Today, I am going to review a movie that brings together the two most lethal extraterrestrials in the universe, Alien and Predator. We have always remembered their rampant and violent crusades in their respective titles:
Alien (1979),
Aliens (1986),
Alien3 (1992)
and
Alien Resurrection (1997),
Predator (1987)
, Predator 2 (1990)
and
Predators (2010).
Most of these titles have been received positively or negatively for one reason or another, and I am going to see why this very movie has been harshly derided.
So we start with an image of what appears to be
a satellite in space: it appears to have found something in Antarctica
and is beaming the findings back to a satellite receiving station, owned
by the Weyland Industries. You've got to admit, that scene was very
brief and very disturbing as far as those technicians' faces are
concerned.
Now we suddenly jump to a scene in the Lho La Ice Fall, Nepal where we
meet our female protagonist, Ms Alex Woods. While she climbs ice she
receives a phone call from Maxwell Stafford. She has been requested on a
mission, but she reminds him that she won't be able to make it in less
than a week. But get this: Stafford has already been waiting for her at
the very spot she was to alight! Now here's one question: how does
a helicopter land where it cannot be seen without being heard at the
same time?! I mean, this defies reality that helicopters hover
so loudly that they can be heard over 1 km from the ground. This is
beyond belief!
Now we are transferred to another location, Teotihuacan,
Mexico. Here, a couple of down-on-their-luck archaeologists have been
recruited by Stafford--looks like good things have come to them that
wait! How does he even do it without drawing anyone's attention to
himself, anyway?
So
the team has been assembled to Antarctica, and what do we get? Cliched
characters, all of whom I shan't give a damn about. We do not even get
any suspense in this movie, the very thing that was prominent in both
universes--what we get is a moment where, instead of a Predator or an
Alien, we get a penguin. Really? Not what I think should be a part of
this movie. And since when do penguins live far from the coastlines of
the Antarctic?
So the team finally venture to the depths of the ice and
find something never seen before. Yet, they all stand around like frozen
people, not intrigued or anything. But if you think nothing intrigues
them, look at what was inscribed onto the walls, only more cubist.
I mean come on, who would even think of that? That's like an exact design superimposed into the set.
And
check this, some guy unknowingly steps on a stone which opens up a
hatch that releases the Alien queen. And look around, fire is burning;
can fire just burn perpetually without choking? I don't think so.
If
you see the cover it is rated 15 (in the UK). But hang on a minute! The
previous movies from their respective universes were always rated 18
(UK); so why the lower rating?! I thought to myself that there was going
to be a dilution of the best things from the previous titles--gore,
strong language, bloody violence, and horror. This has all been watered
down for the younger audience: all just to make a quick buck.
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We start at the beginning. You have to admit, the human characters do a
very decent job in making me cringe with their blank faces, always
pulling them as though they have facial spasms or something. Most of
their dialogue is dry; even their swearing is somewhat dampened (the
very essence of the Alien and Predator universe). If you constantly look
at their faces, they look as though they have forgotten where they are
and what their role is. We do not even see or hear about their presence
in the beginning, and soon start to forget what this movie is called
again. Instead, we have to sit through and listen to their banter, and
forget why they are journeying into the depths of the Antarctic ice.
(Wait, we already know. They are searching for the lost pyramid beneath
the ice! Wow! Ever learned that in history before? Don't think so.)
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What is not plausible is the geography. There were (and are still) no
pyramids in the Antarctic when the continent was one with Australia. I
already learned as a primary pupil that the earth was once known
as Pangaea; this was when all the continents of the earth, lush and
ice-free, were fused. Even after that, there was no Aztec-like
civilization anywhere else on the planet than in South America. Neither
can it just say that all three cultures--Egyptian, Cambodian and
Aztec--have been occupying the temple. This movie cannot just rewrite
history. This is one big distortion in history that should never have
been allowed!
And since when is the aurora borealis visible in the southern hemisphere?! Why else would it be called the northern lights?!
After all that, we finally cut to a brief shot
of, finally, the Predators suiting up for what they are known for! At
last! I thought I was going to fall asleep before this point. But before
we get to see their ferocious encounters, we are treated to more
uninteresting dialogue, in which I will not be going into detail. Don't
you wish that the so-called alien species would show up and start their
bloodshed already? Isn't this movie called
Alien vs. Predator?
The boredom just keeps building up by the minute.
So
the team finally venture to the pyramid and stumble unto the
unexpected. We finally see what we have been eagerly anticipating: the
Alien! But that has to wait as we now find another alien species to
cause havoc: the Predator! Alright! Let these aliens steal the show
already! We want to see the action as defined by the title! This is also
the moment where the Predators prove how dumb and sloppy these human
characters turn out to be. And you do have you ask yourself this: how do
they even know how to read the calligraphy imprinted on the stone
walls? All in three ancient languages?
We also find out that this
large Alien is the queen of all Aliens. That's right, she lays all the
eggs, and it's not a pretty sight to see! (This makes me squeamish and
nauseated.)
