AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) Review

In 1989 a comic book series came out titled Aliens vs. Predator, it was written by Randy Stradley and Chris Warner, and it became a pretty big hit. Having two huge horror sci fi icons in one major crossover event was a must read for every nerd back in the day, so plans of adapting the premise into a movie were inevitable. It took more than ten years and a couple more movies in both franchises for it to get made but eventually it was released in 2004. It's rare for this type of crossover versus movies to happen, so the fact that it exists is a small miracle.

The source of the crossover.

Resident Evil (2002), Mortal Kombat (1995) and Event Horizon (1997) director Paul W. S. Anderson was tasked to bring the monster brawl to the big screen. He was a near perfect choice considering that he was one of the young filmmakers inspired by the original movies, and it's very evident throughout his career as he often recycles and references the classic moments from Alien (1979) or Aliens (1986) as well as character archetypes and tropes that became prominent after the release of the first two films. Obviously, this film would focus more on action than in scares and would attempt to be bigger in scale than the original ones.

Needless to say, Anderson's approach was not met with praise upon release as a lot of people considered it too silly of a concept to take seriously and fans expected a more faithful movie when it came to the tone and story of the originals, but they instead got a very different experience, one that prominently consisted on action thrills instead of sophisticated and realistic terror. However, once you understand Anderson's popcorn and hyperactive approach you can let yourself loose in the kinetic experience and enjoy the non-stop spirit of pure entertainment he delivers.

A wealthy industrialist hires experts and researchers to investigate a strange ship that crashed in the middle of Antarctica. Among the group we have the knowledgeable guide Alexa Woods, played by Sanaa Lathan, who aids the group of people through the snowy land. Once they reach the site, they find themselves in the crossfire of an intergalactic battle between the deadly Predators and the fatal xenomorphs. Alexa must then join forces with the extraterrestrial race of hunters in order to survive the battle. 

Paul W. S. Anderson brings his best spectacle-making skills to the project, narrating a quick and fast rollercoaster of pure comic book action without any other ambition than to be the biggest and most exciting blockbuster of it´s year. I would say that he accomplished it. Because of its simplicity, the heavy lifting of the storytelling is mostly done by shot composition, camera placement and movement, color coding, lighting and editing; something that people expecting a more novelistic type of storytelling filled with plot and dialogue might find disappointing. Anderson created a machine that runs perfectly and smooth, easy to watch and hard to forget. 

A wise decision was to make things start relatively fast and rejoice in the expanded lore the Alien and Predator universes were given in their sequels. It would have been very uninteresting to see yet another Alien rip off with Predator joining in, so instead of scares and mood, the film opts to go the Aliens route and deliver the goods as well as it can. These monsters were icons by 2004, so keeping them hidden for most of the movie would have been a terrible choice. Instead, Anderson shows them without overdoing it, slowly revealing their part in the story and properly accommodating the creatures in order to make all the pieces come together and unleash all the mayhem at the midway point.

Agathe de La Boulaye as Adele Rousseau, another action girl in the movie.

The film has an unrelenting pace and never runs out of fuel, it simply keeps growing and growing until it reaches an explosive climax. Even the set up manages to be interesting because the script never tries to disguise the intention of making a simple movie, no time-wasting info dumps or exposition lines about a character's full backstory, since they will get killed off eventually. The script reveals just enough about the people to make you slightly care about them but they are mostly functional pawns to get to where the film needs to be. 

The main heroine, Alexa, works in the same way Ripley worked. She's a woman of mystery, an expert and likable gal but we don't get a lot of unnecessary information that could ruin her character, no need to explain what doesn't need to be overexplained, she's just cool and relentless. There's also no forced romance in the movie, something that often ruined decent scripts in blockbusters at the time, especially with female characters. 

The image of her taking the xenomorph´s remains and using them to create a shield and a spear to fight alongside the predator is just magnificent. It's the type of creative fantasy element that often appears in W.S Anderson´s films, always making memorable images. 

I also enjoy how it delves deep into the lore of both franchises. The fact that Alexa manages to prove herself to the predators and ending up being respected by the advanced alien race is something quite astounding, it was done way better here than in Predator 2, specially because battling the xenomorphs was a greater challenge due to their numbers and dangerous nature.

Alien vs Predator is one of the ideal popcorn flicks of it´s time, never slow, always moving and presenting insane action set-pieces that seem very worthy of both franchises. Its non pretentious attitude is what made it work, putting it in a higher tier than the likes of Alien 3 but below the classics it spawned from. I am sure even Anderson would agree that this is something completely different in tone and scope, you can tell just by reading it´s title. 

The film utilized a few of the elements inspired by the comic but nothing too direct. Alexa, for example, could be seen as a character based on Machiko, but in reality both follow in the tradition of the Alien franchise having leading heroines, so it's not a simple swap, they are very different characters at the end of the day.  I will add that having a black female action lead was a very bold move, something that to this day is absent from mainstream blockbusters, almost as much as a female Asian lead, so either choice would have been very progressive. 

