Has Alien vs. Predator (2004) aged all that well?

[SiL]

The CGI isn't awful, especially for its age. Some of the Alien stuff is obvious but the moving pyramid is still pretty seamless.

[[cancerblack]]

I think the more subtle CGI has actually aged pretty well, and was amazing at the time. The Matrix facehuggers, less so.

[BlueMarsalis79]

The production side of it, aside from the Alien and Predator designs I have no issue with, it is the limp dullness of the story that means it eventually falls down.

It has a pretty servicable beginning showing pretty good restraint, I actually even enjoy the camp fight with the Predators as trashy fun but... it devolves more into Swiss cheese as soon as the Alien shows up and it only goes downhill the further it progresses.

The whole film's like the Grid versus Celtic fight frankly, starts great, but then the wresting moves start happening... and all the wind gets taken out of the sails.

[(Bad Blood)]

I guess now that I look back on it, it was mostly just the CGI aliens that stood out as not as good as they could be. Sure it was 2004 but still.

[SiL]

I think their biggest problem is they don't move anything like Tom Woodruff does in the suit. Obviously they're meant to do things he can't but they don't recreate any poses or actions the suit performers do in the CGI models, so there's no continuity. They wouldn't stand out quite so badly if they did.

[BlueMarsalis79]

Yeah the CGI versions move more like Dinosaurs than Tom Woodruff did, in comparison even Alien Resurrection does not have that kind of discontinuity and weightlessness, I think there's a bit of Stephen Sommers approach to monsters in AVP in that way.

[SiL]

Speaking of dinosaurs, the only reason the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park hold up today is they put so much effort into making the movements similar. The CG itself is very dated but the way they integrate with the practical creatures makes them convincing.

[OmegaZilla]

Speaking of dinosaurs, the only reason the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park hold up today is they put so much effort into making the movements similar. The CG itself is very dated but the way they integrate with the practical creatures makes them convincing.

That's not the only reason - there are plenty others

I disagree on AvP's CG Aliens - the animation is spot on - it's the 2004 render power & budget that didn't allow them to make them absolutely perfect in every shot. As it stands it's still one hell of a job for a movie that came out before The Cave or Underworld: Evolution, with plenty of shots that look real to this day

[SiL]

Like what, out of interest?

The models aren't as detailed, the texturing and rendering not as sophisticated. On gross technical standards the AvP Aliens are far ahead - but they aren't integrated into their environments half as well.

What's spot on about their animations? At what point do they move anything like their suit counterparts?

[OmegaZilla]

Like what, out of interest?

The dinosaurs have reptilian, opaque surfaces and their defects lie mostly in the lack of translucency (eyes, teeth, oral tissue) as well as the primitive muscle and skin sims. So the shots are mostly blocked in to avoid showing that (with a few 'daring' exceptions, such as the tracking shots at the end with the rex crushing the raptors in its jaws), and to that end, there always is a very specific light blocking, because back then they used light passes. To that, add that they were filmed as if the filmmakers were using real animal actors

Spoiler

Compare to the JW movies and see why the FX work fails a lot of the time there...

[close]

Later 90s movies had a HELL of a time making translucent or shiny things work. Species clearly couldn't, Dragonheart refused to (literally: they wanted a snake-like scale surface and reverted to a more opaque version because the thing kept looking plastic-y), Alien: Resurrection did a surprisingly good job most of the time (thanks to the use of different CG rigs for close-up shots), Starship Troopers was as clever as Jurassic Park (Tippett magic), Deep Rising did a better job than Species but that ain't much, and Godzilla used pearlescent creatures in difficult environments with mostly great results (with the exception of certain rushed shots of the babies, but again, blitz production)

it wasn't until the mid 00s with movies like The Cave and Underworld 2 that translucency and layers of skin became super-competent (Luma Pictures did an incredible job on both)

The models aren't as detailed, the texturing and rendering not as sophisticated. On gross technical standards the AvP Aliens are far ahead - but they aren't integrated into their environments half as well.

Yep, some compositing reminds me of the Runner. With a blitz production like that, it is to be expected

What's spot on about their animations? At what point do they move anything like their suit counterparts?

The motion is very Runner-like, mammal and insect at the same time. When I look at test footage of Tom in the suit trying to run on all fours (with a crane system supporting him) I see a lot of similarities

[Huntsman]

The pyramid location
Grid v Celtic
The historical flashback
The Alien Queen

[BlueMarsalis79]

Okay but test footage ultimately does not matter. What's in the film's a distinct separation between the practical effects and the digital effects concerning the Aliens.

[judge death]

I like avp 2004, not brilliant but a nice crossover as a standalone thing which repsected both creatures of each franchise, easter eggs and we had normal predators and proper xenonomorphs and finally a queen alien with a eggsack.

Liked the pyramid set and the action scenes, lack human blood and more gore effects, but we got predators killing humans left and right, and xenomorphs capturing humans and they make a hive section, seeing so many eggs was nice.

A lot of practical effects, the queen was mostly practical and looked great in the scenes it was used in.

Lex was forgetable and most charachters were bland but I never saw the movie for humans, Im xenomorph fan so xenos all the way! In that sense it made me happy.

Most annoying thing is the bad lightning around the actors faces, why do they make a aurora of light in all darker scenes? Its annoying once one notice it.

[Wweyland]

I think the movie looks very good, even some of the CGI.
I pretty much find everything about Scar getting facehugged baffling, this has so many issues in all parts of it from begging to end.

[City Hunter Yautja]

I think the movie looks very good, even some of the CGI.
I pretty much find everything about Scar getting facehugged baffling, this has so many issues in all parts of it from begging to end.

Indeed, Paul W. S. Anderson's bias towards Xenos really shows in the movie. He kills two Preds in 10 mins, and has Scar facehugged, and impaled. Uh.. does he hate Yautja?