The problem with Anderson's movie was that there was little action AND focused on crappy characters whereas AvPR had better/more action, shitty characters, shit plot, and shit pacing. AvPR was more of a sidegrade than an upgrade.
AvP gives the impression that the movie fails for not having enough battles (in general). After AvPR, we now know that you can't win people over by splicing in a bunch of random action sequences. When people with bad taste in movies can tell your characters are crappy, you know you've failed and have to hope the action is enough to draw them in. You'd need action of 300 caliber for that to work. If your audience isn't engaged with the story or characters when the creatures aren't on screen, it'll fall flat...just counting down the minutes 'til they pop up again.
Also, the Strauses don't know how to tell a long story yet or know how to direct actors. They look like they're stuck in music video mode with quick editing and cliffnote pacing, only telling the short version of the story. They should tackle some other projects and deeply analyze good movies seeing what makes it work before attempting an AvP3. The visual effects are down, so work on the other areas.
