"We never confused Godzilla vs Mothra with actual cinema as kids, so why are we doing so with this one? It's fun!" John Venable SUPERCALACOM "Alien vs Predator is a ton of alien-slobbering, bust-a-gut fun. " Larry Ratliff SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS "After it dawned on me that Ripley wouldn't be appearing, I was able to sit back and appreciate the all-out mayhem of the latest dream match film." Jeffrey Lyles GAZETTE "AVP will probably satisfy its fans' most basic desires. But, like most sugar rushes, it won't satisfy them for long." Erik Lundegaard SEATTLE TIMES

"The human characters are little more than munchies for one space species and shooting-gallery targets for the other." David Germain ASSOCIATED PRESS "I was surprised at how good this outing is. The movie has plenty of creepy stuff and fast action." Vince Koehler ENTERTAINMENT SPECTRUM "It isn't some kind of ghastly betrayal of anything. It's just a rather silly exercise in schlock sci-fi horror that doesn't pretend to be anything else." Ken Hanke MOUNTAIN XPRESS "Anderson clearly relished making this wonderful, utterly silly film; his heart shows in every drip of slime." Ian Grey ORLANDO WEEKLY

At A Glance

"The humans are insignificant. They really only serve as incubation chambers for baby aliens. But, this is important because the movie isn’t about them." Kevin Carr 7M PICTURES

