kryyst
30 Aug 2004, 09:09pm
Umm yeah so I saw it. It was a Saturday and it was a Matinee and it was something to do.
That statement pretty much sums up my feelings towards the movie. I, like many others were pretty psyched up when this film was first announced. Then as the director was named and tales about re-writes and other glimpses of doom crept up the hopes of AVP being an excellent film turned into hopes of it just not sucking ass.
After watching it I don't think it sucked ass but theres a significant qualifier that has to go along with that. The movie didn't suck ass because for as large as the plot wholes were and as many missed opportunities or should have beens that were or weren't in it. The movie was still entertaining enough (just enough) to watch for a Saturday Matinee movie.
If you are a fan boy and can't just sit back and be entertained with what you are seeing and feel the need to annalize things to death then stay away. FAR AWAY!!!!
So go into it now warned that there are some huge issues with the foundation that have been set down in the previous two series and just watch it for the movie that it is not the movie it should have been and you'll probably enjoy it (or at least not feel cheated out of your money).
So from this point on I'm just going to comment on the movie itself and not the history behind it. Some I've talked to thought that it was kind of slow in the beginning and I can see the reason behind feeling that way. But personally I didn't think it was bad and it set up the why and how of what was going on fairly well. Once the action really starts (about 30 mins in) it's non-stop until the very end. The setting is a huge maze and is unbelievable but again don't think about that and just watch it and you'll be fine. The action sequences are pretty good and gritty though I felt a few of them were shot (as is the problem with many north american movies) way to tight so you couldn't really focus on what was actually happening.
The sound I felt was lacking not because it was bad but becasue it needed more. More background sounds to make the structure seem alive and some subtle music to build tension always helps. As it was there were no noticable ambient sounds going on and certainly no music to build tension. For a movie like this, that I feel is pretty key between bumping a poor - ok movie to a good one. The gun fire and creature sounds were all well done and in this day and age for that to be any other way would be unexcusable.
I don't want to get into specific details and spoilers but there are a few I'll say now because they are well you'll see when you read them.
First as set out previously the gestation period from face-hugger-implant to chest-buster-birth to full grown alien was about 2 days (perhaps a little longer but I haven't seen alien in a couple years so forgive me). In this movie I kid you not it take 5-10 minutes.
Next the Predator in all the other movies would take something some human said and reproduce it in it's own haunting Predator voice. Not once did they do that, that alone for me made the Preadotors in this movie just killing machines instead of the race of hunters that they are. There could be more but that missing thing alone seemed to rip the soul out of the Predators and just turn them into monsters no better then the aliens.
Next we have the movie set in 2004 our time so I guess it follows the Predator time line more then the alien one except we have Lance Hendrikson character who eventually is the foundation for Bishop from Aliens 2. Aliens 2 though is so far in the future though I find it hard to believe any foundation set up now would still be honored at any level that far into the future that they'd model a droid after it's creator. It'd be like having C3P0 modeled after Bill Gates.
Oh and the last thing I'll say is that should you see it the ending the -ooh lets set up for a sequal- ending is too lame for words.
All the bitching asside there are still some very cool sequences and regardless if you favor the aliens the humans or the predators no side is a clear winner in the end and I guess that's probably how it should be. OH and the queen alien in this movie is awesome, actually that's one thing I though they did very well the Aliens and the Predators looked and moved great in this movie.
So closing comments cheap night or matinee you shouldn't feel to screwed if you go to it. But because the movie is lacking the need for awesome theatre sound and there is never so much going on at once that you need the big screen this really is a movie that you probably should hold out to for DVD (my guess is 4 months).
That statement pretty much sums up my feelings towards the movie. I, like many others were pretty psyched up when this film was first announced. Then as the director was named and tales about re-writes and other glimpses of doom crept up the hopes of AVP being an excellent film turned into hopes of it just not sucking ass.
After watching it I don't think it sucked ass but theres a significant qualifier that has to go along with that. The movie didn't suck ass because for as large as the plot wholes were and as many missed opportunities or should have beens that were or weren't in it. The movie was still entertaining enough (just enough) to watch for a Saturday Matinee movie.
If you are a fan boy and can't just sit back and be entertained with what you are seeing and feel the need to annalize things to death then stay away. FAR AWAY!!!!
So go into it now warned that there are some huge issues with the foundation that have been set down in the previous two series and just watch it for the movie that it is not the movie it should have been and you'll probably enjoy it (or at least not feel cheated out of your money).
So from this point on I'm just going to comment on the movie itself and not the history behind it. Some I've talked to thought that it was kind of slow in the beginning and I can see the reason behind feeling that way. But personally I didn't think it was bad and it set up the why and how of what was going on fairly well. Once the action really starts (about 30 mins in) it's non-stop until the very end. The setting is a huge maze and is unbelievable but again don't think about that and just watch it and you'll be fine. The action sequences are pretty good and gritty though I felt a few of them were shot (as is the problem with many north american movies) way to tight so you couldn't really focus on what was actually happening.
The sound I felt was lacking not because it was bad but becasue it needed more. More background sounds to make the structure seem alive and some subtle music to build tension always helps. As it was there were no noticable ambient sounds going on and certainly no music to build tension. For a movie like this, that I feel is pretty key between bumping a poor - ok movie to a good one. The gun fire and creature sounds were all well done and in this day and age for that to be any other way would be unexcusable.
I don't want to get into specific details and spoilers but there are a few I'll say now because they are well you'll see when you read them.
First as set out previously the gestation period from face-hugger-implant to chest-buster-birth to full grown alien was about 2 days (perhaps a little longer but I haven't seen alien in a couple years so forgive me). In this movie I kid you not it take 5-10 minutes.
Next the Predator in all the other movies would take something some human said and reproduce it in it's own haunting Predator voice. Not once did they do that, that alone for me made the Preadotors in this movie just killing machines instead of the race of hunters that they are. There could be more but that missing thing alone seemed to rip the soul out of the Predators and just turn them into monsters no better then the aliens.
Next we have the movie set in 2004 our time so I guess it follows the Predator time line more then the alien one except we have Lance Hendrikson character who eventually is the foundation for Bishop from Aliens 2. Aliens 2 though is so far in the future though I find it hard to believe any foundation set up now would still be honored at any level that far into the future that they'd model a droid after it's creator. It'd be like having C3P0 modeled after Bill Gates.
Oh and the last thing I'll say is that should you see it the ending the -ooh lets set up for a sequal- ending is too lame for words.
All the bitching asside there are still some very cool sequences and regardless if you favor the aliens the humans or the predators no side is a clear winner in the end and I guess that's probably how it should be. OH and the queen alien in this movie is awesome, actually that's one thing I though they did very well the Aliens and the Predators looked and moved great in this movie.
So closing comments cheap night or matinee you shouldn't feel to screwed if you go to it. But because the movie is lacking the need for awesome theatre sound and there is never so much going on at once that you need the big screen this really is a movie that you probably should hold out to for DVD (my guess is 4 months).