Alien vs. Predator/AVP (2004) - No one wins with Anderson's fundamentally bad monster clash

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+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year

The titular movie monsters of Paul W.S. Anderson's Alien vs. Predator come together on the poster with the film's seemingly accidentally honest tagline, - which makes it clear that audiences are in for a loss

Alien vs. Predator is an uninteresting spin-off, based on a 1989 comic book, which merges the two great alien-centered franchises, Alien and Predator.

Far below the Antarctica lies a pyramid, which some scientist types somehow awaken to life, and an intergalactic war between two extraterrestrial monster species takes form.

Whatever Lance Henriksen (Dark Awakening (2014)) is doing in this movie, I don't know; he played the robot Bishop in Aliens (1986) beautifully, - here he's another character in the plot set some 150 years before that movie takes place, who then supposedly later becomes the model for the future robot...
Building suspense, or creating engaging, full characters and/or scenes have either not been a priority for the three-person script team behind Alien vs. Predator, or they have just totally failed in their attempts. The responsible are Dan O'Bannon (Alien (1979)), Ronald Shusett (Total Recall (1990)), who both supplied story elements, and writer/director Paul W. S. Anderson (Resident Evil (2002)). Why the first two writers have felt obligated or enticed to do this to their fine, initial work in the Alien franchise is beyond me. Anderson, on the other hand, is a juggernaut of pointless action shlock such as this and seems permanently out of reach.
Alien vs. Predator is big and noisy, and that's about all you will remember from it just a few hours after having seen it. Take my advice: Try and avoid it.

Related posts:

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Alien franchise: Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre! 
Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!
Aliens (1986) or, Alien War
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News!   
The Predator franchise: Predators (2010) - Antal, Rodriguez and Brody successfully take the sci-fi-action franchise back

Watch a short 'chest-burster' scene from the film here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 172.5 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.87 times its cost)
[Alien vs. Predator premiered 12 August (Puerto Rico and Thailand) and runs 101 minutes. The two central Alien master filmmakers, Ridley Scott (Alien) and James Cameron (Aliens (1986)) were both opposed to the film, however Cameron has later stated that he "liked it a lot." The story was set about 150 years before the first Alien (1979) and after Predator (1987), designed not to clash with anything already established in the franchises. Shooting took place in Italy, France and in Prague, the Czech Republic from October 2003 - ?. No less than 10 production companies were involved in the production. The film opened #1 to a 38.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed a handsome 80.2 mil. $ (46.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 16.1 mil. $ (9.3 %) and the UK with 9.3 mil. $ (5.4 %). An even worse sequel, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) was made. The Predator franchise was rebooted with Predators (2010), and the Alien franchise had its next real chapter in Prometheus (2012). Anderson returned with Drift (2006, TV movie) and theatrically with Death Race (2008). Sanaa Lathan (Repentance (2013)) returned in The Golden Blaze (2005, video) and theatrically in Something New (2006); Raoul Bova (Ever Been to the Moon?/Sei Mai Stata Sulla Luna? (2015)) in Giovani Talenti Italiani (2004, video), Karol: A Man Who Became Pope/Karol, un Uomo Diventato Papa (2005, TV movie) and theatrically in I'll Do It Tonight/Stasera lo Faccio (2005); Henriksen in Keep Right (2004, short) and theatrically in Modigliani (2004). Alien vs. Predator is rotten at 21 % with a 4.06/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Alien vs. Predator?

Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre!

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The unusual combination of two female stars in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Alien: Resurrection have gigantic faces that are suspended in icky green color in space on this poster for the film

Ripley (Sigourney Weaver (The Ice Storm (1997))) has slept for 200 years and now wakes up a half-alien.  

The very idea to revive the Alien franchise once again with this (...) invention, - following Ridley Scott's watershed great space horror Alien (1979), James Cameron's explosive Aliens (1986) actioner and David Fincher's so-so prison-set Alien 3 (1992), - was a bad one.
The all-around overkill of Alien: Resurrection extends to its effects, which are competently done but so pervasive and disgusting (in an uncool way) that it feels like the original spirit of the Alien universe is by this chapter firmly buried somewhere in a mountain of snot, slime and blood.
The characters here, good and evil alike, are uninteresting, flat, and many of them sort of amateur-philosophers, (which doesn't make them more interesting), and the dialog is almost completely reduced to one-liners. Resurrection is directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie/Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)) and written by Hollywood's later mega-mogul, Joss Whedon (The Avengers/Avengers Assemble (2012)), who has since denounced the final film, calling it "almost unwatchable."
He was right. But Ressurection's cool underwater scenes with aliens do, however, pull it up a bit. - If you do decide to give the film a chance, I say; do it strictly for the monsters!

