Alien Vs. Predator (AvP)
Review by FLAtRich

August 22, 2004 (eXoNews) - Two Big Bads from outer space really do their dance in AvP! What could have been another "let's milk the franchise" film may be a surprise to some because this one is pretty good, thanks to excellent special effects, quick editing, and two outstanding actors.

AvP was written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, who wrote and directed the original Resident Evil (2002) and directed the far more forgettable Event Horizon (1997).

Dan O'Bannon, who wrote the original Alien (1979) added some character writing to this one, as he did in the other Alien sequels. O'Bannon also wrote the screenplay for Total Recall and two lesser-known sci-fi favorites, Lifeforce (1985) and Screamers (1995). Jim and John Thomas, who wrote the original Predator films, also contributed on AvP.

Sanaa Lathan steals the show as Alexa Woods, the team leader. Miss Lathan recently got a 2003 Tony nomination for A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway.

She also played Ann Harrison in Out of Time opposite Denzel, for which she won a Best Actress Black Reel award and won awards for her work in Love and Basketball (2000).

Lathan doesn't need to rest on past accomplishments in AvP. She is definitely the star here from the beginning of the film.

A scene where she joins the hunt - Alien spear and shield in hand - is a picture of genre perfection on a Frank Frazetta level.

The "Whoever wins... We lose" promotional tag for AvP clearly does not apply to Sanaa Lathan.

Lance Henriksen is the only cast member from the original Alien series to show up for AvP and his fans should be more than satisfied with his role as billionaire explorer Charles Bishop Weyland.

As Alien fans know, Mr. Henriksen was the android Bishop in Aliens (1986), a role he reprised in Aliens3 (1992) before becoming Frank Black in Chris Carter's MillenniuM (1996-1999), one of the great TV genre heroes of all time.

Season One of MillenniuM was released on DVD this month by Fox, to be followed closely by Season Two.

[I've been watching it for the last couple of weeks and man, MillenniuM was good TV! Ed.]

Lance is fairly active for an actor in his sixties - he's in 10 films in 2004 alone, which puts his credits at about 100 projects so far. Not necessarily all the best films (a few baddies on Sci Fi Channel lately), but Lance easily rises above lesser material and is always memorable in the good ones.

So how about the plot? Not to worry. Charles Bishop Weyland (Henriksen) mounts the expedition to a newly found mysterious temple under the ice, which is a remnant of a time when the Predator Big Bads used the Earth as a ritual hunting ground every century or so.

Their seeded prey, the Alien Big Bads. Earth people were on hand for gestating these and we do get to see some of this in a flashback, but not much time for that because the Weyland team discovery coincides with the return of the Predators.

While exploring the temple, Alexa (Lathan) and our band of heroes accidentally unfreeze an Alien queen, who proceeds to hatch lots of slobbering uglies for the Predators to fight.

All this corn and yet AvP moves so fast that it is thoroughly entertaining and somehow avoids becoming just another Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.

I don't mean to slight the ugly guys here either. The Aliens have come a long way from Rick Baker in a monkey suit and the swarms of acid-dripping cockroach Aliens and crab-faced Predators do their best to make a genuine monster film fun to watch.

Note that AvP is a prequel to all of the other films in the Alien franchise, but only a second sequel to the Predator franchise so you can probably expect to see more of both eventually.

AvP Official - http://www.avp-movie.com

Buy the first season of MillenniuM on DVD from the Fox Store.

Official Lance Henriksen site - http://www.bylancehenriksen.com

MillenniuM Fan site - http://richlabonte.net/millennium

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