I feel you on that. I loved Sanaa Lathan in the film; there aren't enough black women in this genre or related genres of films, if ya ask me. She worked in the role!

I've always liked this movie. Pretty underrated, and gets a bad rap. It's rewatchable which is more than I can say for the other one, Requiem. Yeah, loved that Alien Queen scene at the end. When she showed up topside, the expression on the Predator's face was just priceless.

Can't say I'm a fan, though I too like Sanaa Lathan. The other characters, though, were thinly-sketched archetypes and the bloodlessness of it all did little for me. Some of the elements I disliked such as the ridiculously short timeline for alien gestation and the silly WWF fight between the "friendly" Predator and the clever Alien just seemed over the top. It's still preferable to the utter dumpster fire that was AVP: Requiem, but I really wish they'd never brought the AVP series to film anyway. I liked them better separate.

Glad to see this masterpiece getting more of the love it deserves.

Seriously. I love this movie.

This story ties together ancient civilizations, ancient technology/engineering, and the heretofore unexplained collapses of so many accomplished cultures, with both the Alien and the Predator franchises - sheer brilliance.

And, the long set up that resulted in the elder recognizing Alexa, gifting her the weapon, while the others gather their fallen comrade and, in orderly, highly cultured fashion, carry him back to the ship as the elder turns - dreadlocks flying - to bring up the rear of the procession, is cinematic genius.

Of course, I second @CelluloidFan's mention, it was so refreshing to see a Black woman as the lead in this kind of movie. Sanaa nailed it and should get much more respect than she's gotten.

I've been revisiting all the Predator films after watching Prey and I agree, better than what I remembered, plus it's surprisingly held up well (TBF like most of the Predator films, except no. 2 which to me is the only one that looks dated).

I remember when this first came out that I wasn't impressed with Sanaa Lathan, but she actually does a good job. I still have the same gripes though; not enough blood/gore (clearly aimed for the PG market), pretty poor dialogue and acting from the minor characters, and the awful Batman and Robin end scene.

But the predators and aliens look good, the fight sequences are well done and the story is pretty interesting with ancient civilisations.

Also, was it ever addressed how the gestation period for the aliens was much faster than usual?

@EnlightenMe said:

The production, costumes... good details. The story was good too. And that magnificent Alien queen rampaging... nailed it!

Even James Cameron had reservations at first, but ended up liking it a lot. Different with Ridley Scott, who even refused to watched AVP when asked 14yrs later.

And in 2004, this movie was done with costumes, ie. not all CGI (not that advanced yet). So kudos to the modelling & the puppetry!

Way bolder than some movies... cough*cough*current Star Wars trilogy*cough*cough

Makes me wanna check out! Also Paul W. S. Anderson is no hack.