After the catastrophic first AVP, I was dismayed to note that the second one was to be made by a second rate team of special effects monkeys, who have no pedigree in film making - the Brothers Strause.

There are two decent franchises here, which are in isolation good enough to entertain, the original Alien is groundbreaking cinema in Science Fiction, whilst Predator was a B movie style effort that made good, and in fact looked like a possible stayer in terms of a monster movie. Sadly in the sequel to Predator was too stilted and half hearted to be a favourite, but Aliens at least produced the goods, being everything a good Sci-Fi action movie should be, this unfortunately was diluted by the third sloppy effort.

So, we have a couple of menacing and malevolent monster races, that should, in theory, give us a decent ride if we pitch them against each other in a free for all? Yes…..and no, I think the mistake in the AVP effort was basing it on earth, this is not AVP V Man, that is a distraction that should never have been. Don’t get me wrong, there were some excellent ideas, some well conceived staging / setting etc, but it just did not have any of the heart stopping moments of either of it’s prequels.

So they had another chance, AVPR is the new movie, and it should have been the one to put right the mistakes of the first, except it seems to be looking back to AVP for every inspiration on screen. Once again set on Earth, and full of plot holes it exudes desperation in terms of ideas, little in the way of a tangible storyline, and with bad acting thrown in for good measure, it is hard going. Half the time, it is shot in a murky rain soaked setting, making the fast moving shapes look like blurs on a grey background, and if that isn’t enough, you cannot understand what it is that is happening. What it does deliver is gore, a good blood letting using man as the weak and implausible donor, replacing all the possibilities of a decent battle between these two races.

3/10 - As a Sci-Fi fan, I could watch this - barely - and at the end felt thoroughly dissatisfied. If this is the best they can come up with then the franchise is dead. In fact given this effort, that may well be a good thing. If you have to watch it, rent it on DVD and then at least you have not spent a lot, and you have the option of turning it off.