transformed the science fiction genre [which had skyrocketed to popularity after Stanley Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1966), and the Star Wars franchise (1977 onwards)] into something slightly different – science fiction horror. Alien was championed for it’s (at the time) creative futuristic vision, but it also gave the audience something different – this was a classic horror movie, set in space. Like other horror classics there was a big baddie (the ‘xenomorph’), a hero (Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley), and an ensemble cast that would get picked off one-by-one as the hero fought for survival. This blueprint was a sensation with audiences, with the films receiving great critical acclaim and box-office success. This led to a franchise that now has six standalone movies, the last of which came out in 2017. It also spawned other science fiction movies of the same ilk, including…you guessed it…Predator in 1987. This time it was Arnold Schwarzenegger facing off again his own alien nemesis – the ‘Predator’. Once again this was a fan favourite, and led to a franchise with four standalone ‘Predator’ movies.
Now, because 20th Century Fox owns the intellectual property of both franchises, and because production companies love making money, they decided to merge the two characters into a joint film (based on a 1989 comic book concept). This is that film. And who did they bring on to write and direct it? None other than Paul W.S. Anderson, who wrote and directed the Resident Evil franchise - a ‘survival horror’ movie series based on the computer game that was inspired by...Alien. So it all comes full circle really.
Alien vs. Predator follows a team of the ‘worlds best’ in their respective scientific fields, who have been assembled by billionaire Charles Weyland (Henriksen). One of Weyland’s satellites has picked up thermal imagery of what looks like an ancient pyramid buried 2000 feet beneath the ice in Antarctica. Wanting to claim this archaeological find for himself, Weyland tasks the team with exploring the ruins. However, once inside, the team finds themselves trapped in a maze, caught between a centuries old battle between the Predators and Xenomorphs.
I want to reiterate that the original Alien and Predator movies are absolute classics – this movie doesn’t hold a candle to either of them. However, it does follow the same template, and so you get all the same fun ‘bad horror movie’ tropes. There are the two baddies, who spend the movie hunting the clichéd cast of stereotypical horror characters, including:
The eccentric mad rich entrepreneur who is funding the ill-fated trip
The moral hero, who won’t leave anyone behind (in all honesty, almost a replica of Ripley’s character)
The hot guy, who the hero seems to like
The innocent and nerdy nice guy who keeps talking about his young kids back home
The ‘tough’ security guy who pretends they’re not scared of anything
The token black guy
A bunch of other characters who get absolutely no back-story and so will clearly die first
As such, you get a bunch of characters to either root for or against, and sit back while the body count racks up. Unfortunately the script is so bad and the characters so underdeveloped that you don’t really end up caring about anyone enough before they die, but that again plays into the ‘switch your brain off’ appeal of this film.
The one shining light in the movie is the further exploration into the Predator and Alien lore. If you are a fan of the old movies, writer Paul W.S. Anderson has tried to provide some more background on both species, with an attempt to explain the crossover and relationship between the two. [As a side-note, the plot is that Predators and Aliens have a fight-to-the-death, battle-royale style event on earth every 100 years. This is the exact same plot as the Matthew Reilly book ‘Contest’, which was released in 1996. Little bit suss, Paul W.S. Anderson…]. The fun elements from both of the origin films remain (i.e. the ‘face-huggers’ from the Alien franchise, the invisibility and plethora of interstellar weapons for the Predators), and are sprinkled in throughout the action scenes to make you go “oh yeah, that's that thing from the other movie!” At the crux of it all, you get to watch the two big baddies bash the crap out of each other for the final sixty minutes, in a mindless free-for-all, where characters get taken out left, right and centre.
While the Predators are all portrayed by people in costumes and makeup, the one massive disservice is how quickly Anderson reverts to CGI for the Xenomorphs. One of the best parts of the Alien franchise is how realistic the models and special effects were for the creatures, who were shown only sparingly to keep the audience on the back foot. They were villains that were hiding in the shadows, ready to shock everyone with jump-scares. In Alien vs. Predator, Anderson quickly gives up on special effects and then replaces them with an inconsistent CGI army, rendering any ‘shock factor’ useless.
In summary, it’s a completely brainless film, there is no depth to any characters, and you probably won’t ever watch it again. Also, if you haven’t seen the original films, it’s a bit pointless without getting the nostalgic references. It’s more designed for super-fans of the originals. However, if you want a mindless popcorn flick and feel like a sci-fi-horror-action film – whack this on for two hours and enjoy the violence.
Rating: 5.5/10
Some final casting facts (because I realised that I didn’t mention the cast AT ALL):
The lead Sanaa Lathan is great. No one gets much to work with in the script, but a good Ripley impression nonetheless.
Lance Henriksen (who was in the initial Alien film as the character Bishop) was cast in the film as Weyland. Note that this is a subversive callback to the company Weyland-Yutani that sends Ripley to space in Alien (which is in the future from this movie).
Schwarzenegger said he’d make a cameo in the film as his character Dutch from the original Predator film, but then went on to win the California governorship and had to withdraw.
Sigourney Weaver was asked to make a cameo as Ripley, but said no, as she thought the concept “sounded awful”.