There's something under the ice in Antarctica and zillionaire Charles Weyland (Henriksen) wants to get there first for some reason. So he assembles a crack team of explorers, archaeologists and drillers. But it's strangely easy to reach this mysterious underground pyramid, which starts behaving strangely once they get there, especially when strange creatures pop out of strangely shifting doorways and start battling with each other. They are of course the nasty beasts from the Alien and Predator movies. Fortunately there are hieroglyphics on the walls that tell our intrepid (and doomed) team what's happening.

Yes the story is fairly ridiculous, and it doesn't really have anything to do with the four Aliens and two Predators. Basically it's just an excuse to get lots of people into a confined and confusing space so they can be picked off one by one. The main problem is that the first half of the film is incoherent drivel--the plot is just too sketchy and the suspense is limited to red herrings and Anderson Shrieks™. Then when those hieroglyphics finally explain everything (in astonishing detail), the film actually gets rather interesting.

It also helps that there are several superb actors in the cast, not the least of which is Lathan, who from the very beginning emerges as the hero of the piece. Her character is by far the most interesting, and where she goes is pretty cool too. We also have Bova's adept brainy beefcake, Bremner's adept brainy nerd, Salmon's tough guy sidekick, Flanagan's impatient thug, and so on, just to add some interest. And it's nice, in the end, to actually find ourselves cheering for someone.