I admit that was a better movie than the first one in the AVP franchise.

I like how it broke the cliche of the pretty girl and the little kid not getting killed in a brutal fashion.

And the ending was kinda hinting at a possible sequel. Maybe a 3rd type of extra terrestrial entering the fray? Or maybe hinting at this:

first one was completely awful and dull. I've heard this one was no better by continuing to remember the first couple of movies. Is it just me or do most people really miss what made these series great. It wasn't the gore, heck Alien and Aliens the most violent shots were quick flashes of impalement. They had great story and had decent characters that you kind of wanted to cheer on.

This movie is better than AvP1, but nowhere near Aliens, Predator, or even Pred2. Basically the schtick has gotten old, and monster-vs-monster movies are inherently superficial. All the characters are walking cliches, but for what it's worth I liked the male lead cuz he reminded me of the guy in Supernatural.

They sort of set the stage for the founding of "The Company" as its called in the Alien flicks about the existence of other aliens, Predators included. The ending was a little too much like Resident Evil: Apocalypse though. Funny how the Predalien could lay eggs inside only pregnant woman. How come the eggs the facehuggers laid in both this and the first AVP movie could hatch and mature so fast? Did the Predators use some kinda growth hormome or something on them.

mlai
I liked the male lead.

Go Steve Pasquale! Love him in Rescue Me(My favorite show of all time, seriously) and it was great to hear him scream "GET TO THE CHOPPER!" I hope Denis Leary busts his balls for it. Busts 'em WIDE OPEN on Season 5's set!

Rafferty is cool as hell in the movie, except for his line, 'we need guns.' It just fell out and landed like a turd on the ground.

The movie was so-so. Kind of some head scratching parts, and was there ever really a part that we got to see a good look at the Pred-alien? Also, considering the movie was AVP, you'd think we would've gotten more than 5 minutes TOTAL of them fighting.

Booooo!

(This contains some spoilers. You were warned.)
(/Incoming rant)

I managed to see this with friends on Sunday. Wow. Wish I hadn't. While I reasonably liked the first one, I considered this to be the worst movies I've sat through since Jason X: Jason goes to Space or the Final Destination series.

Okay, I wasn't entering this film with the thought that it would be amazing or even all that good. But it didn't even hit the mark of the first one. I read the original comic book so the first one being better might be a biased opinion for me, but really, what did this movie have?

1. Horrible lighting. Evidently, the aliens and Predator go on siesta when there's light out. Because total killing machines and a guy with a stealth device have a lot to fear from wussy suburbanites, aye? All the attacks were in darkness or shadow. The Predator conveniently then destroys the power station, knocking out all power in town. And finally the Guard shows up with all their high beams and lights. And what happens? Heavy down pouring rain storm. Makes me think the director was embarrassed by what he was working with.

2. Typical unlikable bland modern humans. This is expected. But I can't help but grind my teeth anyway. I came to see the Aliens and the Predator engage in all out war. I don't care about the mid 20+'s actress's plotline about dating the loser pizza guy. These people exist to get killed off, almost nothing more. I don't want a soap opera set in Melrose Place amidst acidic blood and chest bursters. Unless one of the humans is going to be something amazing (I don't count the outlaw brothers or the Ridley knock off in this film), their story needs to be short. When your main lines in the movie are screaming "oh my god!" rest assured, you're about as expendable as a red shirted ensign on classic Star Trek.

3. Weak force fed sequel demanding ending. Let there be a conclusive climax between the two forces we came to see at the end. What they did was lame on every angle. At least in the first movie, the Predator technically outlives the Alien Queen, and only after an exciting battle in the artic. This was more like slap fighting.

4. Stop making the Predator incompetent. Seriously, for a race driven to hunt and excel at it like intergalactic professionals, they're notoriously incompetent when Swartzenegger isn't around. The first movie gave us 3 Predators. While two bit the dust pretty quick, at least it was like a GWAR convention. This movie gives us one Predator, who seems more intent on removing evidence of the aliens than actually hunting them. And then when he does, he gets ambushed every other second. What good is all that hunting equipment if he's not able to actually ambush things like the hunter he's supposed to be? And what was with the Predator appearing after each scene cut with him dropping from above the camera?

5. Rawr. Tense music, extreme close ups, and bam! Alien appears. Again. And again. Evidentally, no one can possibly detect the aliens within four inches of themselves ever. Anyway, what I'm trying to get at here is this scene is basically the zombie dogs in Resident Evil leaping through the mansion windows all of the sudden. It's a cheap uncreative scare tactic meant to make you jump in your seat. I'm sorry, but this doesn't convey horror to me.

6. Leave the children out of it. What was this movie's obsession with the grotesque death of children? Chest burster in the kid's sternum, the alien hybrid having a weird thing for pregnant women, killing in the womb via ovipositing, and the whole scene in the nursery? Really unnecessary. Once in a blue moon is alright (such as Newt in Aliens), but the constant focus on devouring babies and children was without merit in this movie. Just needlessly gross.

Alright, I've got that out of my system now. (whew) Sorry.

I don't want to try and argue how good the movie was. I don't regret seeing it, as I didn't pay for my ticket, but it wasn't horrible. It was better then the first for sure. AVP is a horror movie, maybe horror/action at best but horror so the children thing sat WELL with me because the point of horror is to make you uncomfortable. Bad lighting is a staple apparently in the AVP as the same exact thing plagued the first one.

I don't think this was a good movie, but it was leagues and bounds better then the first on. The cheesy human teaming up with the predator was so lame I walked out when it happened because I suddenly had the need to shit. Does not matter if it happened in the comics or not. Bad ideas are still bad ideas.

And Wolf wasn't that bad as a hunter. He went against more Aliens then all three of 'em from the last movie and held his own very well. And the "cleaning up" issue was introduced in the comic book movie, remember the bomb? The sewer thing he KNEW he was going to be ambushed and so he set up those laser grids everywhere so he wouldn't be overwhelmed.

I went and saw it with a group of friends and we pretty much were alone so we had a great time watching it so all in all I hold no ill will for the movie. But none-the-less I do not like having to defend it.

And I still liked Steve Pasquale's character but that's my fault for liking Steve but I agree the "We need guns" line was cheesy, but once again-horror. No horror was ever a cinematic masterpiece with dialog that rivals that of the ancient greeks.

go go Gore Monkeys.

Now I'm done ranting.

"We need guns"

Woah.

I thought this movie was pretty sweet. It was merciless. Everything was fair game and the final showdown culminated at a logical place before everything just truely fell apart. I did notice that the ending was similar to Resident Evil: Apocalypse, but I'll forgive the movie for that.

As for the blond chick. I cheered loud when she got killed. She was the most useless pair of boobs in the history of useless pairs of boobs.

One more thing to note: The military chick seriously reminded me of Ripley.

tea_green
The military chick seriously reminded me of Ripley.

That must be unintentional.

Some of the deleted scenes on the DVD were pretty good.

I watched AvP1 on TV recently... and it was actually pretty good! I dunno why but my opinion of it changed when watching it on TV...

I've always liked the buildup in AvP1, how they gathered diverse professionals from all over on an expedition that in your imagination can be more wondrous than anything Indiana Jones ever faced. I liked how everything looked real, from the ship to the big arctic vehicles. The only thing that didn't look real was the main character (the ice climber) who insisted wearing red tights while everyone else was dressed appropriately in layered clothing.

I think it would work better if it happened in the actual future the Alien movies took place in instead of present day Earth. Then it just looks like any other low budget sci-fi/thriller.