In my opinion AvP was far superior to its unfortunate sequel for a number of reasons. For starters the cinematography was extremely well donein AvP and you could see everything that was going on and it realy set a mood for the situations, whereas in AvP:R you couldn't see shit for the climax of the film. Furthermore the acting was not the best, but it was still way better than AvP:R's, and the characters were believable to a point. The aliens were cool and looked and acted imposing and the final fight wasn't too guys fighting awkwardly in suits. Plus the setting was very alien despite being placed on earth.