"Despite playing out more as homage, than a sequel, AVP:R is a lot of fun..."
While a financial success, the original Alien Vs Predator left a rather large hole in the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises, at least from a lot of fans' point of view. Feeling like it was a missed opportunity, many fans looked to Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem as a glimmer of hope to bring these two (or is it now one?) franchises back on track. Basically, the directors, the Brothers Strause, had nowhere to go but up and out of that hole.
Starting right where AVP left off, we find ourselves aboard a Predator ship, with the slain body of the last movie's main Pred laid out on an altar. Out of his chest bursts a baby alien, though different than any alien we've seen, as it appears this one is a hybrid of both of the title creatures. With the magic of a nice cut, some time passes, the thing grows up, and kills some Predators. During the attack, the ship gets damaged, and it crashes to Earth, releasing some facehuggers into the Colorado forest. A hapless father and son witness the crash, and while investigating the alien ship, are attacked and impregnated. Meanwhile, back at Predator Headquarters, a distress signal is detected, and one lone Predator gears up, then heads to Earth to clean up the mess.
(You can see all this online now, and with the exception on one quick shot of the hybrid creature shedding it's skin [showing some time has passed], it's pretty much the same in how it goes down)
After the break-neck pace of the opening 5 minutes, the film slows down a bit for the fodder, er, human introduction- Dallas (1st of many not-so-subtle throwbacks to the previous films), an ex-con who is just released from prison, and happens to be friends with Morales, the town's new Sheriff. There's also Dallas's younger brother Ricky, who pines away for the hot blonde Jesse. And finally there's Kelly, who's a soldier returning home from service, who has a husband and a daughter. We get very small glimpses into their lives. Not too much, just enough to get a slight history of each one.
All this set up felt like a film out of the 80's, as I recalled The Blob remake, though you may find something less random to compare it too. I don't mean this in a bad way, as it was cool to get this feeling in a movie again. I think some may find this part of the film a bit slow, but I always loved the set up of small town daily life, with everyone living their little dramas, juxtaposed against an unimaginable threat just out of sight.
As people go missing (remember those facehuggers, and oh yeah- the Predalien hybrid?), the police begin searching the woods. It's about this time that the badass looking Predator arrives on the scene, and when he crosses paths with humans that get in the way of his business, it's then that the action slowly starts ratcheting up to what we all want to see-
A hot blonde chick in her underwear! Wait, no. I mean- YES! But we also want to see a Predator fighting some Aliens, right? Well, we get that, for sure.
So is the movie good?
Like I was saying earlier, the first AVP left a hole of disappointment in the hearts of most fanboys. So what do the directors, along with writer Shane Salermo do? They take everything that was cool about Aliens and Predator, lay those parts out, fill in the blanks with some slightly sketched humans, throw a cool new monster in, ice the cake with some over-the-top violence (even for these films), and viola! A much better film than AVP.
Despite playing out more as homage, than a sequel, AVP:R is a lot of fun. Sure, there's the blatant Ripley/Newt dynamic. Sure there's the very familiar score by Brian Tyler, that's more of a mash-up of James Horner and Alan Silvestri, than anything else. Sure we get and APC-type vehicle smashing through things, and Colonial Marine-looking Nation Guard getting over-taken by aliens. And sure there's the Predator treating his injury, and even taking off his mask in the EXACT same way as the Pred in the 1st Predator film. There's even the return of one of Arnold's most quoted lines from Predator (much too my pleasure).
But it's these familiarities that remind us why the idea of taking these two movies, and Wolfman Vs Frankenstein-ing them, seems like such a badass idea. Because it is. The human story is just filler to when the two alien species clash onscreen. Sure, the humans get to kill some aliens, but nothing beats watching a Predator slice one to pieces with a saw-like bullwhip. Or blasting away hordes of aliens with double shoulder cannons. Or even just smashing one's head with his foot.
I'm glad we're getting a "give the people what they want film" this time, as it takes us to where the last film should have. Now, if this film is a success, I hope we get us a film that can take us to a somewhere totally new.
(Or, at least, to the lovely 1st AVP trade paperback, which inspired this whole "AVP thing", that I have sitting in front of me. Hint. Hint.)
gil@movieweb.com
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If they want nothing but a bloody kill fest. They bitch about "crappy dialogue".
If they want nothing but great shakspearing monologues they whine constantly about "crappy characters" etc. This MOVIE WAS A HORROR/ACTION FLICK!!!!!! Don't expect Shakspear from a action movie for friggin sakes.
AVP:R was great in my opinion. It allowed for a knock down, drag out fight between these two icons of scifi horror to clash in a modern setting WITHOUT completely throwing out the timeline for one of the protagonists. I mean come friggin on people! In order for Earth to be CONSUMED by xenomorphs you have to completely throw out the timeline for the original movies. While it would be fun to watch, still I understand why it simply would not be.
Another thing, they kept to the natures of the creatures they are dealing with UNLIKE the travesty called AVP. I am speaking specifically about the Predator in this installment. It acted more like a badassed intergalactic big game hunter, which I think would obviously NEVER team up with "prey".
And I liked the little depth they dove to in the human characters. Made them real enough to me that I could actually believe they are real people.
All in all. I say it was a good view but I would have prefered to not seen the predalien be a mobile queen.
