Starring Lance Henriksen, Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova
Written By: Paul W.S. Anderson, Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Directed By: Paul W.S. Anderson
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Sci-fi film and comic-book geeks have long argued who would win in a matchup of the aliens from the Alien Quadrilogy, and the Predators (or “Yautja” to the comic book geeks out there). In AVP, we get to see some of the mythology from the original Predator movies expanded upon, as well as seeing the backstory being set for what will become the universe of the Alien movies.
“Holy crap, it’s Joan Rivers! ”

Lance Henriksen, as Charles Bishop Weyland, runs Weyland Industries (destined to become the Weyland-Yutani Corporation of the Aliens movies). His satellites discover a heat bloom in Antarctica which appears to belong to an ancient civilization that contains architecture from three different ancient cultures. He sends a team of mercenaries and archaeologists in to take a look and, as you might expect from the title, mayhem ensues, with the humans basically being bit players in the conflict between the two alien species. Both sides give as good as they get, and the ending — obviously — leaves plenty of opportunity for any number of sequel possibilities.

Is AVP some great work of art? Hell, no, and frankly, even the studio wouldn’t pretend otherwise. Is it a fun hour and a half romp with some cool fight scenes and special effects? You betcha. If you’re a fan of either of the movies, you’ll probably enjoy the movie. Even the people who didn’t like the Alien movies because they were “too scary” will enjoy AVP because the “scary factor” is almost completely gone. It’s just a big fight scene with a couple moments here and there to catch your breath.

How are the extras? Two different audio commentary tracks, a featurette, and a collection of deleted scenes round out this DVD edition. The commentary tracks are interesting, and the deleted scenes offer a peek at some of the story that ended up on the cutting room floor.

Features:
Commentary by Paul Thomas Anderson, Lance Henriksen and Sanaa Lathan
Commentary by Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., and John Bruno
Alternate Opening Version of Feature
AVP Making of Featurette
Deleted Scenes
Trailers and Promos
Darkhorse AVP Comic Covers Gallery

DVD-Rom Features:
Darkhorse’s First Edition of the AVP Comic Book
Making Of the AVP Comic Books (From First to Final Sketches)
Exclusive Look at the First 16 Pages of the Up-Coming AVP Graphic Novel

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
ENGLISH: DTS 5.1 CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Surround
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: The scenes I enjoyed the most were the ones Sanaa Lathan (as “Lex” Woods) paired up with one of the predators, taking care of business with the Aliens. It’s a tough decision, though, because in reality, the entire movie is made up of scenes that are fun to watch. Again, it’s not Tolstoy-level writing, but it’s *fun*, and that’s the most important part.
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 100 minutes
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