Others say...

"A Letdown Difficult to See"
In this 2nd Alien vs. Predator go-round, the directors (Bros. Strauss) strayed fatally from a plot formula that created the Alien and Predator films' original success: Surrounded by a solid, sympathetic, and colorful supporting cast, the lone hero/heroine emerges to battle a formidable alien adversary, and prevails. Along the way, the hero/heroine undergoes a journey of personal discovery involving courage and facing one's internal demons (for Sigourney Weaver's 'Ripley'), or (for Schwarzenegger's 'Dutch' and Danny Glover's character in 'Predator 2'), humility and loss. This personal, archetypal human heroic journey always was, for these series, fundamental to the films' quality forward motion--even more than the alien creatures themselves. This quality element lasted throughout the 'Alien' series (and with Ridley Scott, James Cameron, and David Fincher directing the first three, respectively, we can understand why), dropping off somewhat with Alien IV. The original 'Predator'--ably directed by John McTeirnan of 'Die Hard' fame--maintained this quality; there was a considerable drop in directing/storyline quality with 'Predator 2' (not directed by McTeirnan).

In the first 'Alien vs. Predator,' director Anderson clearly tried to maintain this 'hero' motif, casting Sanaa Lathan as the new heroine. Unfortunately, Lathan was not strong enough as an actor to pull off this role with anything close to Sigourney Weaver's success; and Lathan's supporting cast was weak, with no real attempt on the writers'/director's part to establish either their rapport with each other, or the audience's sympathy for them. Yet this film had a few modest high points: 1) an interesting 'rats-in-a-maze' plot device involving a Incan/Mayan/ Aztec/ Egyptian pyramid hybrid; 2) the contrived predator training/hunt involving a captured alien queen and humans-as-hosts for the aliens-as-prey; 3) and a reasonable (if unoriginal) explanation for how the Predator race came to earth in the first place involving a 'Chariots of the Gods'-type of origin story. This film, in my opinion, has been unfairly criticized. Still, I think the PG-13 rating compromised its visceral integrity. Yet the creature effects were not bad, with some nice representations of the Alien queen. Overall, though, the film's well-conceived plot line suffered from poor plot/character development in general. It should have been easily two-and-a-half-hours long. Considering what it had to work with story-wise, it underachieved unbelievably. Still, not a bad film as these films go. Better than Alien IV and about as good as Predator 2.

But back to the film in question. It seems that the Bros. Strauss decided that it would be enough for this film for them to introduce a Predator/Alien hybrid creature (the 'Predalien') as the feature, previously unseen attraction, plus the requisite gore that would earn an 'R' rating. All other elements that Bros. Strauss included (i.e., an unsuspecting human/victim population; predator vs. alien; an earth encounter; a nefarious government conspiracy to 'study' the aliens at the expense of the civilian population; an ensemble group of 'everypeople' who must rise above their training/status; human fighters utilizing an alien weapon) had been seen and done before. No new ground, other than the 'Predalien,' was broken for this film. At least the first 'Alien vs. Predator' could claim this feat. In addition, and as mentioned earlier, this film lost the primary device necessary for this franchise's original success: The emerging hero/heroine. In this film, we see a 'normal' human group that very realistically--and mundanely from a storytelling standpoint--attempts to battle the aliens in their midst, with a few of them surviving realistically to the movie's end. Yet none of them is elevated cinematically to hero status, and so we as the audience sorely miss the riveting struggle by a singularly compelling hero against an awesome array of truly scary alien creatures--which made these movies greatly entertaining in the first place. It is as if Bros. Strauss decided that just the idea of aliens coming to a sleepy American town was compelling enough. They were wrong. And both the franchise and the audience paid dearly. It goes to demonstrate that even sci-fi/horror films need quality directing and writing to succeed, rather than just effects and gore.

Beyond all this, the film was simply too dark. I couldn't see what was going on half the time. Bad! Bad!

"Tooo Dark"
I wonder what they were thinking. The film is way too dark. One has to strain their eyes to make out what is happening. True the Alien films used low lighting but this was overdone for this film. The actors in this movie make the last film AvP look like a masterpiece. Lance Henricksen was in the original Alien franchise and returned as a different character in AvP. To sum up the obvious:

1) Use higher lighting.
2) Don't use teen actors.

"Unrated means it;'s porn"
And it may as well be. Even if you watch the R-rated version, this film looked more like it was made for the Sci-Fi cable network as it is incredibly bad and it siganls the death of the two monster movie francises. I do not think Fox ever cared about either series anyway.

"Blu-Ray Cant Save This"
Sorry, but this film is just way too dark, and not dark as in scary, but dark as in DARK. I bought the blu-ray thinking it could be an improvment, but no, same issue, just to damn dark.

the original Predator film didnt even have this much night footage and it came off great, but this, they are just trying to hide so much its so unwatchable :(

"A definative Breed apart..."
As a huge fan of the Alien and Predator franchises I had high expectations for this sequel and was even more impatient for the unrated version. And frankly I was not disappointed in the least, but horrifically thrilled. The hybrid born in the last moments of the first 'vs' film was brought to unbelievable and terrible life, realistic detailing that missed nothing of the greater aspects from both species, including improved intelligence and leadership, and finally an ability to inspire heart stopping terror that combines the utter callousness and disdain for other lifeforms from both alien parent species that have shocked and horrified us in the past. Horros that were only hinted at and skimmed over in "Aliens" were brought to terrible and gut wrenching life in this special effects extravaganza that explored a cross section of humanity normally concidered inviolate, even in horror films: as seen in the the second human victim, at a restaraunt after closing and finally in a idolized ward of the hospital. These scenes alone place this film in a catagory all it's own that I will never forget or ever be able to view without something in my mind and soul shrinking away. I can understand some of the negative reviews given and may even agree, at least surfacely, with the detractors. However, I completely disagree with those who completely dish this film because of these marks of imperfections. Okay, so the lighting could have been brighter in the night scenes, the alien embryos did have an excelerated development compared to most previous incarnations in the Alien quadrilogy, the characters were not shining examples of subtext and complexicity, and perhaps the ending was not a jaw dropping surprise, but... the darkness was reminescent of the original Alien films and managed to convey one of the most diabolical fears of humans exploited by Ridley Scott & James Cameron -the paralizing terror of monsters in the shadows, (personally I had no trouble seeing or following the camera's eyes and the resultant half flashes building up to explosions of terror), we also saw the same excelerated embryonic growth in "Alien vs Predator" and I saw this in both films as a development by the Predators themselves to enjoy the 'hunt' without undue waiting and waisting of time alloted for achieving the highest honor and status of their kind, nor did I expect to see Academy Award winning performances in a high action horror film, although there was nothing wrong with the performances in this movie as the actors indeed conveyed their hopes, embarrassments, fears, and desperation with style and aplomb. As for the ending I found it ingenious to have a tie-in that stretched back to the earlier films, especially "Aliens" itself. So, to sum it up I find this film to be a wonderful example of the things I most want in any action, horror, thriller, or sci-fi creation: superb and extraordinary special effects, a script that pushes the envelope of it's predecessors and will spark hours of my own thoughts and what-ifs, good and believable performances of the cast, and finally- a movie that I have already watched more than once and will enjoy many times to come.