Alien vs Predator

Rating ***/*****, or 6/10

After almost 15 years of having two of the greatest movie monsters duke it out in various other media (most notably games and comics), the pair finally square off on the big screen, with mixed results. The action scenes are quite solid and the overall look is great, especially where the creatures are concerned, but the story of a team of human cannon fodder discovering an ancient pyramid on Antarctica, which soon turns out to be ground zero for extra-terrestrial sparring matches, leaves much to be desired. There's little surprise as to who's gonna die when, plus the fact the film is rated PG-13, whereas the other entries in both franchises had hard R ratings, makes for little appropriate gore, much to the chagrin of the legions of fans. Plus, considering the Predators are running the whole show, the outcome of the battle is fairly predictable.

Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

USA: 20^th Century Fox, 2004