Movie Review: Alien Vs Predator

Alien Vs Predator (2004)

Directed by Paul W.S Anderson 

Written by Paul W.S Anderson

Starring Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen

Release Date August 13th, 2004 

Published August 12th, 2004

In my research for reviewing Alien Vs Predator, one recurring theme kept coming up that absolutely fascinated me and that was the highly pretentious indignity of Alien fans who cannot fathom the idea of their beloved character being teamed with the Predator. Regardless of the fact that comic fans made Alien Vs Predator the fastest selling independent comic in history, Alien fans remained indignant. They were likely egged on by star Sigourney Weaver who famously dismissed any involvement of her Ripley character in an AvP project. 

Despite the outrage, Alien Vs Predator has finally made it to the big screen and maybe those fans were right to be so upset. Where the Alien has been dramatized by such action auteurs as Ridley Scott, James Cameron and David Fincher, Predator had the capable John McTiernan and Stephen Hopkins. Now both franchise characters come under the hack guidance of Paul W. S. Anderson, a director who has far more scorn than any director of his limited experience. Maybe Predator deserves this but Alien may in fact have deserved better. 

Alien Vs Predator's place in both franchises timeline is murky at best. It is set in modern times, after the Predator's have battled Arnold in the jungle and Danny in L.A but long before Ripley began kicking Alien ass. As the story goes a millionaire industrialist named Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) has discovered something beneath the ice in Antarctica that could be the most significant archaeological discovery in history. 

Using his vast fortune, Weyland puts together an international team of scientists and archaeologists to dig 2,000 feet into the earth and uncover this major find. This being unfamiliar territory for human beings, Weyland calls on one of the very few people in the world who can navigate the Antarctic, an environmental scientist named Lex Woods (Sanaa Lathan). Lex will prepare the crew including archaeologist Sebastian (Raoul Bova) and a cast of edible extras for the difficult trek. 

What the group discovers is indeed remarkable. It's a temple that combines the architecture of the ancient Mayans, Incas and Cambodians. Inside the temple is a complex technological maze that randomly shifts its walls in ways that something that old should not be able to do. Eventually they come to realize that the temple and its inhabitants are not human and there is more than one non-human in the place. Our human protagonists find themselves in the midst of an ancient Alien ritual that pits two awesome species against one another that could end with the destruction of mankind. 

That's as spoiler free as I can be without giving away which side the humans must choose in order to survive. I can say that, box office willing, there will be a sequel so don't look for a tidy resolution. Does it matter that I spoil things or not? No, but some people will sample this film whether I trash it or not so for those brave souls I have been discreet. With that out of the way, let's get to the trashing. 

Director Paul W.S. Anderson wrote and directed Alien Vs Predator and the hack style he brought to his previous films, Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, et al, is in full effect here. He should be banned from writing in the future as his ear for dialogue is akin to recent George Lucas, without the imagination. The story is credited to Anderson which is somewhat curious and controversial. Fans of the comic book will recognize the character arcs of the Alien and Predator rivalry as well as that of Lex who is very reminiscent of the Japanese heroine in the Dark Horse comic series. Anderson is the only one with a writing credit though the creators of Alien and Predator films do get character credit. 

It's understandable why no one would choose to sue for credit on Alien Vs. Predator because as it is on the big screen I can imagine people not wanting to be associated with it. 

Maybe the most egregious error of the film is it's PG-13 Rating. This clearly studio-ordered commercial choice compromises the one thing this film had going for it: the possibility of some serious headsplitting gore. Once you agree to the compromised PG-13 rating you have to keep the blood to a minimum and the deaths to their least horrendous. Immediately you lose one of the great Alien set pieces in which the Alien children explode from human chests. This spectacularly gory scene has been a staple of the franchise and here it lasts all of one second! And that one-second shot is nearly bloodless and very cheap looking. 

The film is deathly serious and could use a little humor. Not that there aren't laughs, there are laughs but they are the unintentional kind like when a character is introduced and immediately begins talking about having been away from home for too long and can't wait to get home to his kids. Like a teenager having sex at Crystal Lake, this characters fate is sealed the moment he whipped out the baby pictures. 

Poor Sanaa Lathan. This terrific young actress has had a run of good performances, mostly in romantic dramas like Love and Basketball, Disappearing Acts and Brown Sugar. Most recently she was a Tony nominee for Raisin In The Sun on Broadway. What possessed her to take on this character is beyond me. In the future, she might read the script before accepting a role, that is the only explanation I can think of for her to taken this gig. 

You might say it's noble of Paul W.S. Anderson to continue the tradition of female action heroes but as thinly written and characterized as this character is, she may have set back the cause of female action heroes for years to come. Unless you like your action heroines running and screaming in terror before luck and a very male extra-terrestrial figure enters to save their lives. 

I will say that the film does thrill when Aliens and Predators go mano a mano but the film takes a bad dialogue laden while to get to that first fight. The subsequent fights are such that you can keep score on which species is winning and that is at least momentarily involving. It's involving until one of the species wimps out and becomes an ally of the humans. The last thing anyone wants is for either the Alien or the Predator to be sensitive but that is what we get near the end. 

Now I can see why Alien fans were so upset about this film. Though their venom, or acid blood if you prefer, may be better aimed toward Paul W.S. Anderson than the Predator.

Movie Review: Under the Tuscan Sun

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Directed by Audrey Wells

Written by Audrey Wells 

Starring Diane Lane, Raoul Bova, Sandra Oh, Lindsay Duncan 

Release Date September 26th, 2003 

Published September 25th, 2003 

It's hard to believe but Diane Lane has been acting since 1979.

