AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Paul W.S. Anderson

Writers (WGA):

Dan O'Bannon ("Alien" characters) and
Ronald Shusett ("Alien" characters) ...

Release Date:

13 August 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Whoever wins... We lose.

Plot:

During an archaeological expedition on Bouvetøya Island in the Antarctic ocean, a team of archaeologists and other scientists find themselves caught up in a battle between the two legends. Soon, the team realise that only one species can win.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Predator | Pyramid | Antarctica | Ritual

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sanaa Lathan	...	Alexa Woods
Raoul Bova	...	Sebastian de Rosa
Lance Henriksen	...	Charles Bishop Weyland
Ewen Bremner	...	Graeme Miller
Colin Salmon	...	Maxwell Stafford
Tommy Flanagan	...	Mark Verheiden
Joseph Rye	...	Joe Connors
Agathe de La Boulaye	...	Adele Rousseau
Carsten Norgaard	...	Rusten Quinn
Sam Troughton	...	Thomas Parks
Petr Jákl	...	Stone
Pavel Bezdek	...	Bass
Kieran Bew	...	Klaus
Carsten Voigt	...	Mikkel
Jan Pavel Filipensky	...	Boris (as Jan Filipensky)

Also Known As:

Alien vs. Predator (Germany) (USA) (short title)
AVP (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
AVP: Alien vs. Prédateur (Canada: French title)
Alien vs. depredador (Argentina) (Chile) (International: Spanish title) [es]
Чужой против Хищника (Russia) [ru]
Alien Predator'e karsi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Alien enantion kynigou (Greece) [el]
Alien protiv Predatora (Croatia) [hr]
Alien vs Predator - viimane kokkupõrge (Estonia) [et]
Alien vs. Predador (Brazil) [pt]
Alien vs. Predator (France) [fr]
Alien vs. Predator (Sweden) [sv]
Alien vs. Predator (Spain) [es]
Alien vs. Predator (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, language, horror images, slime and gore.

Runtime:

101 min | 109 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA | Canada | Germany | Czech Republic | UK

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Malaysia:18SG | Malaysia:U (re-rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-18 (original rating) | Canada:18+ (TV rating) | New Zealand:M | Japan:U | Netherlands:16 (unrated version) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Chile:TE | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Ireland:15 | Italy:T | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:PT | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:18 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40968) | Greece:K-13

Filming Locations:

Barrandov Studios, Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

At Amalgamated Dynamics Incorporated, the workshop crew nicknamed the 3 Predator characters Scar (main Predator), Celtic, and Chopper.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the movie, nearly complete whale skeletons are shown around the whaling station, when in fact carcasses were normally towed offshore by the whalers, and the only bones that would have been seen were a few rib or jaw bones that had washed ashore near the flensing plan of the station, not within the station complex itself.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Technician: Hey. Hey, hey, come here, take a look at this.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Waning Solstice (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

La Bamba

It amazes me so much on how the film lacks on what the title promises.

Many fans want different things from this film. Many fans, including myself, were hoping to see lots and lots of action. One Alien & Predator battle after another. Some fans were hoping for a edge of your seat, truly terrifying horror movie much like the original Alien. No matter what you want, hope, or expect from this film you will be disappointed.

The direction this film takes is a horror route. It tries to be like the original Alien movie in the sense that the horror has to come more from the characters and their fear than from the monsters themselves. Paul Anderson tries to show as little Alien & Predator as possible without being ridiculous and let the actors & characters sell us the fear. Now this sounds like a good approach to a film and normally it would be. Here however it is the reason the films fall flat on its face. The problem being is that the characters aren't interesting and their actually paper thin cut outs. And after a short while the characters become boring and un-interesting and then u begin to long for either an Alien or a Predator to show up and start killing people.

But as I said, Paul Anderson tries to hide the monsters and show as little as possible much like the formula Ridley Scott & James Cameron used for their films. And thats where the film fails. Fans come to see this movie to see Aliens & Predators fighting. They don't come to see Sanna Lathan and the other people run around a dark pyramid. Fans didn't wait 14 years to see paper thin characters run around all over the place. They go to see Aliens & Predators.

The film should have taken the action route and gives us large amounts of AVP battles. However Paul Anderson only gives us ONE, count them One, true fight scene between an ALien & predator. And that fight scene doesn't occur until half-way through the film and it only lasts 2 minutes. 2 minutes. As a fan I did not wait this long to see a AVP movie only to have one battle that lasts 2 minutes.

Above I said "true battle" because there is technically another battle. It is between a Predator, Lex, and an Alien Queen. Much like the first AVP battle it is disappointingly short and 90% of the battle focuses on lex fighting the queen than it does focus on the Predator. After a while you begin to think the title "Alien vs. Predator" is inappropriate and instead should be called "The Adventures of Lex". Paul Andersons direction leaves out the two title characters.

The idea of hiding your monsters appearance till half way through the film and rely more on your characters is a formula that has worked in the past. It even potentially could have worked here but in order for that to happen you need to do one thing. Make the characters more interesting. If your characters are paper thin then the audience aren't going to care about them and then they quickly become bored. The film should have done is focus less on characters and more on the monsters. It amazes me so much on how the film lacks on what the title promises.