Am I the only one who didn't hate AVP?

[20to20K]

I'm a pretty big scifi fan...like most I enjoyed the first two Aliens flicks, hated the third, and found the fourth decent. Loved the first Predator...and unlike most actually enjoyed the second as well(not as much though).

When AVP come to the big screen I didn't see it mostly because I was too busy relocating from Europe...but partially because of the horrible reviews...not just from critics but even the sci-fi geeks.

I rented it recently with low expectations...hoping at best for some good battle scenes and good effects to test my system and I'll be gosh darned if I didn't enjoy the movie immensely. I thought the plot was interesting (in a non-sensicle kind of way) the characters were developed just enough to distinguish them before they got eliminated, even the acting was halfway decent. I loved the heroine and like the way it ended. The battle scenes were great and they didn't waste time with pointless character development as if it were pretending to be serious cinema or something. I also like the way they tied to two story lines together. The logic was pretty sound.

I'd give it a solid 3 stars...am I alone?

 

[Takeereasy]

You're not alone (well not totally)

I have to admit that I didn't hate this movie. I would also have to say that I am right there with you when it comes to your assessment of this movies predecessors. I would have to say however that I place Aliens, meaning the second film in the Aliens quadrilogy, on a pedestal above all the others. For me this is the movie that started my love affair with Sci-Fi, and I dare anyone to name a better flick in this genre (aside from original 3 Star Wars and I like this movie better than Jedi to be honest). Oh I'm sure that some will be ready to take the dare but you'd be wrong, dead wrong I tells ya No flames please, I know others will disagree and I'm being silly.

Back to AVP. For me this was my Freddy VS. Jason. I wanted to see these two go at it and he who leaves the most corpses in his wake wins. Oh sure it could have been better, and I do wonder what they were willing to leave out in order to garner that precious PG13 rating, but it was an OK flick. Not great, but OK. That is my $.02.

 

[Aarong]

You're not alone. I actually bought it before I had even seen it, mostly because it was in DTS and I thought it would give my system a good workout.

I think if you don't go in expecting a masterpiece, you'll be better off on this movie. Just take it for what it's worth. I thought they stayed true to both creatures and their abilities, and the whole pyramid thing totally reminded me of playing too many first-person shooter video games in deathmatch levels.

It's a fun popcorn movie and as a bonus, it's great for showing off your system.

 

[howie85]

I would agree as far as "VS" movies go it was better than most.

 

[Space Ace]

I have not seen AVP yet, but plan to. I am wondering why they released the DVD as PG-13. I had heard a rumour that all the deleted gore scenes would be put back in for the DVD release which would have bumped it up to, in my opinion, a much more entertaining "R" rated movie. Thoughts?

 

[nick_danger]

AVP is the biggest studio fumble ever. It really sucks what they did to the movie. Originally, AVP was advertised as rated R, then three weeks before it hit theaters, it was suddenly PG-13. This fits with what director Paul Anderson said in an interview he gave after the movie came out. He said that they were running behind schedule and the movie wouldn't be ready for release, so rather than allow more time, three weeks before its originally intended release date, the studio decided it would be better to release it unfinished and with some other scenes left out in order to get a PG-13 rating to get a larger crowd. Anderson basically said that the studio stole it from him, ripped out a lot of the best scenes (both action and those vital to the plot).

He also said that the studio promised him a Director's Cut DVD release, but what he didn't say was that the studio would release a DVD version with only a slightly modified beginning first, and package it up to intentionally hide its rating and special features. Because no one could tell me and the package was so deceiving, I opened the package right there in the store. I'm glad I did. The distributor must be so proud of itself for beinig able to fool the masses with the faux director's cut.

AVP was nothing but a paycheck from the start. I don't hate the movie, but it is far, far inferior to the original Dark Horse AVP comic. I have no idea why they were unable/unwilling to strike a deal with Dark Horse. It's really a disservice to the fans. And no director can convince me that he "just wanted to take the story in a new direction". You can just keep that PR bullshizzle to yourself.

