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Alien vs. Predator |
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Alien vs. Predator (referred to as AvP for short) was first mooted when screenwriter Peter Briggs (later to work on Judge Dredd, Freddy vs Jason, and Hellboy) sold his spec screenplay, springboarded from and drastically rewriting the Dark Horse Comic Book, to 20th Century Fox in 1991.
Released in theaters on August 13, 2004. It is a cross-over between the Alien and Predator movie franchises. The Aliens and Predators have appeared together in previous works in other media, but this movie marks their first combined cinematic appearance.
In the movie, a satellite owned by the Weyland Corporation finds an ancient pyramid buried deep beneath Antarctica. The Corporation recruits several scientists/archaeologists to learn more about the pyramid. They soon find themselves in the middle of a brutal war between two alien species, the Xenomorphs (from the Alien movie series) and the Yautja (from the Predator series), thus giving the movie its tagline "No matter who wins, we lose" (also seen as "Whoever wins, we lose" in some situations).
Afraid of bad press, the filmmakers and publisher 20th Century Fox decided not to let critics view the film in advance. Once critics were allowed to review the film they were, as expected, not very positive about it. Nonetheless, the film did reach the number one spot during the first weekend of its release
Plot
Prelude
The film starts when a satellite owned by the Weyland Corporation detects an unusual heat signature on Bouvet Island, a remote island just outside the coast of Antarctica. After further satellite scans, the company finds a huge pyramid buried deep beneath the ice. It then recruits a group of scientists and archaeologists to enter the structure and investigate it.
The scientists are briefed about their mission, and they each offer their opinion. One points out that the pyramid resembles those built by several different cultures, specifically the Cambodians, the Egyptians and the Aztecs. Another suggests that it is perhaps the one original pyramid which all subsequent ones were based on. The team's guide, mountaineer Alexa Woods (played by Sanaa Lathan), is the only one who objects, saying that the team needed at least three weeks to prepare for the trip. However, Charles Bishop Weyland, owner of the Corporation that bears his name, insists that there is no time as other competitors would soon be heading towards the site themselves. He threatens to hire somebody else as a guide if Woods would not lead them. Reluctantly, Woods agrees and the team sets out.
Arriving in Antarctica
The team travels to the site which is Razorback Point, a whaling station abandoned in 1904 during a battle between Xenomorph Aliens and Yautja Predators (as shown in the DVD extended version), but upon arriving, they discover that a huge hole has already been dug through the ice and to the underground entrance of the pyramid. Unbeknownst to the humans, the Predators have had foreknowledge of the building and dug the hole for the team to lure them into the pyramid and begin the hatching season for the Aliens. Using a high-technology laser beam, a passage is neatly carved out for the team at a precise 30-degree angle.
They set up a surface camp and send the scientists down through the tunnel while the diggers and a few guards stay on the surface. Not long later, when the scientists are out of sight, a few Predators roam the area, their cloaking devices activated, and slay all the humans. Their corpses are ritually hung, upside-down, as trophies.
Reaching the underground pyramid
The human scientists set up a small base at the base of the tunnel and then venture out to explore the structure. They come across many carvings of predators and aliens engaged in battle and also some hieroglyphics, which they translate into "Only the Chosen shall enter." They do not understand any of it yet.
The team moves into the mysterious sacrifical chamber with many human skeletons lying on tables around the room. A team member notes that "something" seems to have bursted out from the skeletons' chests, as the damage to their skeletal structure is not indicative of regular sacrifical procedures. Weyland suggests that they split up so that one team can continue to explore the sacrificial chambers, while the other goes on to explore the lower chamber beneath the sacrificial chamber.
Meeting the Aliens
Meanwhile, another team has discovered an altar locked by some sort of puzzle. One of its members recognizes it as an Aztec calendar and solves the puzzle, spurring some age-old mechanism to life. The movie shifts perspectives, displaying what the orbiting Predators see on their sensors. It zooms in to the very core of the pyramid and we see an Alien queen being raised out of what looks to be a cryogenic pit. She is heavily chained and cannot move freely. Still struggling against her chains, she manages to lay a series of eggs which are then moved by a mechanical conveyer belt to somewhere else in the pyramid.
