6) Alien vs. Predator (2004)
W.S. Anderson’s work takes 6th spot on this list and next to Requiem, it’s a masterpiece. But that’s not to say it doesn’t come saddled with several burning issues.
Where to start? Let’s look at the setting, first. We’ve got a mysterious pyramid encased below ice and a hapless research team headed to this glacial world to find out what the pyramid is hiding. So far so good. Except, the pyramid is set off the coast of Antarctica and the year is 2004, several thousand years before Ripley is even born. What’s the point of watching all the Ripley films if her efforts to stop the Xenomorph reaching Earth were in vain before she had even begun? Had Anderson even seen the previous films? It doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Nor does the way it’s filmed. The Matrix was obviously fresh on everyone’s minds at the time of production as Anderson can’t help but throw in several slow-mo close-ups of facehuggers arcing through the air and meeting the end of a Predator blade. There’s even a scene where the Predator grabs the Xenomorph by the tail and whips her around in a 360, like cast members of Wrestlemania. The Xenomorph was designed to be a spine-chilling threat that you could never quite get a handle on, but with lights ablaze and cameras at the ready, Anderson strips away this terror, reducing the Xenomorph to a bizarre brawler that fights out in the open.
Also, there’s the PG-13 rating, meaning every death scene is a last-second cutaway. We’ve got Lance Henriksen reprising his role as Bishop, but not the Bishop you know (no, he’s Charles Bishop Weyland, the precursor to the android Bishop. Just forget that he looks exactly like Michael Bishop in Alien 3, or that he’s the same goddamn actor). And then there’s the Predator, cast here as a hero and unlikely love interest of the human heroine; a heroine he even fashions a spear for from alien hide.
Ultimately, Alien vs. Predator was a clanger, which is a shame, because the video games were great and laid down a blueprint for success.