I'm not buying AVP until I see something that resembles a director's cut and warnings of intense violence on the back. All four Alien movies = R. Both Predator movies = R. The carnage and mayhem of bringing the two worlds together should be "X" or something.

 

[Leprkon]

the DVD included those as "deleted scenes", giving you both a PG-13 rating to sell to kids and the gore for those who wanted it.. they might be doing a George Lucas and preparing a super-director's cut for those who want both at the same time....

the extended movie was very good, decent intensity thought they did go overboard on the Temple of Doom. While it won't make Fifth Element or Back to the Future give back their SciFi awards, it's probably 3rd behind Aliens and Alien in that series, and is actually the best of the Predator series (die hard predator fans were outraged at how quickly the first two are killed by aliens, but never seemed to mind how quickly the humans went down...).

The best part of the movie was the many little throwback scenes (Lance Henrickson is Charles "Bishop" Waylon, while he's in the computer room, he begins the little piece with flashing the knife between his fingers, and several other tiny bits you have to watch for to catch...

As for how it compares to Freddy vs Jason, AVP, hands down....

 

[20to20K]

Ignorance is bliss?

If I would have known all the info that the previous poster knew I may have had a lesser opinion of the film. I too was curious about the PG-13 rating, but didn't know the history behind it.

I bought my copy from blockbuster for 17 bucks or something but I did notice they had an "Ultimate" version behind a glass case for over $50. Since it was behind a glass case I couldn't inspect it but it appeared from a distance all I could see is that it had one of those comics you spoke of and maybe a couple of action figures. I couldn't see if the rating was any different or whether they had a directors cut included. Next time I'm there I'll take a closer look.

I assumed they went into the project with PG-13 in mind just to garner a wider audience. Would more gore made the movie better? Maybe. A little
bit more plot about the evolution of the hunting ritual would have been nice for sure...maybe even showing that the Predators arranged for those eggs to be on that planet from the first Alien movie and sent the distress signal to that refuge crew hoping they would come down get impregnated and let the hunt begin there. It just didn't work out that way. That's how my imagination saw the connection anyhow. Any other theories?

 

[Audioholics]

the characters were developed just enough to distinguish them before they got eliminated

You should add this to your signature - funniest line I've heard all week!

 

[Takeereasy]

Thanks Nick I had no Idea that there was such a big issue and a rush to meet a release deadline. I have to admit that I was hoping the DVD release would include an extra half hour of footage, maybe some more background and a little more screen time for the 2 predators that get to leave the movie a little earlier than I had anticipated.

I do feel that there could be a very worth while sequel to this movie, or how about a prequel focusing on when the Predators first arrive and get the civilization to build the pyramid for the first hunt. I think that has possibilities.

One quick side note about altenative director's cuts. My friends girlfriend is an operations manager for a movie theater chain and she told me a story that I found interesting. The last Exorcist movie that came out was released against the directors wishes. She said that he raised such a stink that they are going to release two versions of the movie on the DVD. His cut is supposedly a much different, more plot driven varient. I wold really like to see that and I hope it is true.

 

[Leprkon]

the characters were developed just enough to distinguish them before they got eliminated

I guess when you only have 48 minutes on a TV show as opposed to 100 minutes of movie, you don't develop them, you just hand them red shirts and line them up in the back row of the transporter....

 

[nick_danger]

Haha, you know Ensign Ricky will be the first to go...

It wasn't just action and gore that was cut from the film, I guess the discrepency behind the quick "germination" of the alien embryos was also shown in much greater detail in the original version. In AVP, the aliens burst out of the hosts after only a few minutes, but as the other Alien movies showed us, the process takes much, much longer. Anderson said the scenes showing the predator contraption injecting steroids and hormones into the Queen to accelerate the growth were cut. There were also much more elaborate shots of how the temple operated and more history...