If
there is something that I find more annoying, it is the music that
plays louder than any of the human characters can speak! I mean, it's
hard to understand what they are saying when they are in a movie, isn't
it? Sure the dialogues are just plain poorly thought out, but please at
least we should hear something already. To top that up have to be their
expressionless faces.
But
there is more to this movie than the characters: the constant shifting
of the stone structures. I have to be frank, that has to be innovative; a
room that shifts like a Rubik's cube. How clever. That has to be a
genuine special effect. It works more advanced than the Egyptian booby
traps!
Again,
whenever these walls within the pyramid shift, this is where the
characters show slow or no rapid reaction to the situation. They all
stand around like dummies until someone is trapped at the last minute.
This is one hell of a lifeless ride with these douches around.
Another
strange thing: did that wall with an Alien print just open and close
according to the characters entry and exit respectively? I thought they
were timed to automatically shift every ten minutes. (I still do not
know how one of the characters was able to work that out!)
You
have to be frankly harsh: these people just don't know when to elapse
into a state of panic when they see something that they have never seen
before in their entire life, or when their lives are in mortal danger!
It is just laughable as they sit there waiting to be decapitated by
Aliens before they switch on their panic button!
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But at least you do get to enjoy the duels between the Alien and
Predator--isn't that what the title of the movie implies? And don't
forget the computer-enhanced effects, especially where the Predator
medically examines a sick explorer (why he volunteered for this mission
anyway is beyond me) for any illness on different spectra. Of course
they have enhanced the graphic since their last debut in the previous
years when the computers were still rudimentary. But one moment: how is
it that in the 'flashback' Aliens swarm on a Predator, but in this case
we hardly see the same thing progressively? And who would pay their
money just to see 'an Alien making out with a Predator'?!!!
(<gulp>)
But
there is one big flaw this movie has to add: a human alliance with the
Predator? No way! That goes against all that the fans of previous
installments from respective universes had believed in. There is no way
that there should be an alliance between the 'primitive' human and the
ruthless, violent Predators! After what we have seen in the previous
movies, IT JUST DOESN'T WORK!!! What was this movie's tagline? "Whoever
Wins...We Lose " So such an alliance would be questionable. "The enemy
of my enemy is my friend" my ass!!!
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Ho, here it is; the boss lady wants to negotiate with the
Predator! How is this going to work? Surely Predators are not the
negotiating type. I don't know and I don't care. But we have seen how
she does it, although it is not expected to be that easy. And why should
it be? In both titles, the Predators make no contact with humans or
reveal their whereabouts at all, except where a human adversary pursues
him relentlessly; or if the Predator is intent on killing him
personally, knowing that his adversary won't be able to tell of his
existence. This one the Predator just forms an alliance with the boss
lady.
Seriously, you have got to be kidding me! An Alien's head and tail
for weapons! That is surely laughable. How will that help when the Alien
queen is about to break loose and wreak havoc on the earth?!
Here's that infamous line that has reoccurred in the two previous Predator movies:
"You are one...ugly mother-!"
This
one is not quoted adequately in this movie. It was poorly spoken. Fail.
Oh yeah, it was just cut deliberate attempt to hide the infamous
profanity, EVEN THOUGH THE PROFANITY WAS QUOTED PRIOR TO THIS MOMENT!!!
Why slash and burn the very elements that made the previous titles so
spectacular?!!! (Did the writers think the Alien could finish it for
her?! Aliens do not talk!!!)
And there is one very big plot hole: the Alien's blood is highly corrosive--in fact so corrosive that it was evident in
Alien that
it could burn through every layer of metal on the ship. Yet in this
movie, it doesn't cause the same amount of damage to organic tissues.
This is one blatant plot hole.
Another one is this: the Alien queen was subdued when a water tower was
tethered to her by the chain, and dragged underwater with her.
Impossible. That tower looked as though it was empty and had not been in
use at all in Antarctica. So how was all that possible?
Another point to add: recall the flashback where the Predators visit the
ancient civilization. Would anyone swallow this tripe that it was they
who taught the Aztecs how to build pyramids? And why would they bring
the Aliens to earth? And who bound up the Alien queen in the first
place? If she was there, how did she not wreak havoc on the earth prior
to the hunt, even before the modern day?!
Who would think that the Predators would be called 'gods', even though it was they that initiated the hunt, Alien vs Predator, and annihilated all in existence if they lost? No one in this movie would even swallow all that crud! Not me in particular.
Well that concludes my review. If you have already seen the movie, it will do me justice by not revealing what happened after this showdown. So let me sum this up: the plot was thin, the characters were all lifeless, their acting was awkward and their dialogue was pretty tacky. Nevertheless, they were just served up for the monsters to prey on and decapitate when the time came. At least we can praise the special effects as an improvement since our last encounters form previous movies. Apart from all that, it was a pure disappointment.