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"Whoever wins … we lose." No, that's not a sarcastic bumper sticker about the 2004 election. It's the tag line for this week's box office champion. Aliens and Predators stormed into theaters this weekend and made off with $38.3 million. In other words, we lost.

Director Paul Anderson, who earned poor reviews for his previous films Event Horizon, Soldier, and Resident Evil, is earning more for his science fiction extravaganza, Alien vs. Predator. He must have seen it coming—the studio concealed the film from critics until opening day to ensure that the bad news didn't get around before they scored a blockbuster opening day. The strategy seems to have worked, but now the word is out. Critics almost unanimously agree that this fifth Alien film, the third dose of Predator, further diminishes two floundering franchises. Some critics claim it makes last year's similar concept film, Freddy Versus Jason, look good.

What is surprising is that some Christian film critics say it isn't quite as bad as they'd expected.

Peter T. Chattaway (Christianity Today Movies) says it's "certainly not the worst movie to come out this summer—I would argue that Thunderbirds and Van Helsing were duller and more exhausting to sit through—and there are times when the new film pays just enough respect to its source material that you can almost taste the good movie that it might have been. The laughability of the film is amplified by Anderson's video-game sensibility. The dialogue is also full of howlers … . But there are moments in this film that are pretty cool; there is a fanboy inventiveness to certain fight scenes that is impossible not to admire."

He concludes by giving the lead actress, Sanaa Lathan, a poor review: "In the end, we are left with a dull woman who is surrounded by puppets and voiceless actors covered in prosthetics—and it's never a good sign when the special effects give more memorable performances than the hero."

"Purely from a story perspective," writes Bob Smithouser (Plugged In), "Anderson has done an admirable job of connecting the dots. Some straight-out action sequences are impressive, too, and AVP's ending contained an element of surprise. But that's about all the praise this film deserves." He faults the amount of graphic violence and makes the same video-game comparison.

Douglas Downs (Christian Spotlight) says, "I expect that many fans of the original will be very disappointed with this watered-down version that looks more like a SciFi Channel direct-to-DVD release."

At this writing, 86 percent of the mainstream critics at Rotten Tomatoes have disapproved of the film. But since their condemnation has not stopped the film from becoming a hit, this "A versus B" trend will probably continue. And why not? It could get interesting. I know a bunch of film buffs who'd pay good money to see the people of The Village versus the townfolk of Dogville, Gollum versus Jar Jar Binks, or Mary Jane versus Lois Lane.

Speaking of formulaic, sub-standard films, Alien vs. Predator earns another complaint, this time from David DiCerto (Catholic News Service): "For the most part, the movie is devoid of substance or style, its repellent cavalcade of slimy special effects drowning out any real suspense."

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