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Weyland Industries picks up a heat signature in an uninhabited
sector of Antarctica at the location of an abandoned Whaling
Station. A team of experts is assembled and dispatched to
investigate. Weyland himself (Lance Henriksen) explains to
them that an ancient temple, perhaps the earliest sign of
civilised life on earth, has been detected far beneath the
ice. A thermally cut pipe already leads down to the temple,
technologically far in advance of man. But the experts aren't
the only ones interested in the ancient construction. A spacecraft
arrives and dispatches three hunter predators. The human presence
in the temple activates a dormant alien queen, and quite suddenly
the team is caught in the middle of an alien versus predator
fight which has raged for thousands of years...
Alien
Vs. Predator has been on the cards for some years now.
The moment 20th Century Fox realised they had possession of
two successful and eminently workable franchises it was only
a matter of time and the right script before the two came
together to wage on-screen war. Dark Horse ran a highly popular
comics series which ultimately kept the concept in the public
mind. This is primarily Paul Anderson's baby, which he nursed
for some time before it finally came of age [in fact www.reviewgraveyard.com
were the first to break the news that Anderson had secured
the directors chair on this movie], apparently impressing
the film company with the vitality of the script. He also
directed the piece, and I must say, although certain parties
have seen fit to criticise the finished product, I personally
think he put out a very enjoyable film. It's necessary to
make that clear now, because you could quite easily systematically
pull AVP apart.
Firstly,
it borrows from plenty of other film sources. Okay, so no
idea is totally original, but if you ignore the many peripheral
connections, here we are still left with major elements of
Cube (the reconfiguring rooms), Tomb
Raider (the interior settings and action sequences),
and The Thing (exterior settings and notions). Secondly,
if the predators were only interested in humans as cattle-like
hosts for the ultimate prey, then it's pretty unlikely one
of them would arm and team-up with one, even if she did save
its life. If the temple is a trap for the human team, how
are so many aliens activated when there is only a handful
of humans to act as potential hosts, and why do only three
predators arrive to sort out the mess?
Then
there are the more simple mistakes. Why does the Alexa Woods
character not freeze to death on the surface whilst fighting
the alien queen? It seems to be forgotten that this is Antarctica
and she is in a T-shirt! The exertion would only cause her
to lose valuable body heat more quickly. Also, why isn't the
predator craft detected by satellite? The predator multi-readout
vision allows them to see an alien gestating in a host; so
why did the other predators not see the one in their own colleague?
And what is the explanation for the alien/predator crossbreed?
Had the predators been playing with genetics, or the two species
doing the squelchy together?
As
a naturally inquisitive person all of these thoughts were
running through my head. However, I also like to immerse myself
in a film I'm watching, and I can tell you even bearing all
of the above in mind, I didn't let it spoil my enjoyment.
It even creates a back story scenario explaining the connections
between the two races.
The
first disc in this two-dvd presentation contains a normal
and extended version of the film, a commentary by Lance Henriksen
and Sanaa Lathan, a second commentary by Alec Gillis, Tom
Woodruff Jr. and John Bruno, and Inside Look (trailers for
other Fox films, including Hide and Seek, Elektra,
and Robots).
Disc
two features: Pre-production (a long and interesting documentary),
Production (another documentary), Post Production (Visual
Effects Breakdown, and 11 deleted scenes with optional commentary),
Licensing the Product (The comic book, and Monsters in Miniature
by Todd McFarlane, an entertaining overview of the Spawn.Com
company), and Marketing (HBO Special, teaser and trailer).
So plenty for your hard-earned groats.
Whilst
never even likely to aspire to the heights of Alien
and Aliens, AVP is considerably better than
the abysmal Alien 3 and more exciting than Alien
Resurrection. Buy it.
Ty
Power
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