Back in the altar room, the humans discover that the altar acted as a safe for several strange, cylindral-rectangular objects (days, months, years) that are currently set for 1904. The team does not know what to make of them yet, but audience members familiar with Predator culture will recognize them as the Predators' shoulder-mounted Plasma Casters. When the scientists lift the guns out of the coffers, they activate mechanisms inside the pyramid which start the walls, ceilings, and floors of the pyramid sliding around. Barriers slide out of walls, creating hallways where there was open space, and turning open doors into stone walls.
The camera moves to the sacrifical chamber that the other team was still in. We see the Queen Alien's eggs pop up from specially-designed crevices, and the humans become wary. One of them draws their guns and prepares to fire. Suddenly, before any of them can react, the eggs finish hatching and Alien facehuggers (small, scorpion-like alien hatchlings that attach to creatures' faces and then use them as a host to breed a full-grown Alien) leap onto the humans' faces.
The remaining humans try to escape, but Weyland insists on taking one of the Plasma Casters as a souvenir. Woods complains, but eventually accept the fact Weyland will not depart without it. She offers to hold it as she is in better physical condition than Weyland, who is quite sick from what appears to be lung cancer.
Arrival of the Predators
Simultaneously, the Predators see everything that is happening on their scanners and at once realize that the humans, in removing the Plasma Casters from storage, have caused the Hunt to start. They finally rush into the pyramid in an attempt to reach their weapons, killing any humans they find along the way using their other weaponry. The humans, who are confused and split apart from one another by the newly-appeared walls, don't stand a chance. They are picked off in ones and twos between the Predators and the Aliens.
An explanation for everything
One of the scattered humans, an archaeologist, comes across a set of hieroglyphics that explain the purpose of the pyramid. The structure was one of many belonging to mankind's first civilization. Thousands of years ago, the Predators found a rural Earth, and settled on the planet, teaching the people of Earth how to build pyramids. The people thus believed that the Predators were gods and faithfully obeyed their wishes, including willingly sacrificing themselves to breed Aliens, which the Predators considered the ultimate prey. The Predators would then return every hundred years to hunt the Aliens as a ritual to show their supremacy.
The ancient civilization has since disappeared because the Predators destroyed it in an atomic blast meant to clean up after a failed Hunt in which the Aliens overpowered their Predator hunters. It is not explained why the pyramid on Antarctica survived the destruction of the rest of the civilization, although it is mentioned that at the time this civilization existed, Antarctica was not yet uninhabitably cold. The pyramid is perhaps the only remaining hunting spot the Predators left on Earth.
It thus becomes apparent that the Predators re-activated the machinery beneath the pyramid to lure modern humans there in order to initiate another hunt of the Aliens.
Woods keeps this in mind and suggests that perhaps the remaining humans can team up with the Predators, who are mainly after the Aliens and not them. Woods suggests that the Predators need weapons to kill the Aliens, and by robbing the Predators of their weapons, the humans have caused an imbalance and hence the Predators were losing. She says that the Plasma Casters should be returned to the Predators so they can complete the hunt and kill the Aliens, saving themselves and the humans in the process.
Dwindling numbers
Eventually, almost all of the humans get captured (to be used as Alien hosts) or killed outright by both the Aliens and the Predators. Most of them die insignificant deaths, with their bodies serving as Alien hosts.
Mr. Weyland, however, was initially spared by a pursuing Predator. Using one of his special vision modes, the Predator sees that Weyland was suffering from some sort of health condition, possibly lung cancer due to the deformed tissue inside his chest, and ignored him. Killing incapacitated prey would be against the Predators' warrior code. Unluckily for him, however, Mr. Weyland becomes insulted by this act and attacks the Predator with a makeshift flamethrower when the Predator turns to leave. The Predator, uninjured but now very angry, turns around and swiftly executes Weyland with his wrist blade.
The Predators, being robbed of their primary weapons (the Plasma Casters), don't do much better. They fight off some Alien attackers but eventually succumb to their numbers and cunning. Only one Predator, seemingly the most skilled among them, survives for any length of time. Expertly using his weapons, he slays Alien after Alien and a couple of hiding facehuggers as well. Unfortunately, he missed one of the facehuggers and we see it leap towards the Predator as the screen fades to black mid-jump.
Partnership
Eventually, all the non-Xenomorphs are neutralized except Alexa Woods and one Predator. The Predator manages to corner Woods and is about to kill her when she suddenly kneels down and offers him the Plasma Caster she held in her backpack. The Predator pauses for a moment and considers the offer. Suddenly, an Alien leaps from the background and attacks the Predator. They struggle for a while until Woods picks up the Predator's fallen Combi-Stick (an extendable-retractable spear) and drives it through the Alien, killing it. Then the Predator, having taken his Plasma Caster from Woods, uses it to kill a few fast-approaching Aliens. The Predator then turns to leave, but Lex makes it clear she's coming with him. Recognizing her value, the Predator agrees to ler her go along. He makes her a spear using the end of the Alien's tail and a shield out of its acid-resistant skull (Xenomorph blood is acidic by nature and can easily injure unwary or unprotected enemies).
Now a team, they continue onwards together.
A few more kills
On their way out, they find some of the captured humans in an Alien breeding chamber. There are unhatched Alien eggs all over the floor, and a few humans are cocooned to the walls by some unknown material, most likely of Alien origin. They resemble insects in a spider's web. One of them is still alive and Woods tries to save him, but he says that it's too late as the alien is already in his body. He begs to be killed, "They [the aliens] must not reach the surface!" Woods reluctantly agrees, picking up one of her comrades' fallen pistols and fires the last shot into the man's head.
The Predator, watching from behind Woods, finishes the act by catching the newly born Chestburster and breaking its neck. He then scans the eggs around him and realizes that there is no way he can finish the Hunt. Like his predecessors thousands of years ago, he realizes that he must use his atomic explosion device to clean up the situation. He enters something into his wrist computer and programs it to self-detonate after a set amount of time. He makes a "boom" gesture at Woods; she nods in understanding and the two of them begin a desperate run back towards the tunnel to the surface.
They make it to the tunnel just in time and the pyramid and cave blows up as the duo rides a cart up the tunnel, pulled by an emergency-release pulley system. The pursuing Xenomorphs are annihilated by the blast.
Finale
The cart reaches the top of the tunnel and its momentum launches it out of the passage and onto the ice. The duo gets up and runs on foot to avoid being consumed by the still-expanding nuclear blast that is destroying Razorback Point. Once they reach safety, they look back down on the huge hole they created. Satisfied, the Predator turns to face Woods and takes off his mask to show her his true face, probably out of recognition and respect. Using a severed finger from an alien, the Predator marks her as a fellow Predator (or perhaps simply a warrior), leaving a "T" sign on her left cheek.
Suddenly, however, the Alien Queen jumps out of the snow and attacks the Predator. Having lost his Plasma Caster in an earlier fight, the Predator and his human partner have no choice but to fight the Queen with their hand weapons. The Queen, with its overwhelming size and strength, shrugs off the duo's attacks and even flings the Predator several dozen feet across the ice. As she moves in for the kill, Alexa thrusts a spear through the Queen's head, distracting it and saving the Predator. Then, as the Predator gets up and continues fighting the Alien, Alexa secretly ties one of the chains still trailing from the Queen to an enormous separator vat located on the edge of the crater. The Predator understands what she is doing and lures the Queen to the edge. As the Queen shifts her attention back to Alexa, the Predator leaps high into the air, placing himself near the Queen's head, and performs an amazing sideway thrust using his Combi-Stick. While she screeches in pain, the humanoids push on the vat until it nearly falls over, but one remaining bolt holds it to the snow. Woods manages to cut it loose with the Predator's help, but the Queen uses the opportunity to spear the Predator with her tail, killing him.
The Queen tries to kill Woods as well, but the weight of the metal pulls her across the edge and into the icy depths below. We see her sink, deeper and deeper into the Antarctic waters. It is unclear whether this actually kills her, as she has been able to survive past cryogenic storage in the Predator's temple and at least one other alien has been shown to withstand enormous pressure (see Alien 3). Nonetheless, it is her final appearance in this particular movie.
Meanwhile, Woods stands over the Predator's corpse. As she does so, an entire circle of Predators uncloak around her. They retrieve their fallen hunter, carrying his body on a stretcher back to their ship. The leader Predator sees the fallen warrior and is clearly devastated. He walks towards Woods and stares at her. Recognizing the "T" mark left by the Predator, he offers her a Combi Stick, signifying her acceptance as a Predator warrior. He then returns to his ship and it takes off and leaves Earth.
As it departs, the movie ends with a final shot of an Alien with distinctively Predator-like mandibles bursting out of the fallen Predator's chest. This marks the cinematic debut of the Predalien, an Alien borne of a Predator host (instead of the usual human ones).
Historical inaccuracies
The plot contains many historical inaccuracies, including:
- Antarctica has been glacial since the beginning of the Pliocene epoch, 5 million years ago, well before the development of human civilization.
- The setting of the film, Bouvet Island, is incorrectly referred to as "Bovetøya Island". "Bovetøya" is the Norwegian name and is a combination of the words Bouvet and øya ("the island").
- The film claims that Bouvet Island is not controlled by any nation, as is the case with Antarctica. The island, however, belongs to Norway since 1927. Additionally, an animation in the movie shows Bouvet as being located off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, when in fact it is over 1,600 km from the nearest land.
- The pyramid is said to contain writing in Egyptian, Cambodian, and Aztec, but the Aztec civilization did not develop until the 14th century AD, long after the pyramid-building cultures of Egypt and Cambodia had disappeared.
- One scene in the film involves two characters discussing the appearance of the full moon (one calls it a "Hunter's Moon," not-so-subtly forshadowing the coming battle). However, in real life, the moon was not full on the date given in the film.
- The pyramid rearranges itself every 10 minutes, because 10 is an important number in Aztec numerology. However, the Aztecs did not have a unit of time equal in length to the minute.
Relationship to other works in the AvP universe
Fans of the Alien vs. Predator universe will see many familiar things in the AvP movie:
- The Predators use many of their known weapons (or things very similar to them): A shoulder-mounted homing laser cannon with its unique "dotted triangle" tracking system (called a Plasma Caster), controllable Wrist Blades (Ki'cti-pa) integrated into their gauntlets, a extendable/retractable spear (Combi Stick), and boomerang shuriken discs (Smart Disc) that can also lock on to prey.
- The Predator's multi-mode vision system is similar to, but not exactly the same as, the one found in the AvP PC games. Both versions can alternately track Humans and Aliens, but not both at the same time. The movie's version is more advanced as it is able to penetrate flesh to arbitrary levels, giving the Predator an adjustable X-ray view of its prey's innards. However, the movie's version offers only two vision modes (red for Humans and green for Aliens) while the games' vision system had three (red for Aliens, blue for Humans, green for other Predators).
- The Predators do not make use of their wrist-mounted first aid kits and several die from Alien attacks. This may simply be a result of the severity of their wounds.
- The Predators' self-destruct capability, found in their wrist computers, is extremely powerful in the movie. In the games, however, the explosive radius is much smaller.
- True to established Predator lore, the beings are not mindless slaughterers but hunters guided by their own code of honor. This time, the Aliens are the prey and the humans are their unwitting hosts.
- The Weyland Corporation is the precursor of the Weyland-Yutani Joint-Stock Corporation, the main commercial entity in the first three Alien movies. Its corporate logo resembles that seen in later Alien films.
- Charles Bishop Weyland was played by Lance Hendriksen, who also played Bishop in the film Aliens and an enigmatic character credited as "Bishop II" in Alien 3. "Bishop II" (called "Michael Bishop" in some of the less canonical material) claims to have designed the "Bishop" android (ostensibly in his own image); AVP seems to indicate that the Bishop series was designed after the image of Charles Weyland, possibly suggesting that "Bishop II" was himself an android. Fans still debate this issue.
- The Aliens, too, replay their roles from other movies and games. They use everything from their trademark mouth-within-a-mouth bites to their stinging tail attacks. They also undergo the Alien lifecycle (see Xenomorph).
- Just like in the original Alien vs. Predator comic book, the only human survivor is a woman, accompanied by the last Predator who, before he dies, marks her as a warrior, and she is later recognized as such by other Yautja.
- It is worth noting that AvP takes place at a point in time after the previous two Predator movies (one of which took place during 1987, and the other of which took place in the late 1997), but before all four of the Alien movies (the earliest of which takes place after the development of interstellar colonization). This makes the Weyland Corporation's appearance in AvP its first on the Alien series' timeline.
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