Related posts:

The Alien franchise: Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News!
Aliens (1986) or, Alien War
Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) or, Everyone Loses
Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Amélie/Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) - Pretentious French fluffy-puff poop
Delicatessen (1991) or, The Brown Quirk

Watching Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Alien: Resurrection feels a lot like what Sigourney Weaver appears to be doing in this photo: Immersing oneself in gooey crap

Here is a trailer for the film, captured off of a VHS tape

Cost: Estimated 75 mil. $

Box office: 161.3 mil. $

= Flop (returned likely 2.15 times its cost)
[Alien: Resurrection premiered 6 November (Paris, France) and runs 109 minutes. Whedon and Jeunet both took the job of making the film mostly as a career opportunity too great to turn down, it seems. Jeunet for a long time fought to have the aliens equipped with a mix of male and female genitals, which he did not succeed with in getting into the film. Weaver was reportedly paid 11 mil. $ for her performance, along with a co-producer credit on the film. Shooting took place from November 1996 - April 1997 in California and Manitoba and Ontario, Canada as the first Alien film shoot done entirely outside of England. The film opened #2, behind Flubber, to a 16.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week at #2 before leaving the top 5, only running a total of 4 weeks domestically, grossing 47.7 mil. $ (29.6 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Jeunet's native France with 16.3 mil. $ (10.1 %) and Japan with 16.1 mil. $ (10%). Alien: Resurrection was only the 47th highest-grossing film in North America of 1997, quite bad for an Alien movie. It is the first and only film in the franchise so far to be highly financially unsuccessful. Roger Ebert gave the film a 1½/4 star review, translating to a notch under its rating here, and called it one of the worst film of the year. An extended version of the film was released on DVD in 2003, but Jeunet says that the theatrical edition is his favorite. The franchise has since gotten two poor, unrelated sequels (AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)), a prequel by Ridley Scott (Prometheus (2012)), and is getting another Scott entry in 2017 in Alien: Covenant. Jeunet returned with Amélie (2001). Weaver returned in A Map of the World (1999), Winona Ryder (Mr. Deeds (2002)) in The Larry Sanders Show (1998, TV-series) and theatrically in Celebrity (1998). Alien: Resurrection is rotten at 54 % with a 5.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
 

What do you think of Alien: Resurrection?

Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!

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An effective, icky still make up the majority of this dark poster for David Fincher's Alien 3. Don't miss the foolishly long tagline under the title. - Pretty silly stuff, hu?

Ripley, girl Newt, Hicks and android Bishop escape a fire on their space vessel and land in a penal colony on a strange planet, where bloody deaths later lead Ripley to believe that they may have brought an unwelcome life form along with them.

Coloradoan master filmmaker David Fincher (Se7en (1995)) debuted with Alien 3 after years of music video works. - Imagine the pressure after the first two distinctive worldwide smash hits and genre innovators by Ridley Scott and James Cameron, who both by the 1990s were established masters of cinema. Entering a creative plane full of strife, disagreements, egos and big money as a young, unproven agent assuming the directing responsibilities, I think Fincher actually did really well with Alien 3, all things considered. 
Alien 3 manages straight away to take a big step away from the previous films by relying on a minimum of guns and electronics and changing the scenery dramatically to that of a prison planet. The visual side has evolved as well. And so although many of Fincher's later films are better, it is clear already here that he is himself a highly capable and visionary filmmaker.
All the prisoner-related stuff in the movie works so-so, and at times Alien 3 seems both a bit predictable and a bit overlong. SPOILER But the ending with Ripley and the iron alien is pretty darn cool. It is written by Larry Ferguson (The Presidio (1988)), Walter Hill (Streets of Fire (1984)) and David Giler (The Parallax View (1974)), with Vincent Ward (Vigil (1984)) contributing story elements.

