The First Circle of Limbo

Ok, the movie's old, but I finally got around to seeing it, thank you Netflix. I had been a fan of Dark Horse comic's Aliens, Predator and Aliens vs. Predator comics. They were pretty well done, and stayed true to both series original sources. Their success is what prompted the AvP abortions movies.

The first AvP was a flop. The biggest problem is that it takes place here, today. If 22nd Century Marines couldn't handle the Aliens, and 20th Century firepower could barely contain the Predator, how are modern scavangers going to fare against both. Actually that's also the problem with the AvPR.

AvPR is basically Aliens and Predators invade small town USA circa 1985. I know it was set today, but the cinematogrophy felt like the original Predator and Predator 2. There were too many cliche characters, too many in jokes, and too much keeping the creatures hidden/in the dark. We KNOW what they are, its OK to show 'em! So they try to shock us by violating the sacred cows, like face-huggers baggin' kids and Aliens infesting pregnant women, but it comes off weak.

Then there was the Predator/Alien hybrid creature. Which was supposed to be the Queen, and ended doing some odd tentacle porn on hapless pregnant women in the town hospital. It was supposed to be a match for the Predator, which was some sort of uber-Predator sent to clean up the Alien mess. Actually the Predator was actually Bad-Ass, and if they'd spent more time with him, instead of the teen-slasher-love-interest-pool-scene, they could have had a cool movie of Predator kickin' Alien ass.

It winds up with the Ex-con-but-actually-smart-repentant-hero, his horny brother, the ex-army-jack-of-all-trades-super-soldier-mother, and her seven year old daughter escape the town in the hospital's chopper before the Governement spook/corporate type and the Military nuke the town to wipe out the threat.

The best parts in the movie are when the Predator is taking the Aliens apart. Except its done with such poor lighting, and of course rain (can we have a serious fight scene without rain/falling water please!) that you can't make out half the battles. If you're a fan of AvP and just have to watch, jump to the creature scenes and forget about the people. Because it really felt like they were going for a full length film, and chopped it to 90 minutes. If they chopped it to the 15 minutes of fight scenes it'd have been worth it.

Posted by: Iblis at 05:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 413 words, total size 3 kb.