AVP

* SPOILER ALERT! * SPOILER ALERT! *

I am a fan of the creatures in the Alien series. From the very first solo monster in Ridley Scott’s Alien to the swimming species in Alien Resurrection, I’ve always found those single-minded creatures to be one of the best villains ever. Their motivation is singular and unwavering—they’re there to kill and to multiply.

I also liked the Predator because their motivation is simple: to hunt. And they’ve got cool gadgets and fighting gear to boot!

Pitting the two iconic creatures in recent cinema history is actually quite a treat. However, the movie was a bit of a disappointment for me.

[1] It took quite a while for the match-up to happen. The set-up was too darn long. It gave time for the audience to get to know the human characters—hey, they’re just food! Okay, so maybe you need to establish the lead actress’ character: an African-American Ripley. But at the end of the day, it’s the match-up that I was looking forward to. In fact, the set-up of finding the pyramid and the explorers reaching it could have been collapsed into the opening credits. But that’s just me.

[2] In this kind of match-up, the natural “villains” would be the aliens while the predators would be the “heroes” because the aliens are merely intelligent killing machines; the predators, on the other hand, have more motivation. Naturally, who would the human hook up with? Too obvious.

[3] Major loopholes in the premise. If Earth was a training ground and civilizations were wiped out as a form of intergalactic pest control, why are there no clues or remains of either alien species on the other monuments (Incan, Egyptian and Cambodian)?

[4] However, the fate of the mother alien plus the “twist” at the end of the movie are promising. Do I smell a sequel?