I just saw Alien Vs. Predator II (I refuse categorically to refer to it as AVP:R-- I am done calling movies by their marketing acronyms).
Don't see this movie. It is awful.
It is directed in that annoying "stylized" frenzy that is all extreme close-ups and jagged editing of shots that last a second each (probably to mask the atrocious computer special effects). The action scenes are so jumbled and disorganized, and shot in such darkness that I literally couldn't follow what was happening (sometimes it looked like a Predator was killing an Alien, sometimes vice versa--what was happening for real, however, I couldn't say). I was irritated by that until it occurred to me that the movie was of such little consequence that it really didn't matter who was killing who. It was all arbitrary.
The screenplay is "w ritten" at the level of a Friday The 13th sequel, circa 1985. Stock characters sputtering out cliches. Teen jock bullies and ex cons and tough military women. It even has the well meaning ineffectual sherrif. If they could have found room for a retarded janitor it would have had a full matched set.
This is a movie where part of Colorado (I think it was set there--again, it didn't matter) has a nuclear bomb dropped on it and nobody seemed to think that was a big deal. Not one character makes mention of the fact that it is pretty unusual to be caught between two fighting alien races. There is no sense of wonder, nor any sense of danger either. Nobody in the movie seems to care (I suppose that would have gotten in the way of all the action).
20th Century Fox hasn't learned from the previous film and has made the same mistakes as last time only on a much more annoying scale. Good work, ruining two decent franchises. Please, no more. And no more The Hills Hvae Eyes sequels (or prequels) either. 20th Century Fox clearly sucks at the horror genre.
Don't see this movie. It is awful.
It is directed in that annoying "stylized" frenzy that is all extreme close-ups and jagged editing of shots that last a second each (probably to mask the atrocious computer special effects). The action scenes are so jumbled and disorganized, and shot in such darkness that I literally couldn't follow what was happening (sometimes it looked like a Predator was killing an Alien, sometimes vice versa--what was happening for real, however, I couldn't say). I was irritated by that until it occurred to me that the movie was of such little consequence that it really didn't matter who was killing who. It was all arbitrary.
The screenplay is "w ritten" at the level of a Friday The 13th sequel, circa 1985. Stock characters sputtering out cliches. Teen jock bullies and ex cons and tough military women. It even has the well meaning ineffectual sherrif. If they could have found room for a retarded janitor it would have had a full matched set.
This is a movie where part of Colorado (I think it was set there--again, it didn't matter) has a nuclear bomb dropped on it and nobody seemed to think that was a big deal. Not one character makes mention of the fact that it is pretty unusual to be caught between two fighting alien races. There is no sense of wonder, nor any sense of danger either. Nobody in the movie seems to care (I suppose that would have gotten in the way of all the action).
20th Century Fox hasn't learned from the previous film and has made the same mistakes as last time only on a much more annoying scale. Good work, ruining two decent franchises. Please, no more. And no more The Hills Hvae Eyes sequels (or prequels) either. 20th Century Fox clearly sucks at the horror genre.