AVP: Alien vs. Predator (Blu-ray) (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Trivia Theatrical Trailer-x 3 Audio Commentary-Paul W.S. Anderson, Lance Henriksen and Sanaa Lathan Audio Commentary-Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr. and John Bruno Alternative Version
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	108:40 (Case: 101)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Paul W.S. Anderson
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Sanaa Lathan Raoul Bova Ewen Bremner Colin Salmon Lance Henriksen Tommy Flanagan Agathe De La Boulaye
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Harald Kloser

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1 (224Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired English Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    With AVPR: Alien v Predator Requiem about to hit the big screen in Australia, it seemed a good time to take a look at the Blu-ray release of the original AVP. With characters and a story as subtle as an episode of WWE Smackdown, it's clear that Fox made one trip to the well too many with AVP. Okay, so this was a blatant exploitation of two popular franchises, but there is still much to enjoy here. Indeed, I found that I have come to enjoy this movie at home a lot more than I did originally at the cinemas. Perhaps because my expectations have been drastically lowered? This BD offers two versions of the film on a 50GB disc. AVP certainly isn't for everyone, but then again, even without seeing it, you probably already know if you're going to like this film or not by the title alone.

   In 1979, Twentieth Century Fox released Director Ridley Scott’s seminal science fiction film, Alien, which went on to become a great critical and commercial success. Indeed, the unexpected success of Alien led to three sequels of varying quality: James Cameron’s excellent action-romp, Aliens, David Fincher’s visually stunning, but vacuous Alien3, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s confusing and completely unnecessary Alien Resurrection.

    Almost ten years after the release of Alien, Fox introduced us to another nasty creature from outer space, 1987's Predator. Directed by action film specialist John McTiernan, the film was to star two future US Governors, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura. The commercial success of Predator led to a disappointing sequel three years later, (without the Governors), where a Predator makes a nuisance of himself in Los Angeles.

    However, it seems that what I saw as a visual in-joke - an Alien skull mounted in the trophy cabinet of the Predator's spaceship in Predator 2 - others took far more seriously. The idea of Predators and Aliens getting into some serious biff launched a successful comic book series by Dark Horse, and a reasonably successful PC game. Considering previous 'cinematic merging', such as the recent Freddy v Jason, or the much earlier Godzilla v Mothra, and King Kong v Godzilla, perhaps it was only a matter of time before contracts were signed, and Alien v Predator got the green light?

   The man Fox chose to helm the project was Paul W.S. Anderson, who has made a career of bringing video games to the big screen. Anderson directed Mortal Kombat, and wrote and directed Resident Evil and Alien v Predator. He also produced the sequels, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction, as well as the films DOA: Dead Or Alive and Driver (yet more video game adaptations).

    Here, Anderson, who personally is a big fan of both franchises, helped craft a story that provides a vehicle for our otherworldly friends to duke it out on Earth. Set in our times (between the Predator and Alien storylines), an international team of archaeologists and various experts lead by billionaire Industrialist, Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen), venture into Antarctica to investigate an inexplicable "hot zone" that has been detected by satellites.

    Indeed, 2,000 feet below the surface of the ice, satellite imaging reveals the outline of an undiscovered pyramid. The sickly Weyland sees this discovery as the key to his fame and immortality. Weyland is joined on the adventure to find the pyramid by Eco-Tour Guide Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan), Archaeologist Sebastian De Rosa (Raoul Bova), Chemical Engineer Graeme Miller (Ewen Bremner), and a requisite number of human fodder for the creatures to feast on.

    Once on site, Weyland's team discover an opening to the sizeable underground pyramid. The team enter, and soon chaos ensues when the bumbling expedition wake up the sleeping Alien Queen. This results in plenty of alien eggs being hatched, which in turn leads to face-hugging Aliens, which in turn provide chest-bursting scenes aplenty. This process - from face hugging to chest bursting - seems to have been sped up incredibly from the first Alien film.

    However, it's not just these sticky, mucous dripping Aliens that the team have to worry about. A few gung-ho Predators have also dropped in to do ritual battle with the Aliens. And, to make matters much, much worse, Weyland's team are now not only caught in the middle of this acid blood splattering brawl, but they also find themselves trapped within the ever-shifting, labyrinth-like pyramid.

   The fact that Anderson is such a fan of both franchises shows in his attention to detail. For example, he created the character of Charles Bishop Weyland for actor Lance Henriksen, who appeared in both Aliens and Alien3. The character's surname “Weyland” is used in the Alien films, as the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, the multi-national corporate conglomerate that sends the Nostromo on its ill-fated mission to retrieve the Alien originally. The character's middle name, “Bishop” is the name of the android played by Henriksen in Aliens and Alien3. The clever implication is that over a hundred years later, the android has obviously been named after, and made in the image of, the company founder.

    Another nice touch is that about 70% of AVP's effects are physical, and not CGI. I understand that Anderson opted to keep the computer-generated effects to a minimum, and relied, wherever possible, on using the 'real' creations of H.R. Giger’s Alien and Stan Winston’s Predator. "Creature Creators and Designers" Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., who also worked on Aliens, Alien3, and Alien Resurrection, as well as Visual Effects Supervisor John Bruno of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Titanic fame, all do a brilliant job in realising the effects, and staying true to the original look and feel of these nasty ETs. Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr's work here included creating new suits, sophisticated puppets, and a hydraulic-based animatronic Alien Queen, which has been described as "the most advanced animatronic" created for film. AVP also features some very lavish and impressive physical sets, and the costuming, art direction, and set design are all superb.

    However, while this is a very attractive film to watch, ultimately it's also rather empty, a little silly, and not scary at all. After all, unlike its R-Rated parents, AVP was produced to be a child-friendly PG-13 film. Thus, the movie not only lacks gore, it also lacks suspense and any real chills.

