"Whoever wins, we lose". This is the tag line to AVP: Alien Vs Predator. And while the results are not quite that dire, this wouldn't exactly qualify as a cinematic victory either. Based on the incredibly violent and gory comic books of the same name, this film had every potential to be great. However, that was before Paul W.S Andersen, the man behind the fairly awful Mortal Kombat and the terrible Resident Evil, signed on to write and direct. His writing leaves much to be desired. Little things like characterization go out of the window, desperate as he is to get to the action promptly. We're been introduced to the characters, and the next thing we know we're in the pyramid (a masterpiece of design, like a demented version of the Crystal Maze), 2000 feet below ice, so when these characters start to get picked off by the aliens and predators, we don't really give a shit.
What we all came for though, was the acid-blooded xenomorphs tangling with the dread-locked Predators. Does it deliver? Well yes and no. Yes, in that the excitement factor of seeing these two iconic movie monsters beating the crap out of each is high. No, in that trying to achieve a 12 rating for the film, the fights lack the violence and terror that we have come to expect from the previous films (all rated 15 or higher). There also edited so frenetically, that sometimes its hard to see whats happening. It is good fun watching them fight though, and there plenty of invention and creativity on show, and the film is littered with references and in-jokes to the Alien and Predator series'. You will have a good time watching this film, but don't expect it to be memorable, and its not a patch on the first two Alien films, or even the indifferent third and fourth films, and the action isn't as good as in Predator or the Danny Glover-starring sequel.