This too, is dealing with the nature of the setting in the present day and dealing with it as best you can because of John Davis' awful insistence. As long as the Predator was involved, it had no chance of being anywhere else.
- Have Kelly in the National Guard and have her not return to Gunnison until they're called in, as she witnessed the Predator ship falling from the sky with fellow members on leisure time in the mountains/forest. We never directly meet her family.
-Have Dallas in Sheriff Morales' custody when the events kick off. He has violated the terms of his parole. You never really know what he did. He is being transported to a facility. While on the open road, they both witnesss the Predator ship falling which in turn causes Morales to crash the car and begin a day plus trek back using the Forest as a short cut. Tense as Morales has to watch Dallas the entire time.
- OWLF through the funding of Yutani get a major focus early on when the Guard is called in and they are essentially directing throughout the movie. They are questioned harshly by Kelly and other members as to how they are in control and why they need to follow the directives of this agency. Mrs. Yutani had taken OWLF under their banner and guidance after witnessing the aftermath of what happened to Keyes' team in L.A. in 1997 after the U.S. Government were prepared to dissolve their program due to loss of all resources.
Rest of this self indulgent time waster is in the spoiler tags:
Spoiler
-You have a sizeable group of big game hunters in the area camping. They are chased by the few Facehuggers from the ship into the forest, trying to run back towards the direction of the road, others killed by the PredAlien, which has been revealed to have survived the crash. A few of their bodies are found hugged by Morales and Dallas on their way back, others skinned, except for one Hunter who ambushes them by surprise pleading for help to the Sheriff. They witness his Chestbursting and hear the distant roar of the PredAlien sending them in a panicked frenzy and now side by side.
-OWLF through clearance and lead from Col. Stevens are the first ones to investigate the Predator ship crash site. The Hunter's bodies all mysteriously missing from the area now. They arrive with a massive force and set up a restricted perimeter around the site with FBI Agents from the state.
- None of the stuff from Wolf's perspective before Earth. It's made clear the Preds on the ship sent out a distress signal to someone earlier. You can go all in on his viewpoint the same way when he arrives and investigates. The remnants of the ship have already been scoured through by the time he arrives. He has to Cloak and stealthily move around the site with OWLF all around at night. In addition to the Aliens, which he is already late to, this makes OWLF a priority target to retrieve the tech.
-No Aliens die by human hand. There are only 4, or 5 from the Facehuggers. Spread all about for destruction, but converging in the film. The PredAlien has to mature and molt and become the Egg-layer. No other reproductive method. Also makes the PredAlien extra brutal in preserving itself. This is the reason the infestation is never truly out of control and there's no questioning as to why an Earth invasion wasn't possible.
-You never see what the Aliens directly do in the nearby town, until a certain point. Dallas and Morales arrive back at the Sheriff's station which is in chaos with calls being made to it from all over. Nobody believes their outlandish story, but see they are extremely distressed. Dallas is put into a cell in the meantime. All of a sudden the power is cut out and The PredAlien and the Aliens arrive, destroying the deputies and dispatchers in the dark. One dude is killed right outside his cell, Dallas takes the keys and firearm from his body and we gets a glimpse of an Alien as he escapes through the bathroom. Morales manages to hide in a locker until the Aliens leave and escapes.
- Dallas and Morales get into a fight for control of the last squad car on the scene. They pull guns on each other until Wolf reveals himself in the Tree above, and Dallas opens fire. Dallas is blown away by the Plasma Caster, and Morales attempts to fight the Predator hand to hand at which point Wolf grabs him by the throat, then suddenly Morales is impaled by an Alien's tail leading to the first fight of the film as their battle goes up to the roof of the station.
-There are dozens of civilians cocooned, struggling, helpless,some having been there for nearly 2 days in a Hive being set up at the Power Plant. Other dead, skinned bodies from workers strewn throughout for the PredAlien to get sustenance and increase its growth rate.
- Wolf receives the Acid damage during the film in an encounter with the Xenomorphs at a Water Treatment Facility, which he, after killing 1 with the combo of the Whip and Laser traps, then sees the others retreating, and realizes it is connected underground to the Power Plant.
- The National Guard vs. Aliens on Main Street where they are overwhelmed. The promising scene from the movie way expanded. As characters are picked off, and Stevens/OWLF see the Aliens for the first time. Having been in pursuit of the Predator until now, he devises a new strategy to retrieve one of these new beasts. The remaining group panic and roll out.
- Kelly discovers her weakened Husband in the Hive after massive casualties. In an attempt to escape, she is stopped by Stevens and OWLF saying it's not an option. This, more or less seals everyone's fate.
-Stevens attempts to reason with Wolf to join him in working with his organization and retrieving specimens in order to "understand what they are." when the PredAlien bursts through and literally rips his spine out. Kelly and her husband and the wounded PredAlien are all that is left. Wolf takes his shot and cuts through the PredAlien with a special Shuriken. By this point, the main characters and everyone who bore witness are all slaughtered. He activates and leaves his Wrist Bomb, of the same scale as the one in the Antarctic Temple, at the site of the Power Plant, destroying the other Aliens just as they are approaching Kelly and Hubs, All evidence is gone. Everyone is gone.
- He lets his guard down as he returns to his cloaked Vessel in the lake, not knowing of the new PredAlien stowaway present, having attached at the bottom as it took off. This one is a normal darker colored variant, from one of the Predators that was seemingly hugged before the crash. There will have been enough Facehuggers in vials to account for this if one looks back at the beginning of the film in this case, and had burst on its lonesome and escaped into the forest, thus taking so long to grow. It doesn't reveal itself until he leaves Earth. It seemed to be going into the same type of hybernative state as the original on the Narcissus. This scout ship is bigger than it was in the film for this reason: There is a claustrophobic battle in Space near Saturn. They both become mortally wounded, when Wolf's ship crashes into Saturn after he sets the course for destruction ending the movie in the same locale where it began.