The AVP MegaThread

[Ladic]

Where I live tickets are $6 in the afternoon and $8 at night.

[Hurricane29]

I saw it like an hour ago. It was better then expceted. The dialogue left a lot to be desired, as did the story. The action was pretty good. Visually the aliens where the best looking ones yet.

[EXO]

Haha. That's a damn long lunch Js! Must be slow...

[Hikuro]

Something just occurred to me, the movie could be worse, Scooby Doo and the Mystery gang could appear ripping off the predatos mask and go "Look it's old man harris!" "I wouldah gotten away wit it too if it weren'dere that dog and dang nabit kid."

...................¬_¬ suspens? you bet

[KingNor]

Something just occurred to me, the movie could be worse, Scooby Doo and the Mystery gang could appear ripping off the predatos mask and go "Look it's old man harris!" "I wouldah gotten away wit it too if it weren'dere that dog and dang nabit kid."

...................¬_¬ suspens? you bet

now you knwo damn well that most of us would pay good money to see the live action scoobie doo crew get tossed into the predo-blender

[Hikuro]

¬_¬ yeah and you guys say AVP sucks

[holytoledo69]

I just saw AVP and... and.. its not what you guys think. The trailer is misleading, thats all Im gonna say... and oh..I liked it so much IM gonna see it again

Its really up to you guys if you want to see it or not. but the only way to see if it "really sucks" is to go see it for yourself... its kinda slow in the beginning but it picks up. so please dont leave the theatre..

'nuff sed. peace! and to those riding out this storm down south..you guys be careful and God speed.

[Wes]

I just saw it for 5 bucks, and I want 3.50 back. This movie couldn't pass for a mindless-violence movie. Wait until it's at the dollar.5 theature.

SPOILERS

It was neat how they worked in old stuff from the series - Bishop, the Arnold line. But gesh, that woman, joining the pred, f*ing up the mother alien?

[JsARCLIGHT]

Haha. That's a damn long lunch Js! Must be slow...

Well, I'm the boss so I take as long a lunch as I want.

Anyway for those asking I and my co-owner make the rules and our rules are: Work hard, play hard. Monday through Thursday it is 10-15 hour work days with the ass to the pavement from sunup to sundown but Fridays are "phone it in" days for us. Technically the teams and production staff only have to work from 7 to noon then they can go home but most choose to stay till about 5 and take a really long "special lunch". Usually I take the gang (my pet design team) to the theater for a movie every other Friday. Two weeks ago it was The Village and I went but this week they all wanted to see AVP and I didnt't so I phoned in the tickets and they went and left me at the office with the tech geeks playing some LAN Doom 3.

We are always looking for top level professional graphic designers and video production people but we just hired our "winter staff" so we are set for a while. This industry turns around so much that the people you are seeing a movie with today will be gone next month to go work at ILM or some other such low rent house .

I think everyone everywhere would work harder and enjoy their job more if they had "slapstick Fridays" like we have.

[Blaine23]

Yep. This movie looks stupid. I didn't need see any special to tell me, though. I sat through Event Horizon and that was enough for me to figure out that any movie made by this tool would suck.

The power of the licenses and the heavy marketing will pretty much guarantee a big opening weekend - but from every review I've heard, this movie is pretty much a sad effort.

Sorry if that seems pessimistic to some, but I've seen alot of films for 30 years now and I'm getting pretty good at smelling a dog from the trailer alone. Besides, if I hear enough people tell me it's great - then I'll happily chunk down some change and see it - I'm always happy to be wrong, too.

[Oihan]

Oh, Oihan... How I wish i could still see the world as your naive, youthful eyes do...

Sadly, this movie just isn't looking to be too good. I mean, this is the guy who gave us Event Horizon, the Mortal Kombat movie and the Resident Evil movie(s).

Face it, he blows.

He's one of those people who thinks "action movie" means rapid cuts, all too jittery camera work and all that crap.

Did you notice he has a Macross II avatar?