When it comes to describing what's best about Twentieth Century Fox Films latest film "Alien vs Predator", Las Vegas Weekly Film Critic Josh Bell summed it up pretty well; "There are aliens. There are predators. They fight. What more do you want?". True John. Crikey! If we've seen it all before, why worry about employing a star studded lineup? Why bother with intelligent dialogue? Let's just come up with a premise that has an appeal about it; add a couple of twists to get the plot going; trot out a couple of aliens species that no longer scare the crap out of us and lets go make a movie. Well, hey presto! They did. And guess what? Someone, paid big bucks to sit around on their arse all day, even managed to comeup with a brilliant title. "Alien vs Predator". There last job must have been in the marketing departing featured in those very funny Nissan Pulsar adverts currently screening on Australian television. Hell, even my two year old grand daughter could have dug up that one. But, and here I must give credit where credits due. Big bouquets to whoever came up with the idea of killing of all but one cast member, because, even though I know it sounds terrible, if ever a cast deserved to die a slow, painfull death, it was this lot. This really is a lack lustre cast without a real standout performer. Now some may be thinking "but what about the heroine Sanaa Lathan". Passable, but only just is the kindest words I can muster in her defence. About the only memorable point in her appearance on screen is a defining moment, just minutes from the end, when the Predator [looking like a Rastafarian crammed into a "Star Wars" troopers outfit] put the mark of a warrior on her pretty little face. As she stared pognantly into his horribly, hideous face [if that's what they call it] I held my breath in anticipation. Would they mate? Would they be joined at the crotch? Why not! After all, there was now a bond between them that could never be broken. If only they had as it would have created the perfect sequel for Twentieth Century Fox Films "Alien vs Predator", which the braintrust in their marketing department could aptly title; "Predator's Daughter". Having only seen the Predator expose his fearsome fighting arsenal and not his fearsome 'weapon' I wondered though if it was possible for him to mate at -80C. Hell, it must have been. And why was I thinking that. Because the heroine of our story, was running around in Antarctica in a bloody T-Shirt. That's right! It's -80C [approx -126°F], the middle of an Antarctic winter, a blizzard blowing, and our heroine is in a T-Shirt staring into the eyes of some ugly alien, quirkily named 'Scar'. Give me a break. Who thinks up this mindless crap? Evidently the blame lays with director and screenplay writer Paul W S Anderson. The news only gets worse dear, longsuffering, disillusioned reader. Producer John Davis admits that there were 40 other ideas put forward before they accepted Anderson's idea. "Over the years, I had heard story pitches from over 40 writers, until Paul approached us with his take," Davis said. "His story really drew us in." Some unkind aussies might describe it as 'sucked in', John. And what was this gripping idea Paul W S Anderson came up with? Simply this. He set "the story on Earth, in contemporary times. The story would take place between the events of Predator and Alien." Davis must have been beside himself with excitement when he heard this after rejecting 40 other writers ideas. Again, some unkind aussies would say, "the other 40 must have been absolute shit then John." So where and when did Anderson come up with this brilliant idea of linking the two alien movies together? "Almost nine years ago, just for fun, I came up with an idea for an Alien/Predator film," Anderson recalls. "Then, I was at Sundance with my very first film ["Shopping"], a European, independent film, and I thought I would never get to make a movie like AVP." Ah ha! Then fate stepped in. Too right it did, mates. "Fast forward to eight years later," Anderson explains, "and Fox is trying to make the movie, and they called me in to talk about it. I basically pitched the same idea I’d been thinking about at Sundance years earlier. And this time I got to make it." The twist to Anderson's plot is that he uses the mythology of cultures such as the the Mayans and Aztecs. "Alien vs Predator introduces a lot of mythology," Anderson says, "but it’s more related to Earth’s history than to the previous films." And why is that? "This notion actually began with a brief glimpse in ‘Predator 2’ of the Predator spaceship interior, which had an Aztec design," Anderson recalls. "It led me to think about the effects that Predators, as an alien species, would have on primitive human cultures." Cleverly, Anderson chose not to reveal the creatures too early in the film. He wanted the element of surprise. The wide eyed amazement that comes with the sight of seeing an acid drooling "Alien" and a tooled up "Predator" which literally leaves the audience breathless. Gee, even if we have seen them all before. Or had Paul W S Anderson forgotten that? "That’s what made Alien, Aliens and Predator so effective," he said. "Those films made the audiences wait to see the creatures. Audiences know they could ‘pop’ at any given moment, which heightens the fear. I wanted "Alien vs Predator" to build slowly, like the original ‘Alien,’ and then have the last 45 minutes be relentless action, akin to Aliens and Predator." And that is what viewers get. One heck of a battle between Predators and Aliens some 2000 feet below the ice. And as silly as it all sounds, and as stupid as I've made it out to be, guess what? "Alien vs Predator" isn't half bad. It's not groundbreaking, it's not all new. But if you're a sci-fi horror freak then you'll get a kick out of it. The most important thing to remember is those word; "There are aliens. There are predators. They fight. What more do you want?". Get the drift? Crew Bytes "Alien vs Predator" was .......
directed by Paul W S Anderson ["Shopping" and "Mortal Kombat"]; screenstory by Paul W S Anderson, Dan O'Bannon ["Dark Star", "Alien", "Aliens", "Total Recall", "Alien 3" and "Alien: Resurrection"] and Ronald Shusett ["Dead & Buried", "Alien", "Aliens", "Alien 3" and "Alien: Resurrection"]; screenplay by Paul W S Anderson ["Event Horizon", "Soldier" and "Resident Evil"]; costume design by Magali Guidasci ["Kamikaze", "Armageddon", "Wing Commander" and "The Prince & Me"]; production design by Richard Bridgland ["Swing", "The Acid House", "Resident Evil" and "Wicker Park"]; edited by Alexander Berner ["Night of the Archer", "Prince Valiant", "In the Ghetto" and "Resident Evil"]; director of photograhpy David Johnson ["An Ideal Husband", "Toy Boys", "Football" and "Resident Evil"]; set decoration by Peter Walpole ["Blame It on the Bellboy", "Star Wars Episode I", "Brokedown Palace" and "Star Wars Episode II"] special makeup effects by Waldo Mason ["Event Horizon", "The Last Samurai", "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "King Arthur"].
"Alien vs Predator" was produced by Paul W S Anderson, Gordon Carroll ["Cool Hand Luke", "Alien", "Aliens", "Alien 3" and "Alien: Resurrection], David Giler ["Southern Comfort", "Bordello of Blood", "Ritual" and "Undisputed"], John Davis ["Behind Enemy Lines", "Paycheck", "Garfield" and "I, Robot"] and Walter Hill ["Hard Times", "Southern Comfort ", "Wild Bill" and "Last Man Standing"]. Casting About "Alien vs Predator" stars .......
Sanaa Lathan ["Drive", "Blade", "The Best Man" and "Out Of Time"]; Raoul Bova ["Una Storia italiana", "Pretty Princess", "Rewind" and "Under the Tuscan Sun"]; Lance Henriksen ["Dog Day Afternoon", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "The Terminator", "Alien" and "Alien 3"]; Ewen Bremner ["Naked", "Judge Dredd", "Skin" and "Snatch"]; Colin Salmon ["Captives", "Tomorrow Never Dies", "Resident Evil" and "Die Another Day"]; Tommy Flanagan ["Braveheart", "Face/Off", "All About the Benjamins" and "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle"]; Joseph Rye ["Born to Lose", "Mean Machine", and "Living In Hope"]; Agathe De La Boulaye ["Vive Elle", "The Girl" and "Irčne"]; Carsten Norgaard ["The Spartans", "Soldiers", "David and Lola" and "Gods and Generals"]; Sam Troughton ["Sylvia"]; and Ian Whyte as Scar. The Story

