A spacecraft carrying the Predator/Alien hybrid seen at the end of Alien vs. Predator crashes in a backwoods Colorado town; escaping from the wreckage, the creature--along with several pure Aliens--enters the town and begins reproducing. A lone Predator travels to earth to kill the creature and destroy its offspring.

CRITIQUE

I didn’t hate Paul W.S. Anderson’s Alien vs. Predator. I wouldn’t exactly call myself a fan of the long-in-coming first cinematic meeting of the sci-fi/horror icons, but it’s not a bad way to waste time when you have absolutely nothing else to do. Like many people, though, I was disappointed to see that Fox’s desire to make a few more bucks resulted in the castration of the title creatures, especially the Predators, who went from being the ultimate in badass hunters to being the sidekicks of a bland human heroine.

Hell, if you’re going to include them at least let them do what they were created to do. Anyway, I guess someone at Fox took notice of the fanboy outrage, as it was made clear from the get-go that this follow-up was intended as a hard-R picture, which it certainly is. The blood and gore--human or otherwise--isn’t skimped on here. But the story is lacking, once again making this little more than an excuse to get the two bad boys into the same movie.  

This movie was rushed into production and allocated a truncated shooting schedule. This is evident more in the script than it is the execution, which is far slicker than you might expect. Brother first-time feature directors Colin and Greg Strause (special effects technicians who’ve also dabbled in helming commercials and music videos) favor machine gun editing and stylized lighting over narrative coherence and flow, but they do manage some effective moments.

Two major characters are dispatched through an acid-induced melting and a collateral damage-induced impaling, both of which I found gruesomely entertaining. And the final confrontation between the Predator and PredAlien delivers some of the knockdown, drag-out fisticuffs fans have been hoping for ever since rumors of a crossover began circulating. Yes, these are modest pleasures, but modest pleasures are about all you can hope for from two guys in monster suits trading punches.

Most of what prevents the movie from moving beyond being anything but average lies in Shane Salerno’s script. Salerno, who did extensive work on the first movie but received no credit, wastes far too much time with the bland, forgettable human characters, who ultimately serve no purpose other than innocent bystander fodder for the battle between the aliens.

The script doesn’t make the humans the real focal point of the story (another mistake made in AVP), but given that they ultimately don’t matter, far too much time is afforded them. It would be forgivable if we were given some reason to like any of them, or if they did something other than mouth trite dialogue (Salerno didn’t even bother to supply anyone with anything resembling a joke), but they’re really here just for the sake of including human characters.

However, I will commend Salerno for incorporating some elements from the title creatures’ various (and surprisingly good) crossover comic book series, and for including a supremely twisted, brilliantly sick sequence in which the PredAlien commandeers the patients in a maternity ward for its own devices. And the movie also supplies a brief, tantalizing glimpse of the Predator homeworld, which I hope is an indication of possible things to come.

These movies haven’t been enormous hits, but Fox has wisely kept the budgets down, ensuring the series’ profitability. It’s safe to say we’ll see a third installment in two or three years.

THE VIDEO

The first thing you should know about the 2.40:1/1080p transfer is that it’s very, very dark. It’s an accurate reflection of the movie’s intended look (all the better to hide the seams in the effects), so there’s no need to think Fox screwed this one up; just keep your viewing area as dark as possible and everything should be okay. As far as the actual quality, it’s a great transfer.

All of those blacks are incredibly deep, and primary colors, while a bit on the hot side (yes, they pumped up the contrast), are often bold and well saturated. The sense of depth and three-dimensionality is impressive, and the level of detail high, resulting in a consistently film-like appearance. The only flaws are some mild digital noise and edge enhancement in some of the more aggressively lit scenes, but thankfully these are few and far between.

THE AUDIO

The DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 track offers exactly the sort of aural mayhem you’d want and expect from this sort of movie. The dialogue-heavy scenes favor the front channels, but the action sequences make effective use of every section of the soundstage. The usual suspects--screams, weapons fire, the familiar hisses and creaks of the various creatures--fill the air; deep, rumbling bass is present throughout. Dialogue is always clear and intelligible (it’s the delivery and content that’s lacking). French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are also included. English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Korean subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

The commentary by directors Colin and Greg Strause and producer John Davis falls into the newbie-filmmaker commentary trap of treating the movie as if it’s anything other than a brainless sci-fi/horror flick. The Strause boys don’t entirely act as if they’ve discovered fire, but they come close. Davis’s comments largely revolve around the struggles to bring the movie in on a tight budget and a short shooting schedule.

The commentary by creature effects designers/creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. centers primarily on the make-up/costume effects, but Gillis and Woodruff really know their stuff, so this one is more interesting than such discussions normally are.

Weyland-Yutani Archives is a Profile 1.1-compatible extra that combines text and video PiP material to explore the backstory/mythology/history of the Alien and Predator races. It’s as geeky as it sounds, but it’s also fairly interesting.  

Prepare for War (16 minutes) is a behind-the-scenes featurette covering conception, pre-production, and the physical shoot.

Fight to the Finish (12 minutes) covers the movie’s post-production phases.

The Nightmare Returns--Creating the Aliens (8 minutes) covers the conceptual, design, and fabrication work that brought the Aliens (in all of their various stages of existence) to life.

Crossbreed: The PredAlien (8 minutes) covers the conceptual, design, and fabrication work that brought the movie’s signature creature to life.

Building the Predator Homeworld (7 minutes) covers the effects--both practical and CG--used in creating the Predators’ world of origin.

Design photo galleries contain stills devoted to the design and creation of the creature effects.

On-Set photo galleries contain stills devoted to the sets, location, cast, and crew.

Two theatrical trailers are also included.

The second disc in this two-disc set contains a digital copy of the movie that can be transferred to PCs and/or portable media players.

Lastly, for those with the right equipment, the disc is compatible with D-Box Motion Control systems.

FINAL THOUGHTS

AVP-R is indefensible on every level except that of completely mindless, disposable popcorn entertainment. There’s enough here (including a fantastic technical presentation) to keep the faithful moderately entertained, but certainly not enough to warrant a purchase.