And that has anything do with this cause why? Lets say you like Macross 7 and I say "Notice how he likes Macross 7?" Wtf would that have to do with anything?! Some ppl....

On a side note, I just saw AvP. It wasn't what I expected...but it DIDN'T suck.... All I have left to say about the movie is: meh.

Edited August 14, 2004 by Oihan

[Blaine23]

On a side note, I just saw AvP. It wasn't what I expected...but it DIDN'T suck.... All I have left to say about the movie is: meh.

Dude, when I pay $8 and give over 2 hours of my life and walk out with nothing to say but "meh" - it sucked.

[Hikuro]

I just got home, it wasn't bad...I mean.....hmmmmmmmmm it was interesting....it had it's moments of going "WHAT THE HELL?!" which I wanted, and I only wanted 1 survivor and it had better be an human or a predator cause there ain't no way an alien could survive 0_o .........yeah I'll talk about it later

[Wes]

What's wrong with Event Horizon?!? Of all the horror movies I've seen, that's the only one that actually scared me.

[Noriko Takaya]

I'm quite impressed with Event Horizon.  Most creepy movie, that one.  Haunted house set in space = great popcorn flick.

Yeah, I agree Event Horizon was an enjoyable and fairly creepy movie.

Graham

I loved Event Horizon also. It will probably be this guy's only crowning achievement.

As for the AvP movie, I am seeing it tomorrow. I have purposely avoided all trailers and other such promotional crap just so I am not going into the theatre. So I know absolutely anything about this flick. I really don't want to read anymore posts on this thread until after I see it.

[DARTHTODD]

This movie sucked!!!!! I was as pissed as anyone here when I heard all you people moaning and bitching about a movie you haven't even seen yet....and I'm even more pissed now that you were right!!

I really wanted all of you to be wrong, but you weren't. The little bit of plot this movie has (which is none) is spelled out to you like you're some kind of twelve year old (sorry to all you 12 year olds out there, but in a few years, you'll know what I'll mean). What a waste.

[Ivan]

Doesn't the scene in which the Alien Queen was chasing after the human remind anyone of Jurassic Park?

[Phyrox]

I've been away for a few months, but I need to post a message to warn any old-school Aliens fans about this movie.

If you are of the opinion that there are only 2 aliens movies, do yourself a favor and don't watch this horrible movie. Not even out of curiosity...seriously. I need a mindwipe.

[Golden Arms]

I just saw AVP. I liked the film..... I think. I thought it was okay. But, I don't think that I could recommend it. Not as bad as Aliens 4 but nowhere near as good as Aliens or Alien. They spelled out way too much of the plot. The movie was way too short. It didn't have as much action as the trailer makes you think is going to be in the film. Another problem I had was that the Aliens grew too quickly and it didn't seem that there were that many potential host to generate the amount of Aliens that were shown in the film. I'm not spelling out any of the plot that hasn't been depicted in the trailers, so no complaining.

Edited August 14, 2004 by Golden Arms

[Isamu Atreides 86]

I've been away for a few months, but I need to post a message to warn any old-school Aliens fans about this movie.

If you are of the opinion that there are only 2 aliens movies, do yourself a favor and don't watch this horrible movie. Not even out of curiosity...seriously. I need a mindwipe.

there are only two Alien movies......right??

[EXO]

This is the best thread about the worst movie ever. Every post makes me laugh. I'll end up quoting everyone... but I'm not Hurin...

[CoryHolmes]

I dunno what sets me apart from nearly everyone else on these boards, but I had a damned fun time at that film.

It was a very fast-paced movie, sometimes good and sometimes bad. There were no spots that dragged for me or made me want to push the fast-foward button (unlike Spider-Man 2, which I hated most of), and in fact there were several spots that I wanted to see again becaues it was so cool. I hardly noticed just how much time passed between sitting down and the end credits rolling (which is more than I can say for any of the LOTR films, which make you painfully aware of just how long you're sitting there for).