As a whole, both the comics and the movie are different beasts. We might take a look at the comics next year, but for now these are all the leftover Alien movies I plan to spotlight in the blog. The rest of the Alien movies do feature strong female characters but they are not really full-on action heroines like the ones from the original movies who were the main characters and were far more active physically in the story. I might feature Alien Romulus but we will see.  

The rest of the month I will review other spooky classics, so stay tuned.

Alien Resurrection (1997) Review

Alien Resurrection is the fourth entry in the Alien franchise and is quite possibly among the most divisive films in it as well, you either love it or hate it. Most critics and reviewers seem to have mixed feelings about it. A few love it, while others find it disappointing but I don't think anyone would call it bad. It's the epitome of a late nineties action blockbuster, very different in tone and execution from the previous ones as culture had changed a lot since the release of Alien 3 in 1992.

Resurrection was written by the now controversial Joss Whedon, who at the time was probably a good choice because of the recent popularity and critical appraisal of his hit TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so bringing back the Alien franchise with the most popular female empowerment writer in the industry seemed like a good move. Imagine a world where Joss Whedon is the icon of female empowerment. Yikes! That was, and still is, the state of the industry, unfortunately.

For all of his faults, Whedon's writing was on point a good amount of the time, so his work here isn't faulty. Whedon wanted to bring back Newt, the little girl from Aliens (1986), as a clone and have her be the protagonist but the studio executives wanted Sigourney Weaver back and decided they wanted to change the Newt role to Ripley, so Whedon rewrote a good amount of the script to accommodate that change.

Because of his imaginative and extravagant visual style French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet was hired to direct, bringing along cinematographer Darius Khondji to give us a film that stands on par with the previous Alien movies in a visual sense. The production values were high and while the scope was limited to two spaceships and a few soundstages, the details and complexity of the sets made you feel like you were truly looking at a futuristic spaceship, just like in the first two movies. As immersive as ever.

Sigourney wasn't expecting to come back into the franchise and initially refused but since she liked the script and Fox gave her a great paycheck she decided to reprise her role as Ripley one last time. 

The film is set 200 years after the events of the last movie, Ripley is brought back by scientists aboard the military spaceship Auriga. This new Ripley 8 is a clone that shares DNA with the xenomorph Queen, giving her special new abilities and borderline superhuman powers (acid blood and a psychic link with the Xenomorphs among them).

A group of mercenaries arrives at the Auriga, delivering a shipment of humans that will be used in experiments at the labs. Among the group we have captain Elgyn, the brutish Johner, second-in-command Christie, the handicapped Vriess, assistant pilot Sabra Hillard (Kim Flowers) and female android Annalee Call (Winona Ryder). 

Call recognizes Ripley and becomes wary of the heroine, as her appearance could mean the return of the dreaded xenomorphs, a correct assumption. What follows is a battle for survival where our heroine will lead the mercenaries to salvation while fighting against the ferocious creatures. 

Resurrection has been largely treated as a generic sequel but I think it's incredibly entertaining and possibly one of the top five sci-fi movies from the nineties. It´s visuals are amazing, filled with detail and skillfully lit, the cinematography and sets shine all the way, really immersing you into the world (probably the closest it came to imitating the original two classics). The production values are also worthy of note, while the locations are somewhat limited they make great use of them and the constant change in scenario keeps things fresh as the film is always moving forward with a steady pace. 

The characters may be somewhat derivative as seeing Ripley trapped with a group of tough soldiers isn't something new but the actual performances, the small character details and the dynamics they have with each other are simple and well done enough that you find the group likable. 

Ripley is just as awesome as ever, her new abilities really enhance her role in the action sequences (which are greatly staged and blocked) and further cements her as a badass heroine, now being able to stand against the xenomorphs face to face. This change really shows the evolution of the character, who went from hiding and using her smarts to a more confrontational and outright warrior-like behavior. Some people may find this modification too exaggerated but this is Alien 4 we are talking about, there's really only one way to go and that is to increase the sci-fi factor to a higher degree.

Filled with practical effects and real sets, the film actually features some fantastic creature feature thrills and enjoyable monster-battling set-pieces that were certainly missing from Alien 3, even the fake CGI xenomorphs in this movie look better than the rear projected blue screen ones from part three. If Alien 3 was the original Alien done with less scares and mastery, then Alien Resurrection is Aliens done with less intensity but with just as much stimulation and with a modernized production design. 

Even if it doesn't stand in the exact same level as Aliens, and even if there´s nothing here truly different from the other films (aside from the fact that it adds more to the concepts), this fourth part is actually a rewarding experience. Total delight of superlative aesthetics and non stop excitement.

The film did very well at the box office and opened the door for more Alien movies in the future, as it proved to still be a profitable IP. As I said, reception was a bit mixed even by the people who made it. For Jeunet it was more of an interesting commercial project than anything else and Joss Whedon found it to be badly executed. However, H.R Giger said it was an excellent film and French auteur Jacques Rivette also praised it. 

I certainly hope more people warm up to this movie in future years as it is a perfect movie to redeem after all this time of doubt.