Mortal Kombat is fine. It just needs the violence and a reduction of the stupid dialogue, replace it with quiet atmospheric scenes that build up the tension. No more Sonya screaming endlessly.
AVP is, quite frankly,
boring. I rank all three Predator films and the original Alien trilogy above it. AVP falls behind Prometheus. AVP, Resurrection, Covenant are all at the bottom of the shelf.
You know what, I've been really critical of Predators in some of these threads, so let me just relay a little anecdote. My brother and I saw it the opening week it was in theater. Sat down, saw that first scene, and the moment the title card hit my brother and I looked at eachother and said "Now that's how you open a f*ckin' movie!" I'm so glad they cut out the filler scenes from Predators and went for the far better falling to your death opening. Immediate tension, suspense, questions, mystery, and energy. The film is off and going.
AVP literally never thrilled me. Never. Not once. My heart raised a beat slightly when the Alien and Predator were face to face. But I realized just how unearned the moment was. For one, the Predator in the shot is basically already dead, so the creatures aren't actually facing off. Grid is just staring at a glorified corpse, for two the Alien design is shit. for three, the film has no balls, and no characters worth a damn.
The first time the Alien and Predator clashed should have carried the weight of something like the fight between the T-800 and the T-1000 in Terminator 2.