Now I'll agree that it's no work of masterful filmmaking, but nor is it the smoldering pile of garbage that it's been labled as. There are homages to each of the franchises that gave birth to it, if only by a spoken line or a specific camera angle. Little caveats for the fans who've been following the franchise in the comics and novels and even the games, and other little touches like that are what make it a fans movie in addition to a good summer popcorn flick.

Is it a better movie than Spider-Man 2 or LOTR? Not by far. Is it enjoyable? Damn straight it is. Will I see it again? As soon as I can.

I'll be kind and wait for some time before covering some spoilery issues that have been raised in this thread, but that really shouldn't take long given how packed the theater was tonight. I talked with the teller lady and she said that nearly every show had sold out.

Gives hope to a sequel with Colonial Marines

[DARTHTODD]

Ok, I will agree that it probably wasn't as bad as Alien Resurrection...but good movie? Come on, so many of the different scenes in there, he ripped off from some other franchises. When you watch it, it WILL remind you of a lot of different movies, no originality.

The action, artistic approach was good for what it was (I did enjoy the visuals and the action) but there's no substance underneath that. And as I mentioned before, I felt embarrassed that movie had to spell out everything for me. As if they felt I wasn't smart enough to follow this shallow plot, they literally have someone explain word for word the entire plot of this movie all the way through. I also felt some of the roles were picked wrong....the main actress did in no way fit the title/role she was suppossed to be in the film. The Predators seemed too nice/dumb towards the later part of the movie.

Spoiler here:

The part were the girl puts on the armor that the Predator makes for her from the alien was the stupidest idea ever put on film! Enough said.

[Amped]

Hmmmm, I want to see this movie... yet I am one of those hyper-critical fanboys who believes in only 2 Aliens movies (the others being heretical abominations of which I do not speak)... yet... for some reason, I don't know if I'd be as harsh toward AvP as I was to those seq....er, films... whose names I dare not speak.

I may catch a cheap day-time showing (hell no, I ain't gonna pay full price!). Basically, I look at this flick like the Alien/ Predator version of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla... my expectation are low: I just expect some monster bashing.

My hope is that this film will be successful enough to produce a SUPERIOR sequel.

[areaseven]

I'm kinda surprised that Agent ONE hasn't posted anything on this thread yet.

[HG Blows]

All I can say is WTF? That movie was so disappointing. The special effects were cool, but that was about it.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I'm kinda surprised that Agent ONE hasn't posted anything on this thread yet.

AO is away on a special op out of the US right now I think... last time he checked in it was from London about a week ago.

Just so no one goes into AO withdrawl I'll put on my Agent One mask for a second...

(clears throat)

"No Schwarzenegger = not a good movie"

[Hikuro]

I didn't think it was THAT Bad, I mean, it had it's clear cut moments of being decent....but you sorta gotta let your imagination run wild on how some of these lil things can be explained.

1) Gigantic Queen? .........WTF?

A) She's gotta be a thousand or so years old, kept in cryo freeze for so long, and when she's released you know, she has her lil growth spurts now and than. She's kept alive thru eletric shock therpy and drugs to produce alot of eggs.........but she produced so much.

2) Usually takes a day or so for the alien spawns to rip thru a persons chest....so how come this took moments?

A) Well two ways I can think of this......either a) With all the drugs the queen was being pumped full of, it could have caused some genetic manipulation where the aliens grow faster....could also work with why there was a huge queen.

or b) I don't think there's a big explination of just HOW LONG they were within the pyrimad. Sure you catch on to the shape changing....but it got lost so quickly afterwards you don't think of it.

3) Predators having big cannon plasma guns.....MY POOR CHILDHOOD!

A) They actually weren't THAT big....but it's been so long since I last saw a Predator movie that I can't really say, "Those things grew...." but I do recall that one of those cannons was a bit too big.....

4) 10 years in the making for this piece of crap?! What happened?!

A) I think they got too antsy, I mean the movie team was waiting for so long, so many things got hacked, slashed and forgotten that no one really cared anymore probably....thus this piece of poo director comes in and ruins it for us all.

