Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Director: Colin Strause & Greg Strause
Starring: Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis, Ariel Gade, Kristen Hager

SYNOPSIS

A Predator spacecraft orbiting Earth is carrying a payload of alien creatures, who impregnate one of them and cause the ship to crash near a small American town. A disparate group of local people have to fight against the odds, while a Predator is sent to help destroy the alien threat.

REVIEW

I did have high hopes for this at one point. One of the great problems with the first AvP was that it was PG-13 and seemed to miss the point of both franchises at the same time. The Antarctic setting of that movie seemed to go against one of the main things we knew about Predators, and the modern-day setting undermined some of the issues raised in the Alien franchise. The rating meant there was little gore, and even the sound effects for the creatures seemed off.

So, here we were with a movie built from the ground up to be an R-rated movie and the red band trailer looked awesome. But, I never bothered watching it until now... The buzz was deadly, suggesting that the movie was a mess and that every great shot was in the trailer. There was also the problem of the movie being set in the modern day - no, the problems of modern American teenagers and a dysfunctional family have no place in either franchise. So, I skipped it.

Thankfully, it's not that bad, although my low expectations may have had something to do with my relatively positive reaction. First of all, the movie has some balls - something that's missing from most Hollywood movies. We see children and pregnant women actually come to some harm and not used as mere props to tease the audience. We see the effect that an organic acid would have on a human being. We see glimpses of the Predator homeworld, as well as a few more tidbits about Weyland-Yutani's origins.

But, it's a pretty average slog for the most part. Worse, the directors seem to be the kind of fans who think it's clever to drop distracting "homages" to the other films. So, we get a character named Dallas, a little girl that's obviously meant to be a reference to Newt, one character that shouts "get to the chopper!", countless music cues, etc. It's distracting and although it would have been nice in a better movie it's just a little silly here.

Worse, several points of the plot seem to contradict both their own internal logic and what we already know about the creatures. For example, the predator that's dispatched to clean up on Earth has vials of blue liquid which he pours over the alien's victims - presumably to stop indigenous life from being aware of them. Why, then, does he skin and hang the first person he attacks, drawing attention to him and his prey? The Weyland-Yutani corporation clearly get hold of a beam weapon toward the end of the film, so why was no beam weapon available in Aliens? Why did breeding with the Predator suddenly alter the aliens' lifecycle?

It's a shame as this had so much promise, but it's not that good. not terrible, but not anywhere near what it should have been...

6 / 10