Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20058 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Italian
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In delivering non-18-rated excitement, Alien vs. Predator is an acceptably average science-fiction action thriller with some noteworthy highlights, even if it squanders its opportunity to intelligently combine two popular franchises. Rabid fans can justifiably ask "Is that all there is?" after a decade of development hell and eager anticipation, but we're compensated by reasonably logical connections to the Alien legacy and the still-kicking Predator franchise (which hinted at AVP rivalry at the end of Predator 2); some cleverly claustrophobic sets, tense atmosphere and impressive digital effects; and a climactic AVP smackdown that's not half bad. This disposable junk should've been better, but nobody who's seen Mortal Kombat or Resident Evil should be surprised by writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson's lack of imagination. As a brisk, 90-minute exercise in generic thrills, however, Anderson's work is occasionally impressive... right up to his shameless opening for yet another sequel. --Jeff Shannon

DVD Description
A team of scientists find themselves caught in the middle of a fight to the death between a group of Predators and Aliens - whoever wins, we loose.

Synopsis
When audiences caught a glimpse of an alien skull mounted in the trophy cabinet of a Predator in the 1990 film PREDATOR 2, it seemed a franchise was about to be born. Sure enough, comic book artists immediately seized on the possibilities suggested by the brief scene, and a number of skirmishes between the deadly foes were played out on the printed page. Fans have had to endure a lengthy wait for a cinematic match-up, but writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson (EVENT HORIZON) has finally delivered the blood-splattered goods in ALIEN VS. PREDATOR. Set in the near future, a team of archaeologists lead by Charles Wiedland (Lance Henriksen, returning for more ALIEN action after appearances in the second and third films) ventures towards an inexplicable hot zone detected in Antarctica. Joined by Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan) and the requisite amount of human fodder for the otherworldly creatures to feast on, Wiedland and his cohorts discover a sizeable underground pyramid. Chaos ensues as they awake the Queen alien from her blissful slumber, causing face-hugging and chest-bursting scenes aplenty. But the ailing crew has a further quandary to grapple with in the shape of some fearsome Predators, who are using the aliens as bait for their offspring to brawl with in an ancient initiation ritual. With the human team trapped in the labyrinth-like pyramid, the battle evolves into a nail-biting three-way tussle between the archaeologists and their extraterrestrial adversaries. Fans of both the ALIEN and PREDATOR movies should find much to satiate their appetites here, and with an ending suggesting further hostilities between the pernicious coupling, this one looks set to run and run.

Customer Reviews

There's worse ways to pass an evening!
Not bad at all. I had heard really terrible things about this film, but being a fan of both the Alien and Predator films, I gave it a go. Quite enjoyed it too!

I found the female lead a bit annoying, almost got the impression that she fancied the Predator. You can;t beat Arnie's final showdown with the beast in Predator. However, the storyline was decent, as were the effects. It's not the best film I have ever seen, but it's a lot better then some horrors. Infact, it's a lot better then Alien 3, Alien Resurrection and Predator 2 if truth be told.

All in all, pretty decent. Certainly worth a watch!

The special effects are very good but the story isn't
I couldn't wait to see the film so I read the book. Then I read the reviews, so I wasn't expecting too much. Fans and admirers of the Alien and Predator films are bound to judge this film harshly because of its claimed connection with their lofty and prestigious heritage, which is something like a false claim to descent from a royal lineage. It tried hard but failed miserably to coherently bridge the two: being the prequel to Alien and the sequel to Predator. Anyone familiar with those two separate traditions will spot some obvious holes and inconsistencies that might just be the inevitable result of trying to shoe-horn the sometime incompatible elements together using mainly brute-force. Then some glaring absurdities were also thrown into the mix for good measure. One that particularly struck me was the nonsense with the Aztec calendar. The archaeologist works out how to open the sarcophagus containing the weapons by turning the dials to 10/10/2004 without having to think about the complicated conversion from the Aztec calendar of 18 (20-day) months plus 5 extra days at the end of each year, to the modern Gregorian 12 month calendar. Then, when the trouble starts, he works out that the walls and floors will shift every 10 minutes because the Aztec calendar was metric. Good grief! As if the Aztecs had 60-second minutes, 60-minute hours and 24-hour days (and digital watches no doubt), like us. The Aztecs got their calendar from the Maya (who went out of business in about 925 AD) and the shortest time unit the Maya had was a whole day. And the pyramid they're investigating was supposed to have been built before the Antarctic region got cold. Antarctica's current layer of ice started to accumulate about 50 million years ago by the way - some considerable time before hominids appeared, never mind apprentice pyramid builders and predator worshipers.

Even so, it's an entertaining film, if only you can suspend your need for logic, accuracy and consistency. The sets, miniatures and computer generated special effects are just excellent. The cinematography is very professional. A lot of skill, talent and hard work went into making this film and the only thing that lets it down is the story. If it were possible to give star ratings for separate elements of the film I would give it 5*s for technical perfection.

What happened to the story..........(Contains spoilers)
This could and should have been a fantastic movie but sadly it wasn't.

I was particularly unimpressed with the so called 'extended edition' of the movie - the extension came in at 1 minute and 20 seconds and despite watching both versions I can't see where the additional bits came in. If you are only after the extended movie, go for the single disc edition.

As regards the movies itself, they simply tried to put too much into too short a movie and the storyline suffered [needed at least 15 more minutes to avoid the feeling of being rushed]. The characters were useless; if the black girl (So forgettable I can't remember the name of her character) was supposed to pick up where Sigourney, Arnie or even Danny Glover left off, they made a BIG casting or writing mistake, the Scottish scientist was so lame we don't even feel sympathy for his boys when he gets a face hugger and the Itallian acheologist was surely only there to rattle off the background in the middle of the film after translating a whole room of hieroglyphs in 30 seconds (Even Stargates Daniel Jackson says ermmmmmmm beforehand).

Story was lame, the alien queen can dig gerself out of 2Km of ice in seconds but can't quite reach our herione behind a couple of sticks. The best bit was the look of suprise on the Predators face when he sees the queen.

However the special effects were great the predators particularly but that simply isn't special enough any more to rescue a bad film.

It may just have been me but the whole thing seemed like an extended trailer for AvP2.