Related posts:

David Fincher: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - Fincher's Nordic noir is technically astute but overlong and redundant 

The Social Network (2010) - Fincher's a-hole biopic leaves me cold (and more anti-Facebook than ever)

The Alien franchise: AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) or, Everyone Loses (spin-off)
Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre!
Aliens (1986) or, Alien War
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News

 

Watch a teaser trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 - 55 mil. $ (different reports)
Box office: 159.8 mil. $
= Box office success (returned at least 2.90 times its cost)
[Alien 3 was released 22 May and runs 114 minutes. The film had a long development process with reportedly 7 mil. $ spent before production could begin. Filming took place in England and California from January - May 1991. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Lethal Weapon 3, to 23.1 mil. $ in North America, where is spent another week in the top 5 (#3), only ran for 6 weeks and grossed 55.4 mil. $ (34.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 28.8 mil. $ (18%) and the UK with 12.7 mil. $ (7.9 %). The film was Oscar-nominated for Best Visual Effects, lost to Death Becomes Her, and for the corresponding BAFTA. In 2003, a 145 minute 'Assembly Cut' of the film was released without the involvement of Fincher, who isn't too fond of the film. Fincher returned with 9 commercials and music videos, before he dared to go back to a feature with thriller masterpiece Se7en (1995). Weaver  returned in 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992). Alien 3 is rotten at 44 % with a 5.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Alien 3?

Aliens (1986) or, Alien War

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Sigourney Weaver as Ripley is cemented as the capable action heroine of the franchise on this multiplex-feeding poster for James Cameron's Aliens

Ellen Ripley, sole survivor of the alien drama of the first Alien (1979), is saved in space after 57 years of stasis. When contact is lost with the current colony on the moon of the first alien contact, Ripley is convinced to go there and defeat the aliens with a group pf marines.

Canadian master writer-director James Cameron's (Titanic (1997)) Aliens recycles somewhat over-zealously from its great predecessor. It comes up with a very long plot that is a bit too knotty and characters-overpopulated, SPOILER like Ripley's 66-year old daughter and some of the Marine Corps members. - The film is 20 minutes longer than Alien, without any real justification.
But it is a very action-packed film nonetheless, extremely entertaining and also filled with good ideas, SPOILER like the sewer scene, the girl Newt, the mother alien, the yellow robots, and Lance Henriksen (Justice Served (2015)) as an android. A fun trivia aside is that Henriksen was originally chosen to play the the terminator in Cameron's same-titled great hit from 1984, until a certain Austrian bodybuilder entered the room ... Henriksen got a smaller part in the movie, and Michael Biehn (Tombstone (1993)) and Bill Paxton (Vertical Limit (2000)), - who is a lot of fun in Aliens, rivaling his manliness with the group's female alpha, Vasquez (Jeanette Goldstein (It Is What It Is (2001))), - are also enjoyable, reappearing Terminator stars here.

Related posts:

The Alien Franchise: AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) or, Everyone Loses
Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre!
Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News
James Cameron:  Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best adventure films reviewed by Film Excess to date
Avatar (2009) - The Colorful Adventure Epic That Won the World (also with Sigourney Weaver)

Watch a 2016 58-minute panel with Cameron, Weaver, Paxton and others at the San Diego Comic Con on the occasion of the film's 30th anniversary

Cost: 17 - 18.5 mil. $
Box office:  130.8 mil. - 183.3 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned at least 7.07 times its cost)
[Aliens premiered 14 July (Los Angeles, California) and runs 137 minutes. Development of the sequel was prolonged due to Fox executives' unwillingness to proceed with it for years. Only after the success of Terminator did they believe in the Cameron script, and production began with Gale Anne Hurd (Raising Cain (1992)), Cameron's then wife, serving as producer. Fox wanted another lead, refusing Weaver her 1 mil. $ salary (30 times what she was paid for Alien), until Cameron insisted on her participation. Main inspirations for the film were the Vietnam War and Robert A. Heinlein's (Red Planet (1949)) novel Starship Troopers (1959). After an unsuccessful audition of reportedly 3,000 British actors, Americans were chosen. Filming took place in England at the abandoned Acton Lane Power Station and at Pinewood Studios from September 1985 - February 1986. The film's original cinematographer Dick Bush (Little Monsters (1985)) had to be fired due to creative differences with Cameron about lighting during filming, and was replaced by Adrian Biddle (V for Vendetta (2005)). Post production, including James Horner's (The Karate Kid (2010)) score, was completed under severe time pressure. The film opened #1 to a 10 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it was #1 for 4 consecutive weeks and remained in the top 5 for 10 weeks, grossing 85.1 mil. $ (65 % of the total gross, if going by the 130.8 mil. $ total gross figure). It was the year's 7th highest-grossing film in North America. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 9.3 mil. $ (7.1 %) and France with 7 mil. $ (5.4 %). The rumored 183.3 mil. $ gross may be including home video sales. Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5/4 stars, equal to a notch higher than this review. The film was nominated for 7 Oscars: Best Actress (Weaver, in a major highpoint for the recognition of sci-fi and action at the Oscars), lost to Marlee Matlin (Some Kind of Beautiful (2014)) for Children of a Lesser God, Art Direction/Set Decoration, lost to A Room with a View, Sound, lost to Platoon, Editing, also lost to Platoon, Score, lost to Herbie Hancock for 'Round Midnight, and Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects, both of which it won. Weaver was also nominated for a Golden Globe, the film's only nomination there. It was nominated for 4 BAFTA's, winning one, and is today #64 on IMDb's user-generated Top 250, between American Beauty (1999) and Princess Mononoke/Mononoke-Hime (1997). Cameron returned with The Abyss (1989).  Weaver returned in Half Moon Street (1986). Aliens is certified fresh at 98 % with a 9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Aliens?

Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News

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Perhaps the most famous tagline of all time, Ridley Scott's Alien's 'In space no one can hear you scream.'

The commercial spaceship the Nostromo is bound back for Earth, when the crew pick up a strange signal and discover an alien, non-friendly life form.

Alien is the brilliant science fiction classic, written by Dan O'Bannon (Dark Star (1974)) and directed by British master filmmaker Ridley Scott (Gladiator (2000)), which showed the world that a real horror movie could also take place in deep space.
The first three fourths of Alien are the best; quiet and uniquely creepy scenes one after the other. It is the slow yet always forward-moving pace and great character work that expand the film, together with a monster, the alien, which is likely the best movie monster of all time.
Ian Holm (Time Bandits (1981)) is very good as a cynical android, and Sigourney Weaver (The Girl in the Park (2007)) is equally terrific as Ripley, the survivor and heroine of the film.
Alien is the first of quite a few of his films that have immortalized Ridley Scott in film history.

Related posts:

Alien franchise: Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) or, Everyone Loses
Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre!
Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!
Ridley Scott: Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News (Alien prequel)
Robin Hood (2010) - R. Scott's grand film of the English legend
American Gangster (2007) - Great American - now black - gangster picture
A Good Year (2006) or, Ridley Scott Likes Provence
Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Blade Runner (1982) - R. Scott's visual extravaganza, great SF

Top 10: Best future-set movies 

Even the trailer for Alien is scary. This is a film that is almost always worth another watch

Cost: Reportedly 11 mil. $
Box office: 104.9 - 203.6 mil. $ (varying accounts)
= Blockbuster (returned at least 9.53 times its cost)
[Alien was released 25 May and runs 117 minutes. Though an extended cut and a director's cut has been released, Scott has stated that he prefers the original theatrical cut, which he describes as the best version he could make at the time. The script was inspired by numerous sci-fi movies and other fiction, (just as the film itself would subsequently inspire numerous cultural products), not least the fascinating creature designs by H. R. Giger. Scott reportedly described the film as "the Texas Chain Saw Massacre of science fiction" to Fox executives to enhance the allotted budget, (which he had success with, especially due to the phenomenal success of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)). Filming took place in the Shepperton and Bray Studios in England for 14 weeks from July - October 1978. SPOILER The famous 'chest-burster scene' was done in one take with the actors not informed of what would specifically take place and thus reacting in genuine horror, which is caught effectively on film. SPOILER Scott reportedly wanted the film to end with the alien ripping off Ripley's head and taking over the ship, to which Fox raised objections, and which would have made the future of the franchise impossible (or at least vastly different, as the following three films also center on Ripley.) The film opened #1 to an incredible 3.5 mil. $ in just 91 theaters, widening out to 635 theaters in North America, where it grossed 80.9 mil. $ (77.1 % of the total gross if we accept the most commonly stated 104.9 mil. $ world gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 4.7 mil. $ (4.5 %) and Japan with 4.4 mil. $ (4.2 %). Several influential critics were unimpressed of the film initially, including Roger Ebert, Leonard Maltin and Vincent Canby. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: It won for Best Visual Effects and lost Best Art Direction to All That Jazz. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe and 7 BAFTAs, of which it won 2. The film initially made an additional 40.3 mil. $ on VHS and Betamax sales in North America alone. It currently rests at #52 on IMDb's user-generated Top 250. Scott returned with a 1979 commercial for Channel No. 5 and theatrically with Blade Runner (1982). Weaver returned in 3 by Cheever (1979, miniseries) and theatrically in Eyewitness (1981). Alien is certified fresh at 97 % with a 9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Alien?