Alien vs. Predator
The Movie
Okay, Sanaa Lathan is no Sigourney Weaver, I still enjoyed this movie a great deal, despite the pedestrian story and lack of character development.
If you're going to spend a lot of time following your actors chased through a giant underground pyramid with moving corridors modeled after a giant Rubik's Cube, then this is the movie for you.
But that's not why we see a movie like this. We want to see the Alien fight the Predator, and in that regard, it does basically deliver. That humans get in the way is almost secondary as we watch the pyramid exploration team killed off one by one.
I did enjoy the alliance between Sanaa Lathan's character and the one remaining Predator; this satisfies a cultural preference for the "honor among enemies who respect each other" value, something we don't see a lot of these days where "winner take all" and "might makes right" are what's really valued by society. Besides, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Queen Alien so a temporary alliance against her is fun to watch.
The DVD
The two commentary tracks, one with the director and two if the actors, the other with special effects and production staff, are moderately interesting. These folks are very proud of their work, but after a while you get tired of hearing someone say "this is my favorite scene." (It is amusing to listen to Lance Hendriksen, in the middle of talking about his Alien history, get a cellphone call from his 17 year old daughter and say "I'm working, honey.")
I found that I ejoyed the movie more on DVD than I did in the theater. The image reproduction is crisp, clear, and beautiful. For such a dark movie this is quite an accomplishment. It is really beautiful, and the DTS surround sound soundtrack is spectacular.
The director describes how he desaturated the color but it is still impressive how well the skin tones come across extremely well, especially Sanna Lathan. (It's amusing to hear her say during the commentary, repeatedly, "Oh that's gross!" And her comments about the flying facehuggers have to be heard to be believed...
