Just watched AvP (first time in 5 years) after watching Covenant and..

Started by bacchus, May 14, 2017, 03:30:47 AM

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Just watched AvP (first time in 5 years) after watching Covenant and.. (Read 4,844 times)

bacchus

..it holds up better than expected.

Having seen Covenant the other day and not really being too impressed (rated it 4/10), and having previously hated AvP (rated it 1/10 originally!), I saw AvP tonight for the first time in a while (at least five years).

First of all, my feelings towards AvP have improved a fair amount. To get to the point, I rate AvP higher than Covenant....rating AvP a solid 4.5/10 now. I would also like to say, that my view/rating/review is based on satisfaction for an Alien fan, and not as a film in general.

Ofcourse, there are plenty of flaws with AvP. Loads of them. But one advantage AvP has over Covenant - it has a clear, and concise story from start to end: Scientists detect temple under the ice -> Hire people to assist the exploration of it -> Find temple -> Shit happens - > People die -> Person lives.

One thing I really wanted to highlight, was how well the effects stood up after THIRTEEN years - hate to say it, but some of the CG/VFX are better than what Covenant had to offer. The creature effects for the Queen in AvP (in the final sequence) are flawless, and better than the majority of Covenant.

There are some really poor effects, but considering this was made in 2004, it stands up pretty damn well to what is usually on offer these days.

The biggest thing I really got from AvP today - in terms of Xenomorph action, it is pure, simplistic and far more indulgent than what we got in Covenant. It honours both the Predator and Alien.

Ofcourse there are plenty of silly moments, the ending with the Predalien is ridiculous, and other things out of place, as well as the obvious technical flaws (especially the editing). But one thing I can't deny, is that AvP - taking into account the technical aspects of a film released in 2004 and one released in 2017 - is at least on par with Covenant, and taking into account the Alien mythology in Covenant and that in AvP - AvP wins hands down.

Improving my rating to a 4.5/10, and consider it a slightly better film for Alien fans, than Covenant.

EJA

EJA

#1
I'm starting to think AVP is better than Scott's prequels too, at least more enjoyable. Also less pretentious and more consistent.

echobbase79

I watched AvP last night. I give it a 5.5/6 out of 10. That's based on the unrated cut. I haven't watched the PG-13 version in forever.

It's a well made movie on the technical side, it just sucks on a script level. Acting isn't bad, but the actors aren't given much to do. I think I could tolerate the movie more if it just removed certain lines like when Sebastian asks Lex what the whale bones are!?! Dude, they briefed you that it was a Whaling Station. :D

EJA

Quote from: echobbase79 on May 14, 2017, 06:56:30 PM
I watched AvP last night. I give it a 5.5/6 out of 10. That's based on the unrated cut. I haven't watched the PG-13 version in forever.

It's a well made movie on the technical side, it just sucks on a script level. Acting isn't bad, but the actors aren't given much to do. I think I could tolerate the movie more if it just removed certain lines like when Sebastian asks Lex what the whale bones are!?! Dude, they briefed you that it was a Whaling Station. :D

At least they didn't have a guy try to make friends with a clearly hostile alien snake.

echobbase79

echobbase79

#4
Quote from: EJA on May 14, 2017, 08:28:30 PM
Quote from: echobbase79 on May 14, 2017, 06:56:30 PM
I watched AvP last night. I give it a 5.5/6 out of 10. That's based on the unrated cut. I haven't watched the PG-13 version in forever.

It's a well made movie on the technical side, it just sucks on a script level. Acting isn't bad, but the actors aren't given much to do. I think I could tolerate the movie more if it just removed certain lines like when Sebastian asks Lex what the whale bones are!?! Dude, they briefed you that it was a Whaling Station. :D

At least they didn't have a guy try to make friends with a clearly hostile alien snake.

But they did have a female team up with a intergalactic hunter.

Randomizer

Quote from: echobbase79 on May 14, 2017, 10:14:23 PM
Quote from: EJA on May 14, 2017, 08:28:30 PM
Quote from: echobbase79 on May 14, 2017, 06:56:30 PM
I watched AvP last night. I give it a 5.5/6 out of 10. That's based on the unrated cut. I haven't watched the PG-13 version in forever.

It's a well made movie on the technical side, it just sucks on a script level. Acting isn't bad, but the actors aren't given much to do. I think I could tolerate the movie more if it just removed certain lines like when Sebastian asks Lex what the whale bones are!?! Dude, they briefed you that it was a Whaling Station. :D

At least they didn't have a guy try to make friends with a clearly hostile alien snake.

But they did have a female team up with a intergalactic hunter.

After she found they had a bit of a common goal.

