Alien vs. Predator
For our final Spooktober movie this year, E and I took the natural next step from Predator to Alien vs. Predator, which is a DVD that got played many times in my childhood home, but it has been nearly two decades since I’d last seen it, so I was a bit worried about how it would hold up, particularly given the 29% Metacritic score. For E, it was a first watch, and she was immediately sucked in by the kind of early 2000s National Treasure-style charm this movie immediately hits you with. Assembling a team of the best in their respective fields, uncovering an ancient ruin buried beneath a glacier, deciphering clues and ancient languages that all seem to be leading you to… something. Even after all these years, and thousands of grade-A cinema watched in that time, I can’t help but fall in love all over again with this formulaic, yet, perfectly told treasure-hunt / monster-battle mashup. E and I both agree, that after watching Predator, this is a clearly superior Predator film, and of the Alien movies we’ve seen so far (missing Resurrection and Covenant), this is the third best Alien movie. The monsters look excellent, the fight sequences fantastic, and enemy of my enemy element to it just way too much fun. Jord hasn’t seen/rated this yet, but it currently edges out Switchback for the biggest difference between Metacritic score and ZEJ rating in our history, and for good reason. The critics got this one completely wrong.
-Z