5) No matter who wins, we loose.....uuuhhhhhh

A) That slogan was a joke, if you watch the movie of which just about everyone in here has, where did we loose? .........just where? Yeah sure, we LOST alot of human life....but uh........hmmmmm........we loose? Nope not seeing it......how about: No matter who wins, we made money off of YOU!

Like I siad the movie wasn't bad, I saw Predator and Alien geeks going "Well that was actually worth the 10 year wait"........course I don't think they really knew what they were talking about.....they were younger than I was.........they were probably still in training pants when the movie was being thought of.....crap most of the people I saw in there had to of been 14-15 years old.......¬_¬ I admit, I was still rather a baby when the second movie came out......but uuuh.......god.....poo.......

Another thing is I had to REALLY focus on watching this movie.....like I said a few 15 year olds kept talkin behind me going "Yeah thats bad ass" or "Dude I think that predator wants to bone her." ................I nearly wanted to get up and move closer to the front row but I couldn't...................just about all the seats were filled up. Yep................filled up....

[bsu legato]

Oh yeah? From CHUD.com's review...

When the Alien Queen runs around as if they superimposed her armature on a Jurassic Park T-Rex, I really can't expect much more. When the visceral glory of seeing a chestbursting alien is taken from me, I really can't expect much more. When the decision is made to have "hero" aliens and Predators with signature scars to set them apart, I really can't expect much more. When we're supposed to believe that Charles Weyland is enough of a pioneer to warrant being re-created as an android hundreds of years later, I can't expect much more. When a Predator shows mercy on a character because they're ill, I can't expect much more. When the first two Predator films took place during a heat wave [good catch, Dane] because that's when the creatures like to hunt and this film takes place in extreme cold, I can't expect much more.

However, when the story tells us that the Predators wiped out the entire population of ancient Earth with a giant explosion I can gripe when there is full Hieroglyphic descriptions of the event even though there were no survivors. I can gripe when a human character shoves their hand into a recently killed alien head to create a makeshift shield. I can gripe when the world's foremost drilling expert sees a drill hole coming from space and is surprised but ultimately dismisses it as something less than transcendent even though he remarks how it's way beyond anything Earth has to offer. I can gripe when a chestbursting alien happens quicker than a Chick-Fil-A sandwich sends me screaming for the nearest restroom. I can gripe when the entire backstory is laid out for the humans in easy to discern images carved into the temple walls. I can gripe when the human characters enter the temple and pass hundreds of Predators carved out of stone and never once shine their light on them and say "hmmmmm, I don't remember Aztecs looking like that". I can gripe when the big money shot of the thousands of aliens attacking the Predator is pretty much shown in its entirety in the trailer. I can gripe when the evil corporation element of the story is ignored. Why would Weyland's people bring automatic weapons to the place if they had no idea what was there and why are they baffled when the aliens and Predators do show up? Huh? It makes no sense. When an ill-fitting Italian saying is supposed to allude to a "Hunter's Moon", I can gripe. How can a character go shooting a mile up into the frozen tundra and crash and be running at full tilt in the next shot?

[Axelay]

Hmmm, OK, I'd like to add in some comments to what you mentioned. I'm not trying to flame, just add some thoughts.

1. Queens are pretty big by comparison. The one in Aliens was still significantly bigger than the power loader suit Ripley used. The one in AVP was certainly big, but I didn't think it was unusually so.

2. Good point - it didn't take any time at all for the chestbursters to emerge. But you know, in the original Alien, it was only a very short time after the facehugger came off of Kane that he bought it.

3. I thought about this as well, but considered that the casters in the pyramid had to have been at least 100 years old. Micronization would account for why the casters in Predator and Predator II are so much smaller. Obviously the Predator technology would have to be getting better and better all the time. The casters in the pyramid might be an equivalent of a musket loader, whereas the ones they currently use are cutting edge.

4. Well, I was surprised at how much content was lifted from the Dark Horse comics. It was so close that I know I would have preferred a direct adaptation of the comics story... but oh well. I agree, though, that with all the time this has had to be developed, it could have been much more substantial. It just seemed WAY too short for my tastes.

5. Well... it's a stretch, but the slogan kinda refers to the fact that Predators have been using us for centuries now. And of course, the Aliens need us to be hosts...

Yeah, the movie was OK. It didn't just blow me off of my seat, but I'll probably go see it again just for sport. After all, I do still have my free pass from the Predator Collector's Edition.

[Max Jenius]

So the general consensus seems to be-

"Hardcore Fanboys" - Worst. Movie. Ever.(as usual)

"General A/P fans" - Its ok. Nothing special... some good, some bad. Solid "Meh."

"Target Audience - 12-16 year olds" - Man... AVP ROCKS

I think I fit into General Aliens and Predator fans. I've seen the movies, read a couple EU books and got some toys. Maybe leaning a lil bit towards Hardcore Fanboy... but anyway... I think I will definitely check this out soon because... well I have to know.

The preds have many different types of energy weapons, so I think it would be safe to assume that they have many different types of shoulder burners. Just like they have many different types of bladed weapons.

I don't think I'm down with the short running time tho.. maybe Anderson is setting us up for an "Extended R Edition: What should have been in theatres."

[JsARCLIGHT]

I'd like to add a category to Max's list that I fit into:

People who just wanted to see a hard core 3 way vs. movie

I wanted this movie to be all blood and guts and slashing alien tails with predators ripping spines out and humans shooting everything that moves and a general melee of violent combat... something like Scarface or South Park the movie that got rejected by the MPAA several times for having just too much bad content. In the previous "good" Alien and Predator movies the highlights of the movie were the sensational action sequences, the stomach turning gore and the terrifying suspence... in this movie you have the three ultimate killing machines in the galaxy in one place fighting each other and the general reaction most viewers have is "meh". To me, that is a complete failure of the concept.

But on the flip side of the coin if the movie was made all teeth and tails and flying entrails like I wanted it to be then most likely no one would go see it and the critics would pan it as being "all gore and no substance"... whereas now they are just panning it as being no substance.

[Cmdr. Grant]

I'm quite impressed with Event Horizon.  Most creepy movie, that one.  Haunted house set in space = great popcorn flick.

Yeah, I agree Event Horizon was an enjoyable and fairly creepy movie.

Graham

I agre. Event Horizon was pretty good. A horror story in space.

[Sundown]

I wanted this movie to be all blood and guts and slashing alien tails with predators ripping spines out and humans shooting everything that moves and a general melee of violent combat...

In the previous "good" Alien and Predator movies the highlights of the movie were the sensational action sequences, the stomach turning gore and the terrifying suspence...

If I remember correctly, neither Alien, Aliens, nor Predator were quite the continual gorefests you're describing. It had extremely disturbing but very judicious use of imagery... the directors all knew to keep the gore to (what would be considered today) a modest minimum in order not to jade the audience, and then use it in full shocking value in key select scenes. Less is more, and I'm thinking more liberal use of blood and guts in those films would have lead to a quick desentisization and lost most of its effect.

I give you Starship Troopers. While the movie isn't nearly in the same sub-genre, the effect of the excessive gore works against taking any of the action scenes seriously. Instead of being horrified, you just start wincing painfully and chuckling to each kill. But I suppose the theme, pacing, lighting, writing, and music all had something to do with that too.

But PG-13 leve AVP? The hell?

-Al

[Sundown]

What's wrong with Event Horizon?!? Of all the horror movies I've seen, that's the only one that actually scared me.

The movie's premise sounded awesome... and was actually suspenseful for about an hour. Then it went into corny mode and fell short of the darkness I was expecting.

Maybe it was just because Sam-Neil-supposedly-possesed-by-Hell looked like he'd been sleeping on a barbeque grill, and I was mostly distracted by my hunger for a hot dog.

-Al