There’s a new Internet-exclusive Alien Vs. Predator trailer, just unleashed a few days ago. Much better than the first “vague close-ups of costume elements hanging around the SFX shop” teaser trailer, this one actually gives hints of the story.

And that’s really the make-or-break for this movie, isn’t it? Obviously this is going to get a lot of attention just for the uniqueness and hype, but another way to look at it is that we have two franchises that both need a bit of fresh blood. “Alien” has suffered greatly ever since the third misbegotten installment. “Predator 2”, meanwhile, was actually quite good but suffered from the lack of any continuity to the first film (i.e. the big star Schwarzeneggar wasn’t in it) and thus struck many as a disappointment. Hard to believe, but it’s been well over a decade since the last Predator film. (Puzzling, isn’t it, that tons of bad movies spawn sequels but no one believes a third Predator film would be justified?)

I fear this film will be all show and no plot, with rehashed elements of the two franchises. Nothing against anyone involved in this film; I’m only basing that on the state of today’s movie industry. You wouldn’t think it would be so hard to get “Batman” right, for example.

However, if this film surprises us with its talent and creativity, you never know…both franchises could see new separate films that recapture their original quality. Let’s hope.