"For a big dumb production about a movie monster smackdown, Alien vs Predator is a surprisingly good time." Rick Kisonak FILM THREAT

While searching the frozen continent of Antarctica for signs of mineral deposits, a Weyland Industries satellite picks up a heat signal from 2000 feet below the surface. The images it relays to earth are both stunning and confounding. What the satellite has discovered is a full size temple, hidden away from the outside world. Founder of Weyland Industries, Charles Bishop Weyland, pulls together a team of experts and transports them to an icebreaker heading towards an island of the Antarctic coastline. He reveals the stunning discovery. The team will be headed up by Alexa Woods and they have just seven days to prepare themselves. Weylans plans to drill down to the temple and explore it but when the team arrives at an old whaling station which was mysteriously abandoned in 1904 with no trace of those manning it, they discover a perfect tunnel has appeared overnight. Little do they realize what they are about to confront. The team is about to become bait in a battle between two alien species. The fearsome warrior "Predators" and the drooling, lightning fast creatures known as "Aliens". Can anyone survive? The Verdict "If you're an "Alien" or "Predator" fan you'll get your monies worth with "Alien vs Predator". There is enough here to ensure your satisfied, if only for the moment. Some good scary moments, special effects and creature designs somehow manage to keep the storyline going without totally falling apart. Worth a look at? Why not. It's not all bad. Just half bad. And that's a lot better than some of the films we've seen in the alien genre." The Cast

Sanaa Lathan Raoul Bova Lance Henriksen Ewen Bremner Colin Salmon Tommy Flanagan Joseph Rye Agathe De La Boulaye Carsten Norgaard Sam Troughton Petr Jákl Pavel Bezdek Kieran Bew Carsten Voigt Jan Filipensky Adrian Bouchet Andy Lucas Liz May Brice Glenn Conroy Eoin McCarthy Karima Adebibe Ian Whyte Tom Woodruff Jr

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Alexa Woods Sebastian de Rosa Charles Bishop Weyland Graeme Miller Maxwell Stafford Mark Verheiden Joe Connors Adele Rousseau Rusten Quinn Thomas Parks Stone Bass Klaus Mikkel Boris Sven Juan Ramirez Supervisor Technician Karl Sacrificial Maiden Scar Grid

The Crew Directed by Paul W S Anderson Alien characters by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett Predator characters by Jim Thomas & John Thomas Screen Story by Paul W S Anderson/Dan O'Bannon/Ronald Shusett Screenplay by Paul W S Anderson Produced by Gordon Carroll/John Davis/David Giler/Walter Hill Original Music by James Seymour Brett & Harald Kloser Additional Score by Thomas Schobel & Thomas Wanker Cinematography by David Johnson Film Editing by Alexander Berner Casting by Nancy Bishop/Donna Isaacson/Christian Kaplan/Suzanne Smith Production Design by Richard Bridgland Set Decoration by Peter Walpole Costume Design by Magali Guidasci Makeup Designer Lesley Lamont-Fisher Special Makeup Effects Artist Waldo Mason Production Manager Martina Burgetová Run Time 97 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2004 - Twentieth Century Fox Films - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2004 - Impact Internet Services & The Movie Pages - All Rights Reserved