Aliens Vs. Predator - Requiem: Review By Achi1les

I just saw Alien vs. Predator 2.

It was much better then first one – although the first one was so crap I can’t believe it was released. I mean….why does a guy explore an ancient temple in Antarctica with a team of commandos armed with machine guns? Especially when he already believes that his expert team will be the first to discover the ruins since they were buried under the ice. Was he planning to kill competitors who discovered the ancient temple before he got there? I don’t know … but I guess that’s for another discussion.

The new Requiem film is much better. The acting is better and the story is simple -Aliens land on Earth and we are in trouble. That’s it. Let’s get to the chase. Just like the original Alien. Just like the original Predator. Neither of these original movies wasted time trying to establish a history with Humans like in the first Alien vs. Predator did. In PREDATOR there were hints that Predators visited Latin America during hot summers. In ALIEN there was ominous foreshadowing when the crew of the USCSS Nastromo explored the crashed Alien vessel on planet LV-426 and discovered the disfigured fossil of an Alien captain sitting in a medical chair with his ribs busted. Enough was said. The rest was left to our imaginations! From that point forward the focus was on the creatures chasing us. What makes these creatures so intriguing and terrifying is that we don’t know who they are, where they come from, how many there are, and how to get them to leave us alone. All that was important to the audience was that mean ugly things didn’t like us and that we never wanted to meet either of them in real life!

This is how I would rescue the Alien/Predator movies.

First, I recognize that there are challenges trying to blend two different genres together (Aliens = horror/ Predator = Action/adventure). However, what doesn't work is trying to do both at the same time. In both AVP and AVPR the creators attempt to cater to both creatures on an individual basis. When the Alien gets screen time we jump get the frightening Alien music and they are doing their typical lurking/sneaking around in the dark and attacking human characters and scaring the sh*t out of the audience as they do. When the Predator gets his turn at bat his music score comes in and he spends his time jumping the Aliens and tossing them around like rag dolls. Two different music scores. Two different genres. The Aliens being scary and the Predator giving us action.

One genre must be chosen and that should be horror-terror and not action-adventure. Why? Because the current problem here is that we are watching the hunt through the Predator’s “eyes” as he hunts the Aliens. This worked in the Predator movies because it showed us how easily the Predator hunted the very best humans with ease and it also built suspense because we knew the Predator was right on top of the human characters and the humans couldn’t see him. But in these AVP movies using the Predator as the main protagonist undermines the integrity and mystique of both. We are getting to SEE the Predator do his thing…and we are getting to SEE the Aliens (through the Predator’s eyes) move around and hide. Now both creatures are susceptible when before neither was. In the originals we never saw the Predator or the Alien for 95% of the movie. That is why they were frightening. Seeing them taking a strole or pinching a loaf reduces their awe.

As a result the story should be told through the eyes of humans only and the only time Aliens and Predators are seen is when they are pouncing on us!

Second, the writers are trying to marry both franchises together by splicing music scores and sound affects from the different movies. You hear some old Predator music and then some Alien music and then some Predator sound affects and then Alien. AVP is a new franchise and should not be approached as a combination of 1+1 but instead as the sum 2. AVP is a new franchise on its own. Create new music strictly for the AVP franchise and stop trying to combine them as separate entities.

Finally I would rescue the AVP franchise by reestablishing balance between the 2 creatures. I know the Predator has an advantage over the Alien because of all his weaponry. And yes, it is really cool stuff. Subsequently too much focus is on the Predator and his toys and on his hunting the Aliens. Aliens have never been stupid and if a Predator was picking them off one at a time…. I suspect the entire hive would chase him down and kill him as he would be correctly perceived as the most lethal threat to their existence. However, this never happens. The Aliens get their screen time beating wimpy humans, and the predator gets his time beating wimpy Aliens. In Requiem the Predator hunts down and kills over 15 drone Aliens alone. The Predator-Alien Hybrid kills a few Aliens too for good measure. The rest are killed by humans. The Alien has literally become a p*ssy.

If the Predator has the advantage in the open with superior weaponry, then the Alien clearly should have the advantage in closed spaces. And indeed…in my opinion….it does- sharper and more powerful jaws, larger claws and that lethal tail. Of course, acid saliva spit in your face would be pretty painful I suspect. Thus anytime the Alien gets its hands on the Predator or within 10 yards it should be lights out.

Up until this point in the movie franchise the Predator has equal physical strength and vastly superior technological ability as well. The movie writers need to get more hand-to-hand combat encounters going where the Alien can dominate… clearly dominate. The Predator comes forward bravely and lands a few shots…but gets thrown through a wall, gets his chest torn out with claws; his head bitten off and then ripped in half. At this point the drone Alien is just an average nobody that gets kicked around until the Queen Alien or the Predator-Alien hybrid arrives to challenge the Predator. Establish the fact that both creatures are superior in a certain situations- and it is the strategy of both creatures to maneuver their adversaries into their own areas of strength. Of course the Human characters are screwed both in the open and in the closed areas!

Anyway, Requiem is worth seeing and is much better then the first AVP. But if you are a fan of both species… then you will be disappointed to see one creature dominating the other.