Ever since her impressive debut in A Little Romance, Diane Lane was expected to be a star. Then came a series of flops, TV movies and impressive supporting roles. Then came 2002's Unfaithful, a drama about marital infidelity in which Lane fell for the romantic advances of a much younger man played by Olivier Martinez. The sexy, complicated role earned Lane an Oscar nomination and the kind of recognition that was expected of her years ago. Now with her first starring role since Unfaithful in the chick flick fantasy Under the Tuscan Sun, Lane finds true stardom.

Based on a best seller by Frances Mayes, Diane Lane stars as Mayes in this slightly fictionalized take on her personal experiences. Working in San Francisco as a college professor and book critic, Frances is happily married or so she thought. One night when attending a book release party for one of her students Frances is approached by a writer whose book, she panned. The writer tells Frances something about her husband that she doesn't know and soon the marriage is over.

Forced out of her home because of the divorce settlement, Frances temporarily holes up in a tiny furnished apartment with a group of other divorce victims. Luckily for Frances her friend Patti (Sandra Oh) is not about to let her wallow in her tiny apartment and surprises her with a trip to Tuscany. To assure Frances she can take the trip without being hassled by guys, it's a gay tour of Tuscany.

It takes some convincing but finally she accepts and she's off to romantic Tuscany. Once there, she falls irrationally in love with a villa called Bramasole and using all the money she has, she buys it. It's definitely a fixer upper with holes in the walls and floors and faucets with no running water. A quirky group of unusual Polish construction workers help her fix the place and get friendly over Frances's love of cooking for the guys.

Of course, in this romantic setting how can Frances not fall madly in love? On a day trip to Rome, Frances meets one of those men directly from a romance novel. In the best line of the film Frances asks the man his name and he say Marcello. Frances laughs and replies "of course it is.” Marcello is played by Raoul Bova, who does a fine job with an underwritten role.

The film isn't about Marcello, it's about Frances and this strange adventure that has brought her to the last place she ever thought she would be. This is a real terrific role for Diane Lane who needed to lighten up her work after Unfaithful. Nothing wrong with Unfaithful, she was Oscar nominated for the role and deserved it. I'm just saying that her role in Under the Tuscan Sun is a perfect change of pace that should guarantee her the stardom that has been expected of her since Time Magazine put her on the cover in 1980.

While Raoul Bova and Sandra Oh do fine work along with host of quirky supporting characters including Vincent Riotta and Lindsey Duncan, Diane Lane's true co-star in Under the Tuscan Sun is Italy. I have said it before and I will say it again, no country in the world films as well as Italy. The camera absolutely loves every inch of the sun-drenched coasts and cobble stone streets. When populated with characters as colorful as the country, it’s a wonder to watch.

Director Audrey Wells who also adapted the screenplay does a fantastic job in only her second time behind the camera, having also directed 2000's terrific Guinevere. Her story isn't overly complicated, and she does a great job of roping in the numerous subplots before one gets in the way of Frances in the main story. As sweetly absurd as some of these subplots are, it's a great task to keep them under control and Wells pulls off to near perfection.

Watching the commercials and trailers for Under the Tuscan Sun, I was amazed by Diane Lane's transformation from working actress to star. Her Oscar nomination only confirmed her ability, Under the Tuscan Sun shows Lane maturing into stardom in the classic Hollywood sense.

Movie Review: Avenging Angelo

Avenging Angelo (2003) 

Directed by Martin Burke 

Written by Steve Mackall 

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Madeleine Stowe, Anthony Quinn, Raoul Bova, Billy Gardell

Release Date May 20th, 2003 

Published July 5th, 2003 

It's been a rough couple years for Sly Stallone's film career. The man has gone from the world’s biggest box office draw to holding his film premieres at Blockbuster Video. Nevertheless, Stallone is still a huge star internationally and whether or not he is successful in the US, he can make movies for international audiences for the rest of his career. Successful money making movies that American audiences almost never see. His latest is a romantic-mob comedy Avenging Angelo.

As you watch the film you can hear the Hollywood pitch meeting, "It's When Harry Met Sally meets The Sopranos.” Stallone is Frankie, a mob bodyguard for an aging Mafioso played by Anthony Quinn. Employing both a flashback and voiceover from Stallone we learn that Quinn's character had a child years ago but was forced to give the child up because of a vendetta from his enemies. Now as Quinn is dying he is ready to tell his daughter the truth.

The daughter is an unhappy housewife named Jennifer (Madeline Stowe). She’s married to a cheating husband who forces her to send her son to military school. After finally catching her husband cheating with a close friend, she throws him out. At the same time the mob boss has passed on and sent Frankie to deliver the news to Jennifer. Surprise, your real father was a mob boss! Not only that but the secret is out that you are a mob princess and there are people out to kill you. So, Frankie moves into her home to protect her.

There are some very funny moments in Avenging Angelo, especially in the chemistry of Stallone and Stowe. Though Stowe's performance is somewhat on the shrill side, she is tempered by Stallone's relaxed, confident performance. Unfortunately, the story that surrounds the performances is contrived and unconvincing. Once Stowe accepts her new persona as a mobster's daughter, she starts talking about whacking people and taking on the family business. Apparently, the transformation from WASPy housewife to Italian mob mother is only a script contrivance away.

Director Martyn Burke is yet another in a long line of directors who are excellent technicians but not great directors. Burke is a great choice if you want a straight transfer of script to screen but if you're looking for innovation, for a director to bring some spice to a familiar story, you should look elsewhere. See Avenging Angelo for Anthony Quinn. While this film may not be the perfect coda for his amazing career, it was nevertheless his last film and that makes it historic. That Stallone and Stowe make the film mildly entertaining around him is a nice bonus.