Ever
since these 2 malevolent movie monsters clashed in comic book form back in
the late 80's, the big question was would the 2 ever clash on the big
screen? Some 14 years later and the long mooted clash of the sci-fi titans
finally hit cinemas, but was it worth the wait? Read on....
Set in the not too distant future, sometime after the Predator films but prior to the Alien movies, a group of archaeologists find themselves being hastily summoned for an impromptu meeting on board an Antarctic research vessel belonging to company boss Charles Bishop-Weyland (Lance Henricksen). There they are surprised to learn that his companies satellites have detected a pyramid, buried deep beneath the ice at the south pole, and are being requested to help check it out.
Upon arrival at the polar ice cap though, their drilling experts are surprised by the appearance of a ready made shaft, leading directly down to the pyramid, that has literally appeared overnight. With no option but to press on and find out what's down there, Weyland, his men and the archaeologists, lead by arctic explorer Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan), head on down to the pyramid and prepare to explore.
This is where the problems start as they soon discover the pyramid is an elaborate, constantly changing maze filled with traps. Not only this, but it turns out to a breeding ground for the alien creatures, built by our predator friends to go hunting. Realising too late the trouble they're in, they then find themselves being picked off by creatures on both sides as they get caught up in the bloody battles between the alien creatures and the predator hunters.
Intended as both a sequel to Predator and prequel to Alien, whilst the plot held a lot of interest, being steeped in ancient mythology, the film is sadly let down by the distinct lack of fight scenes between the two species. Most of the movies running time being centred around the humans trying to avoid getting picked off by either. Plus the Predators were mostly reliant on their various blade weapons, as they didn't get their guns until 3/4 of the way through the film. Most of all, the film was just so damn dark you struggled to see what was going on.
These criticisms aside though, it was good to see they tried to maintain a storyline that used elements from both films and there is a spectacular punch up between the two species half way through the film and again at the end. Whilst 'purists' from both the Alien and Predator camps will be disappointed, viewed as a standalone sci-fi flick its a thoroughly enjoyable enough action film.
