Honestly I think the film works as an archetypal film in the realm of both Alien and Predator, just not a sequel or prequel to either. AVP was complicated as a stand alone, and disastrous when compared to anything else in the franchise except perhaps its sequel Requiem (and maybe Predator 2 or Alien3). And whilst it worked to some degree (my grandma liked it) it wasn't enough of a step in either direction. AVP on the other hand used references to the older films, but then completely threw the canon out the window and went for a larger fanbase. Where Predators was a film that you didn't need to have watched all the others in order to follow, it was still fundamentally a Predator film, aimed at the Predator-loving market. Ultimately it's downfall came from some poor dialogue, and trying to reach a larger audience. Not because it was good, just because it was panned so fucking hard by critics! I think this is mostly due to the fact that it was being compared to both the Alien and Predator series, which is fair enough, but it was never going to be what either of those films was. I can honestly say, that this is one of the most under-rated films of 2004.

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