This is surely the stuff of computer games, a flight of fantasy which cynics will regard as a cash-in on two exceptional Sci-Fi movies, an attempt to wring every last drop of creative juice (and life) out of the plots.

It's a risky move for all involved. There's a hint of acceptance in the casting of Lance Henriksen, who played Bishop in Aliens, as the billionaire industrialist Charles Weyland, but Sigourney Weaver has already shunned the project, and goodness only knows what Ridley Scott and John McTiernan, directors of the original films, have to say.

Before watching it's best to shut the four Alien movies and two Predator flicks away, for in theory the movie's setting pre-dates them all. Scientists discover a 'heat bloom' deep in the Antarctic Ice, and set out to investigate. Here, director Paul W S Anderson (Event Horizon, Mortal Kombat) paints some brief, and clichéd, character pictures.

They're a motley crew - Henriksen's billionaire is on his last legs, Raoul Bova is an archaeologist with a curious accent and Ewen Bremner takes Trainspotting's Spud into even more shivery territory. Heading the cast is a woman - not Sigourney, obviously, but Sanaa Lathan, well cut-out for assertive captain Alexa Woods.

No sooner have the team arrived above the heat spot then things start to go wrong. At least the tension here is palpable, as we wait for a glimpse of the monsters, Bremner even managing to run scared from a penguin.

Suddenly our crew is catapulted through a shaft, arriving at what seems to be a pyramid of ancient Egyptian/Cambodian/Axtec origin, a fact discovered by Bova in ten seconds flat. This pyramid is the property of the ancient Predators...or is it? For it seems the team have arrived at precisely the wrong moment, just as a family of Aliens is being born. Ooops.

Chaos ensues. Bremner finds some Predator weapons in a sarcophagus, with the immortal line "this is like finding Moses' DVD collection!" - an indication of the humour that lies ahead. Once a weapon is nabbed the group are trapped by the revolving pyramid and all manner of horrors are let loose. The Predators, surely the godfathers of progressive rock, fight the Aliens, and in a memorable and farcical Matrix tribute one of the face grabbing Aliens is paused in mid-air.

Of course not all the humans are unharmed, but it would spoil the fun to tell you who, and there is plenty of Alien acid, Predator slime and human blood to keep the gore count up. All this in tandem with some crass Aztec references, with Bova's watch alarm in sync with the rotations of the pyramid.

It's all very contrived and scarcely believable, but for someone who doesn't mind two of his or her favourite films mashed together it's still harmless fun. The fact we see the creatures so often removes a lot of the suspense, such an integral part of Ridley Scott's terror and John McTiernan's mystery. Nor is the end a huge surprise, with features common to both species' films.

Let's hope the film mash-up stops there. I have no desire to see Harry Potter tackling Orcs, or Keanu Reeves locking swords with Gandalf. Best to dust off the preconceptions and enjoy a harmless couple of hours, safe in the knowledge the original classics are never in danger of being bettered.

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from the archive A Prophet Top Films of 2009 FEATURE The Road