    "Whoever wins, we lose!" Ahhh, finally some truth in advertising. Director Paul W.S. Anderson is not nearly as talented as Directors, Ridley Scott, James Cameron or John McTiernan, who each managed to turn simple monster movies into nail-biting cinematic milestones, which entered popular culture and our movie-going psyche. Anderson merely delivers a monster movie. That said, there are plenty of cool action sequences, and when the ETs start duking it out, the action is frantic and fast.

    The extended version of the film adds a few minutes to the running time via seamless branching, and the most notable difference is the extra scene at the beginning of the movie, as the story now opens in 1904, and not 2004.

Video

    Visually, AVP is a very cold film, which reflects the mood and setting of the story. As a BD, I was a little disappointed with the image, especially in the darker sequences. While overall it is an improvement over the previous DVD release, the transfer lacks the clarity and consistency of some of the more recent BD releases.

    Perhaps due to the film stocks used, AVP has a very gritty, grainy, and heavily textured look. The transfer is presented in high definition, having been authored in 1920 x 1080p. AVP was a relatively early BD release, and it was encoded using the older MPEG-2 compression, and presented in a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1, in a native 16x9 frame. This is the film's original theatrical ratio.

    While understandably not as crisp as some more recent high definition films, the film is only marginally sharper than the previous DVD release. During some of the darker sequences the transfer can appear a little noisy, and at times I also noticed some inconsistencies with the contrast level. I have much higher expectations of a high definition release!

    The colour is good throughout, and the film uses coloured lens extensively to help create the various moods. For example, many scenes are intentionally bleak. The skin tones are accurate.

    While the image is a little too grainy at times, there are no problems with MPEG artefacts, such as pixelization. A few small film artefacts, for example, tiny black or white flecks, appear infrequently throughout, but these were never too distracting.

    11 subtitle streams are included. The English ones are accurate.

    The two features are provided via seamless branching on a BD-50 (50 GB Blu-ray) disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    AVP BD's audio is wonderful, and again there is a noticeable improvement over the DVD.

     AVP was previously released on DVD with the choice of English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) or English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s). The BD, however, offers an excellent next generation audio option for the feature - an  immersive English Lossless dts HD MA surround audio. English dts-HD Lossless Master Audio can potentially support an unlimited number of surround sound channels, and downmix to 5.1 if required. This is 'future-proofing' as currently there are no Blu-ray or HD-DVD players that I am aware of that are able to decode the dts-HD Master Audio, but all Blu-ray and HD-DVD players can currently decode the dts-HD "core" discrete audio at 1.5 Mbps. I understand that firmware upgrades in the near future (via download) will address this situation.

    Despite all the extensive use of ADR, the dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent.

    The musical score is credited to James Seymour Brett, Harald Kloser and Thomas Schobel. The dramatic orchestral score suits the film well, helping set the tone and underscoring the emotion. The score also borrows from, and pays homage to, the scores from the earlier Alien and Predator films.

    As with the DVD, the film seems to waver between the opposite ends of the audio spectrum, with extended periods of near silence which unexpectedly explode into one of the most aggressive and immersive surround sound experiences that you will hear at home. The surround activity is often as unrelenting as the ET action, and the rear speakers are used effectively to help carry the score, and to provide ambience. There is also a great deal of panning between the speakers, which helps create a very immersive listening experience. The film boasts a powerful LFE track, and the subwoofer is given plenty to do throughout, such as the continual rumbling of the ever-shifting, stone pyramid.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Although there are still plenty of extras to enjoy here, the meaty extras included on the previous two-disc, Extreme DVD Edition, such as all the Making of AVP featurettes are nowhere to be found.

Floating Pop-Up Menu

    As with other BDs, the menu can be accessed while the film is playing.

Added Footage Marker

    An on-screen prompt appears throughout to help viewers identify footage added to the Extended Edition.

Trivia Track

   Boxed text appears on-screen throughout.

Theatrical Trailers

• Alien v Predator
• Phone Booth
• Planet of the Apes

    Ported from the previous DVD release, this screen-specific and chatty commentary is provided by Writer/Director Paul W.S. Anderson and actors Lance Henriksen and Sanaa Lathan. The commentary is only available on the theatrical version of the film, and as Anderson is such a big fan of both franchises, it's a treat for fans of the Alien and Predator movies, as he provides a lot of trivia and anecdotes. For example, Anderson identifies some of the props taken from the other films, and some of AVP's many homages and references.

Audio Commentary 2 - Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr. and John Bruno

    Also ported from the previous DVD release, this screen-specific commentary is provided by "Creature Creators and Designers" Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr. and Visual Effects Supervisor John Bruno. As with Audio Commentary 1, the commentary is only available on the theatrical version of the film. While there are some long gaps, the SFX team identify a lot of the VFX, CGI, and green screen work done in the film. Interestingly, they also point out some stock footage that was used here and there. This Audio Commentary is also presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), and is surround encoded.

Added Extended Footage

• Antarctica 1904
• Argument
• Chamber of Skulls
• Sacrifice
• Weyland's Death
• Predator Ritual

Web-links

    Links to various Fox websites

    The Region A and B BDs appear to be much the same, but the North American BD also offers Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1 dubs for the feature.

    AVP was also released here twice previously on DVD. AVP will not be released on HD DVD.

    As I mentioned in my review of the DVD, Fox refused to screen AVP in the US to film critics prior to its release, which I think says a lot. AVP is not as good as Alien, Aliens, or Predator, but a lot more fun than Alien3, Alien Resurrection, and Predator 2.

The video quality is disappointing at times, but overall, still an improvement over the DVD.

The audio quality is excellent, especially the bass.

The extras are genuine and interesting, but surprisingly limited.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall