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ALIENS
VS
PREDATORS
The Battle is On
Click the Image For the Official
Website
Release Date: January
25th 2005
MSRP Price: $29.98
(estimated price)
Amazon Price: $20.99
Costco Price: $59.99
2 versions of the
Feature
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Format: widescreen - dual layer
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 101 minutes
Number of Discs - 1
Sound - Up to Dolby Digital 5.1
Fox
Store Website
20th
Century Fox WebSite
Alien
vs Predator Website
Planet AVP
Alien vs Predator DVD Rating: B
STARS:
Aliens, Predators, Lance Henrickson,
Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova and others who are nothing more than alien
fodder.
Fans of both
franchises have been begging to have these two monsters of deep
space go head to head in a feature film. They'd already done it on the
Atari 64 game system, on the PC, even in paperback and comic books.
Now Paul Anderson has brought these bad boys to the big screen.
I have been one of
those fans since James Camerson's aliens and Danny Glover kicked the
shit out of Predator. The first film of
each franchise were good but not my favorites.
The new DVD from 20th
Century Fox contains
an extended version along with the theatrical release. I am a
monster myself for extended versions and director's cuts. Seeing the feature the way
the director really intended is what DVD ownership is all about. The
extras are nice but extended versions are so way way cool.
When the Alien
franchise was in its prime the
internet was flooded with websites dedicated to them. On
laserdisc the boxed sets were the hot commodity and I still have
both Alien and Aliens even now. Hey! They still rock!
When the Predators rolled
along fans felt the chill in the air when Danny Glover's character
found the Predator's trophy room and in it we could see the alien
skull. It became inevitable that someday 20th Century Fox would put
these two killers head to head with the humans in the middle.
Paul W.S. Anderson was
definitely not the fans first choice to bring them together. They
were hoping to see Ridley Scott or James Cameron come charging in on
a black alien queen but it wasn't to be. Both directors had moved
beyond the franchises and into Hollywood's Mount Olympus. New blood
would have to come forward and attempt to continue the saga.
One of the O'Bannon
brothers name Dan put his pen to work on the script with Ronald Shusett.
O'Bannon is old school when it comes to working with the Alien
characters having written Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien:
Resurrection. He's also penned Total Recall, Screamers, Lifeforce,
Heavy Metal, and other genre tales.
Paul Anderson's
direction and storyline leaves the fans with what many call an average science
fiction film. There were many missed opportunities in the action and
adventure it could have been. Something like this would make a great HBO weekly series.
The new look for the
predators is bitchin'. Despite reviews and fan disappointment with
the film I enjoyed it. For a true fan, Alien vs Predator rocks. It's
a slow starter but once the train pulls out just hang on and enjoy
the ride for the final 20 minutes of the film.
PACKAGING
Like many of the new DVD's
hitting the shelves today they include a digipack the DVD boxed
easily slide into. The graphics are decent. The Predator on the
digipack and its Alien counterpart of the cover of the DVD package.
Nice, but not spectacular.
VIDEO:
Video quality is excellent. Most of
the film is shot in the dark and it looks great. The transfer is
superb. Scenes are crystal clean and sharp with very few blemishes.
AUDIO:
AvsP is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 channels of discrete audio.
Man, it friggin' rocks! The battle scenes and sound effects kicks
some ass and the voices are sharp through the center channel.
BONUS FEATURES:
Paul Anderson and 20th Century Fox
have included a few nice extras on the dual layered disc.
-
Full-Length Audio Commentaries
from Paul W.S. Anderson and Actors Lance Henrickson & Sanaa
Lethan.
-
Full-Length Audio
Commentary by Visual Effects Supervisor John Brund and Creature
Effects Designer/ Creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff R.
-
Deleted Scenes
-
Making of
Featurette
-
Dark Horse Comics
AVP Cover Gallery
DVD-Rom
SUMMARY:
In all honesty I enjoyed the movie.
The worst part of the film was the humans being
used to simply populate the Alien hoard and make for some Predator
poopoo. The visuals are awesome, particularly the first big scene
where the alien takes out the predator in an excellent battle.
It's hard to take anything away from the film despite a weak story.
Lance Henrickson's role in the film was wasted, but so were all of
the human characters in the film. AvsP does have its moments to rock
and roll and it does. The DVD Package gets overall rating of
an "A" from me. It's a good disc.
AvsP Rating: A
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