AVP had a better overall concept for it being on Earth. The characters were more likeable/tolerable and I thought it was kind of interesting how Anderson tried to give the Aliens a "lead character" that was the "grid alien". I kind of knew that the predator would team up with the woman before I watched it in theatres. I think he had to kill off the two predators because I think it would have been way cheesier that two or three of them teamed up with her. It may have been better I think if they never teamed up and didn't kill off the two predators right away. I did like how the predators were big. It would have been nice to have one normal sized predator or one that is a little smaller that was more agile. That way the hand to hand combat would have been more graceful like mentioned in the one comic/novel I read how every move they made counted and was calculated or something instead of a chester rumble. At first I enjoyed the movie mostly because I just wanted to, then I got annoyed with some of the things and then just hated it and then learned to appreciate it a lot more because of AVP-R. The PG-13 thing I read was because of Fox as well as other problems which doesn't surprise me. Fox needs to get their stuff together when it comes to the AVP series before they kill it. But the first AVP was the most faithful to the comics, which I feel it should be since the comics started it all. I did expect it to be gory, but was let down at first. Now I release that gore isn't everything. In the first two Alien movies you didn't see every death on screen, but the first two movies had amazing characters that stood out. Not so much in AVP, but I could tell Anderson was trying and I think AVP is his best movie. I hated the MTV style editing with the quick zoom in shots and the slo-mo. I'm pretty conservative about how I shot and edited stuff when I went to school. I thought before slo-mo shots were overused and thought full speed fight scenes look more intense and "cool".
AVP-R I absolutely hate and came out when I went to school for digital media production (movies, tv shows, etc) so I was even more well aware about making and shooting stuff as well as script writing. I've never walked out of a movie before, but I almost did then. I was embarrassed. The fact that it was released on Christmas Day kills me, though the poster looked cool. The script was horrible and so was the alien design. They moved so slow some of the time when they were "running" away. They looked like a kid caught with his pants down while mooning someone. I knew some of the alien inner jaw scenes were CGI and was poorly done I'd say. Non of the characters stuck in my head and I didn't care about any of them, which is a bad thing in a movie. The fight scenes were slightly better I think, but still not as good as they could have been. The setting really ruined any potential as well as the "actors" and "actresses" . The movie did bring some more interesting stuff when it comes to the Predator. The Pred-Alien looked Ok. I only appreciated it more when I found some 1/2 scale busts on eBay that actually showed some of the detail more. I never knew it had a skull similar to the alien in Alien, a design I wish would come back. The gore was well done, but it couldn't save the movie just like nudity couldn't save Maniac Nurses Find Ecstasy from Troma. The gore I could tell they were trying to make up for it from the past movie, but they did it to the point where it was ridiculous. I don't even consider it B-Movie worthy. The setting would have been amazing for a Predator movie minus the aliens of course. It would have had access to a town and a nice large woodland area. I was happy when the movie was over and when the mother and daughter were talking about the "monsters being gone" and the camera pull back, I laughed at how bad and cheesy that was. The movie shouldn't have been made. I could tell Fox just wanted money. AVP-R is a terrible movie and that's all there is to it. Even with just the fight scenes, it's still pretty bad. I didn't like how the aliens were cannon fodder either to the predator most of the time. I can understand though since there was just one Predator. Since it was a sequel, you kind of thought there would be more. But yeah, the movie is bad and it's just an excuse to have two movie icons fight on the big screen. It's like they didn't even try with the story, they just stuck it in a town and tried to make it appeal to teens. The Alien and Predator franchises have movies that have won awards deemed culturally significant. AVP movies shouldn't be about mindless violence with paper thin characters you can't really relate to or like.
Out of the two movies I obviously think the first AVP is way superior. Gore doesn't make a movie good to me, it's the characters and setting and just the overall "realness" of it all. The first one had better characters and was more believable compared to Aliens and a Predator running around in a town. The second one had little to no imaginative qualities besides the Pred-Alien. It was like a teenager's plot for a high school project. I can't believe someone at Fox read it and gave it a go, though they look at it as an investment. Another thing I noticed in the second one is the Alien blood looks different. When they were getting to the "chopper", alien blood was being flung all over the place, like on the helicopter it looked like, yet no damage. Same when the Pred-Alien was fighting the Predator in close quarters. I thought he would have gotten burned, unless I missed something. The first movie is more like a popcorn movie to me. I don't mind as much waiting for the fight scenes because the location is actually interesting compared to AVP-R's. I still wish there were more though. Both movies are huge let downs to me. Fox needs to hire better talent and bring back Giger for some input. I think they really need to look at the games as well. I'd love to see Colonial Marines, but only if the right people do it. And if they do make another one, they should try to make a great movie that has unforgettable characters and a believable universe like in the Alien series. But I think Fox is getting it together some after I looked more into Predators and the Alien Prequel. I'm reading the Predators comic prequel (so much better than AVP: TWW) and bought a large sized Predators poster to get myself amped up. I didn't like how Adrien Brody was casted as the lead at first, but I really like the idea now because the whole large shirtless 80's action star has been done before and this is more realistic. I think I read somewhere he put on 25 pounds of muscle for the role. Anyway that's my 2 cents.
Forgot to mention the interior of the Predator ship in AVP and AVP-R. I really thought they should have kept the Predator 2 style. How it is in the AVP movies doesn't look like a Predator ship.
