<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Alien vs. Predator
Release Date	August 13, 2004
Genre	Horror Scifi
Director	Paul W.S. Anderson
Screenwriter	Dan O'Bannon Paul W.S. Anderson Ronald Shusett
Stars	Sanaa Lathan Raoul Bova Lance Henriksen Ewen Bremner Colin Salmon Tommy Flanagan Joseph Rye Agathe De La Boulaye Carsten Norgaard
Studio	20th Century Fox Brandywine Productions Ltd. Davis Entertainment

Alien vs. Predator is a filmed crossover of two popular '80s monster-movie franchises, both about dangerous and hard-to-kill off-worlders with a penchant for attacking humans, though for differing reasons. Prior to Alien vs. Predator (AvP, for short) there were four films in the Alien series--all starring Sigourney Weaver--and two Predator films, the first of which featured Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Predators (also known as Yautja) hunt humans for sport, while the Alien series feature a monster, sometimes called a Xenomorph, that utilizes humans as hosts for their offspring. Demand among science fiction fans to see these creatures square off against each other has been high since the release of Predator in 1987 release, and has been whetted over the years by Alien vs. Predator comics and video games. A sequel to the film, Aliens vs. Predator, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem also referred to as AvPR, opened in theaters on December 25, 2007.

Summary

The film opens with the discovery by humans of a pyramid buried deep below the surface of Antarctica. A team of engineers and archaeologists is assembled to tunnel down to the pyramid and explore it; among them is Alexa Woods, a mountaineer hired specifically to increase the team's odds of survival if anything should go wrong in the harsh climate of the dig. Naturally, things do go wrong. The team reaches the pyramid and soon a number of the humans have been implanted with Xenomorph embryos. When the creatures "hatch"—via the usual process of killing the host by bursting through his or her chest—the battle between them and the Yautja begin.

Complicating matters for Alexa and the other humans attempting to escape the pyramid is the fact that its interior is constantly changing, shifting to new configurations as a means of making the deadly "game" more difficult for all players.

Alien vs. Predator suffered from an anemic script, a weak core concept, and a lack of interesting characters. Though Alexa Woods continues the Alien franchise's tradition of having a strong female action hero as the movie's lead, the failure to attract a "name" actress to the role and a generally pointless story kept this much-anticipated movie from realizing its full potential.