Alien Vs. Predator

Which came first, the Alien or the Predator? In film history, Alien debuted in 1979 and three sequels were made, with the second one the most popular of all the films. Eight years later, Predator debuted in 1987 and became a hit movie because of Arnold Schwazenegger, who badly needed a new hit after his Terminator movie became more popular than Conan the Barbarian in America. The star of the movie wasn't Arnie, it was the Predator, a specie that hunts down humans and aliens with thermal vision and bomb ejecting guns. The sequel that soon followed, Predator 2, bombed at the box office because it didn't have Arnold (instead it was Danny Glover from the hit Lethal Weapon movies as the hero). During the time period, a comic book series by the name of Aliens Vs. Predator was released by Dark Horse Comics, an independent comic book publisher known for making hit comics out of the Alien and Predator franchises, and it was a success. One fan who read the books, videogame movie and sci-fi director Paul W.S. Anderson (whose girlfriend is Milla Jovovich), decided to make a movie out of the battle between aliens and predators, and recruited the same folks who produced those two hit franchises and made a $65 million budgeted sci-fi flick that did well at the box office despite horrible reviews. After months of waiting, the film is finally on DVD. Is it worth the wait?

Set in modern day Antarctica, long before the time period of both Alien and Predator, this adventure follows a crew led by Charlie Bishop Weyland (Lance Hendrickson of Aliens fame) as they explore a hidden temple found beneath the ice that was once ruled by Aztecs who surrendered to the Predators that killed the Aliens as they devoured the souls of the humans; the war between the two species will begin again. As the famous tagline says, "Whoever wins…We lose". 

Chockfull of excellent special effects involving CGI aliens and costumed predators galore as well as a good rookie cast that features newcomer Sanna Lathan as the heroine (the next Ripley?) and Raoul Bova (from Under the Tuscan Sun) as her boyfriend who investigate the action in the South Pole. Lance Hendrickson does an excellent job of reprising his role as Charles Bishop Weyland, the man who founded the company that uses experiments on aliens and space transportation.  As for the creatures, the Aliens win. The Aliens are more realistic, including the Queen Alien who is a big female creature (watch the climatic chase of alien against human!). The surround sound is pretty good, and so is the cinematography and colors of the movie.

If you want to see a decent sci-fi movie that blends two great franchises together, then go see Alien Vs. Predator. You'll root for which ever creature will win in this epic clash to the finish.

Coming soon: A review of Ray, one of the Oscar movies.