Samhain13

Samhain13

#6
Quote from: Randomizer on May 15, 2017, 10:08:46 AM
Quote from: echobbase79 on May 14, 2017, 10:14:23 PM
Quote from: EJA on May 14, 2017, 08:28:30 PM
Quote from: echobbase79 on May 14, 2017, 06:56:30 PM
I watched AvP last night. I give it a 5.5/6 out of 10. That's based on the unrated cut. I haven't watched the PG-13 version in forever.

It's a well made movie on the technical side, it just sucks on a script level. Acting isn't bad, but the actors aren't given much to do. I think I could tolerate the movie more if it just removed certain lines like when Sebastian asks Lex what the whale bones are!?! Dude, they briefed you that it was a Whaling Station. :D

At least they didn't have a guy try to make friends with a clearly hostile alien snake.

But they did have a female team up with a intergalactic hunter.

After she found they had a bit of a common goal.

Yeah but there was no reason for Scar to need her, which forced Anderson to make those scenes where she saves him, which only makes the preds look worse.

She was an unarmed female woman, the spear and shield were ridiculous for her, a predator using would be fine... but a girl fighting aliens with melee weapons? Yeah... that will last long. He was going to activate the bomb anyway, that would already take care of all aliens remaining despite destroying a important cultural structure of his own species.

In the end Scar had no reason no teamup with her, why that would even be allowed in the ritual passage?

EJA

The original AVP comic book series had much the same scenario with Machiko and Broken Tusk.

Samhain13

Samhain13

#8
Machiko was armed and she wasn't alone, there were other humans with her who were armed as well. They helped save Broken tusk life from a believable death threatening situation.

Broken tusk was f**ked, he wasn't on a hunt anymore and of course not a rite of passage, all his team mates were dead or gone rogue, aliens were everywhere, his ship was gone, he was stranded on the planet and the humans could help him survive,  because they had guns and ships so he needed them. Lex couldn't offer Scar anything usefull, and he had thousands of team mates up in the ice.

The humans weren't even suppose to be involved in the hunt in any way, the preds didn't knew humans were colonizing planets, so they kind of gotten in the way, Broken tusk had no reason to kill them like the AVP trio did with their first victims.

KikReask

It was on TV the other night and I had just watched Alien: Covenant the night before so I thought "Nothing else on what the hell it's only got an hour and 20 minutes left." A few years ago I got over how crap the film was and just forgave it, but recently after Batman v Superman came out which was an even worse crossover film, it made me re-evaluate AVP1 in a better light. It's not great but it's okay harmless fun. Not exactly what you would want from a big epic crossover concept like Alien vs Predator and by god it's too short just when it was getting fun.

But it's still okay, the sets and costumes still hold up and it's always nice to see Lance Henriksen in these films. It had a lot more potential and it would have been something special if they took elements from the comics and didn't go for a PG-13 rating and shorter runtime because they were too cheap but I'll give it a 6/10 nowadays. I find it particularly odd however despite the negativity of this film from everybody, that somehow Prometheus pretty much ripped off most of the first AVP's plot and structure. Also I remember back in the day one of the biggest complaints us fanboys had was how quick it was for a Xenomorph to grow... and yet somehow Alien: Covenant repeats that. XD

After having a meh opinion on Covenant, I'm willing to just re-accept the AVP films into the franchise for the hell of it, even the really crap second film.

Samhain13

Samhain13

#10
Quote from: KikReask on May 15, 2017, 04:39:48 PM
Also I remember back in the day one of the biggest complaints us fanboys had was how quick it was for a Xenomorph to grow... and yet somehow Alien: Covenant repeats that. XD

Yeah, the alien prequels remind me more of the avp movies than the original alien movies, that shower scene from Covenant felt like something out of AVPR. Hilarious since Ridley complained about the avp movies and yet he repeated some of the things we hated about them.

RakaiThwei

Do my eyes decieve me? An AVP movie positivity thread or.... something close to it which this community will allow?  :o

happypred

I would not say AvP is better than Prometheus

AvP is pretty terrible

The Cruentus

Quote from: KikReask on May 15, 2017, 04:39:48 PM
. Also I remember back in the day one of the biggest complaints us fanboys had was how quick it was for a Xenomorph to grow... and yet somehow Alien: Covenant repeats that. XD

After having a meh opinion on Covenant, I'm willing to just re-accept the AVP films into the franchise for the hell of it, even the really crap second film.

Yeah, Ridley hates the AVP films and possibly the very concept of AVP and then he pulls that super speed crap with Covenant, worse still is
Spoiler
the Lope incident which really does dump on the lore.
[close]

No, not the second film!  :laugh:

Kel G 426

The cgi in AVP holds up great, but that's all it has going for it. Covenant is a better film in every way.

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