AvP

Watched the latest Alien/Predator crossover thingy, AvP last night and was very pleasantly surprised. I had been expecting ... what ... something perhaps a little rubbish? The reviews the film got weren't going to set the world alight and some were positively hostile ... But I really enjoyed the film. The casting seemed spot on, and the majority of the backstory was filled in so that new viewers didn't miss much. The only thing that was not explained was the life cycle of the Alien, and so if you didn't know/understand Egg->Facehugger->Chest Burster-> Adult Alien then you would have been somewhat confused as to where all the adult Aliens came from ... Also the Alien Queen being trapped under the pyramid. Great idea but how and where ... This can be glossed over though as the plot and especially the effects were truly brilliant. From the bulk and violence of the Predators to the agility and grace of the Aliens the whole film was a treat. I loved the pyramid and it's shifting (though this seemed to get forgotten towards the end) and the teaming up of the heroine and the Predator was well done too. Some excellent ideas like using the head of an Alien as a shield as it's not affected by the acid blood, and also the sacrificial chamber was a neat idea and well achieved. As I say, the GCI was exemplary I felt - you could actually for the most part see what was going on rather than it all being a blur, and from the spacecraft to the Aliens it was all superbly integrated with the action so that you rarely stopped to 'see' the CGI. A tribute to the effects designers who worked on the film. Even the ending, with the Predator-Alien bursting from the dead creature, was neat. Though I don't quite understand why the Predators, with their X-ray vision, couldn't see that their fallen comrade was infected ... So a nice little film I though, packed with interesting ideas, characters and situations. I didn't even miss Ripley...