The original film is supposed to eliminate a lot of the plot holes and errors of the theatrical release... but who knows if we'll ever get the full version. This is exactly why Sigorney Weaver wanted nothing to do with the crossover. Ever since she made the Alien legacy her baby, she's spoken out against AVP films because she thought it would cheapen the series. Naturally, she said she would support any Alien film with a great script. We can throw Alien 3 and 4 back in her face, but I think those are still better than AVP... let's not get into an argument over those right now...

I would like to own AVP some day, but I'm making a stand against Hollywood. I'm so sick of good movies that would have been great if they hadn't been dumbed down and edited to accomodate the masses. And I'm not just talking about ratings... just everything. Ultimately, AVP turned into a buddy movie, but instead of a white cop and a black cop, we have a junior Predator and a chick with cheesy lines. I seriously thought they were going to have sex at the end.

And one more major gripe, did we sacrifice a lot of cool and violent scenes, just to get the obligatory once-only-for-PG-13-films "f*ck"? It seems like more and more PG-13 movies tone themselves down a lot just to get the censors to approve the usage of the F-bomb. Weak.

 

[20to20K]

ET bone homegirl?

If the Predator and the heroine did have sex at the end it would probably require an X rating just to verify that they were actually having sex!

Also there's the issue of believability. I mean if Paris Hilton, Courtney Love, or Pam Anderson were the heroine I could see them gettin' busy with a repulsive monster from another galaxy...in fact, I think all of them have already!

I could also see Captain Kirk experimenting and then later claiming he didn't realize it was a dude.

 

[howie85]

The theatrical ending left something to be desired. As I recall the Alien is very adaptable and would easily get out from the water at some point. Do I see AVP 2.0??

 

[JohnA]

Well...

I just rented AVP last week....I was going in to it thinking it was a dud, and it was better then I thought, but not great...2-1/2 stars out of 5...now knowing that a lot was cut...maybe the final "director cut" will/would be better. I won't hold my breath. The biggest problem I had with the movie was it didn't fit into the timeline of Alien or Predator. Just my $.02

 

[Leprkon]

The theatrical ending left something to be desired. As I recall the Alien is very adaptable and would easily get out from the water at some point. Do I see AVP 2.0??

no need to get the alien queen out of the water... there's already a somewhat modified alien on the Predator mother ship....

 

[hrtbeat2]

I bought it because I've always liked the two, with that said the layout of the movie could have been better. They could have crashed(people) somewhere being chased by the predators and then caught like in the movie betweent the two. But again I love alien/predator so I suffered threw it.

 

[Malakei]

I think that the character development would have made the movie more enjoyable. You didn't care when someone got eaten or shot because half the time you were saying "who was that guy? Oh well sucks to be him" I like the movie because of the effects both visually and with respect to sound. I still wish the movie had of developed a plot further, it seemed like basically the movie starts and climaxes within the first 15 minutes. I would have sat through that movie for 3 hours if it meant more happened before and during their quest through the pyramid. Meh just my opinion.

Cheers

 

[nick_danger]

If I remember my AVP comics from the 90s, there was a human mining/science outpost on a typical wasteland planet where the humans found an egg... Meanwhile, there were some geologists exploring the "back 40" of this new world when they got murdered by a pack of Predators on the hunt for some Aliens. Basically, we wound up with an excellent mix of Predators, Aliens, and Marines. I also had the original AVP game for my old Atari Jaguar... god that system sucked, but the game kicked ***. Both AVP PC games also kicked ***, which is why the movie was a let down.

Hollywood, listen to me for a second. Don't stray from the formula. People love AVP for a reason, why change it? It makes no freaking sense! All I wanted to see were some marines screaming "game over, man!" while blowing apart hordes of Aliens and trying to escape the Predators... You don't need a really complex plot with an even more unbelieveable transforming pyramid... Seriously.

Waiting for Director's cut...

 

[krzywica]

The really fast track star girl?

Yea nick I feel your pain man. At least one of the humans could have blown something up, right? And some super genetically enhanced girl scout keeping pace with a predator at the final scene, come on now where's the logic in that. Just another dud in the long list of hollywood screw ups.