“Aliens vs. Predator”
Starring Sanaa Lathan, Lance Henriksen
Directed by Paul Anderson
If Alien (1979) was the reawakening of a societal fear of sexual intrusion, and Predator (1987) represented alienation from one’s government, what could a head-on collision between the two possibly symbolize? Foregoing mental images of rape perpetrated by the Lincoln Monument, Alien vs. Predator is a creature-filled slog, where in the two species’ ancient, endless conflict, humans are used as cattle (and the dialogue doesn’t rise far above).
Director Paul Anderson claims to have paid homage to AvP’s celluloid progenitors, but aside from a humorous instant featuring Charles “Bishop” Weyland tapping a pen on his desk in the manner of Bishop’s knife-between-the-fingers game from Aliens, and crawling around in some Mayan air vents, AvP plays out like badly-conceived fanfic. In one shot, Batarangs are clearly visible embedded in the wall.
The Mary Sue for this gray-litten outing is Alexa Woods, played capably enough by Sanaa Lathan, who is given with little to work with (or against), other than a swarthy-looking archaeologist (Raoul Bova) whose ridiculously thick Italian accent should fool movie audiences who still think of Olive Garden as ethnic food.
Thus we arrive at the real crime of this film — time and again the viewer will find themselves asking, begging: what does it all mean? The merging of the three cultures, is it a neo-Babel, brought forth by American xenophobic melting-pot fears, or a European vision of unity set asunder by the war between a noble savage and a bloodthirsty horde of killers? The symbolism is that blatant, and that inconsistent.
Without a clear parallel, AvP flounders amid a sea of potential metaphor, adhering and detaching from valid sociopolitical context as easily as a wet Post-It Note. Anderson duplicated the gemini song of Alien and Predator, right down to the packaging and the lyric sheet insert, but he forgot the melody — and he forgot the heart.
And without a heart or a dream of Oz, this rusty Tin Man may stand alone in the woods forever.
But I liked the alien head shield.