Oh yea on that note: XENOMOPRHS TAKE ON A LITTLE BIT OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THEIR HOSTS PEOPLE!!!!!
Thusly your going to get a xenomorph with some Predator attributes from a predator host. Remember the dog from I think Alien 3? I am sick and tired of people claiming to love the alien series yet seem to NOT know that one, I thought, obvious fact.
In the distant future (after the aliens film) on a distant humid wet planet a weyland yutani mining colony has been in open revolt over intolerable living conditions. Predators are drawn to the conflict to hunt the combatants of both the revolt and the companies marines. Its been going on for a long time and its costing the company money. The resources are too valuable to abandon or risk destroying so in a last ditch effort the company decides to release it newest biological weapon Aliens. They believe they can control them; NOT. And there you have it; Bad ass future guns, space marines, predators, aliens. Now if a fat fucking gamer like me can come up with that why can't they?
I don't know what the budget was for AVP:R but if you give me a $60 million budget (reportedly the same as AVP1), you're damned straight I'll make a better film than AVP:R. In fact, if I go under budget, I'll go ahead and keep the difference.
Sure, the Wolf Predator is cool. I thought her work with the whip against the Alien drones was awesome. However, I'd think that more seasoned hunters don't waste shots at their prey. She should have gotten close to the drones (like at the power plant) and made sure to shoot to kill. The Wolf wasted 2, sometimes 3 shots on a single drone. Sloppy hunting work. I don't get it when people keep declaring her a badass.
Then again, Wolf's effectiveness is among the least of AVP:R's problems. At least, in my opinion.
NOW THIS WOULD MAKE FOR A KICK ASS NEW SERIES!
to both the Alien & Predator films!
I.E. There is certain parts where the score to "Aliens" can be hard, & 1 of the characters is named Dallas ect! That is what made the film fun!
Like most people who grew up in the 80's I'm a huge fan of both franchises. & I to have read the "Aliens vs. Predator" book series, own the films- And like most fans I was not pleased with the first offering of "AVP".
"AVP: Requiem" gets very primal; you've never seen anything like it on film. No one is safe in this movie, all bets are off!
But "AVP Requiem" does pick up immediately after the events of "Alien vs. Predator". The Predator, who was impregnated by a face hugger before being killed by an Alien Queen at the end of the first film, gives birth to a Predalien on board his clan's ship. Once this happens all hell breaks loose!
The direction is top notch, the character development is good (not great, but still good), & the action never stops once it takes off.
I also like the fact the Predalien was sort of a hybred queen alien. (Though it is not explained how, the creature has the ability to produce and spread Alien eggs to human victims through a similar process as the 'facehugger', since it does not die once passing on the eggs.)
I loved the fact they brought the action into our own backyard, & not some silly Antarctica outpost!
Most of the action is set out in the open but with a cover of rain and darkness, unlike in "AVP: Alien vs. Predator"; no tunnels and claustrophobia here.
You really didn't need to see what the Predator or Alien looked like! I mean come on after several films with both characters we "Know" what they look like!
& that is what made it frightening!! TO me the dark and the rain made the film! You know something is out there, but what it is your not sure of!!
I HAVE ALL THE PREDATOR BOOKS, ALIEN BOOKS AND ALL THE ALIEN VS PREDATOR BOOKS AND COMIC BOOKS, THE MOVIE STAYED TRUE TO THE PREDATOR LURE THE PREDATOR RACE PRIDES IT SELF AS BEING THE ULTIMATE HUNTERS THEY LIVE FOR IT, THEY ALSO FEEL THAT THE ALIENS IS THE ULTIMATE PREY AND WHEN MOST GO OUT AND HUNT, THEY HUNT ALONE THAT IS IF ITS NOT A RIGHT OF PASSAGE, SUCH AS THE FIRST MOVIE "AVP" WHICH HAD IT MOMENTS BUT STILL BLOWN.
THE THING ABOUT THIS MOVIE THAT I HATED, AND I MUST TELL YOU I'M A FILM MAKER AS WELL, IS THE FACT THAT IT WAS TO DARK TO MANY CLOSE UPS AND THE FACT THAT IT STOLE SO MANY SCENES FROM THE OTHER MOVIES.
WHAT MADE IT WORK BEFORE WITH THE CLOSE UPS AND NOT SHOWING PEOPLE FULLY WHAT THE BEAST LOOKED LIKE WAS THE FACT THAT WE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE, THE FIRST MOVIE OF BOTH PROVED THAT. IN "ALIEN" WE ONLY SEEN SMALL GLIMPSE OF IT... IN FACT WE ONLY SEEN THE BEAST ONCE AND THATS WHEN IT WAS BLOWN OUT THE SHIP. IN "PREDATOR" ITS THE SAME THING WE NEVER TRULY SEE IT FULLY ONLY TILL THE SECOND MOVIE DO WE REALLY SEE FULLY.
CLOSE UPS AND THE FACT THEY THE DIRECTORS WAS PLAYING EVERYTHING OUT IN THE RAIN WAS GREAT BUT CLOSE DON'T ALLOW YOU TO SEE ANYTHING ITS LIKE MOVING YOU FINGERS REAL CLOSE IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE, REAL FAST YOU KNOW THERE'S SOMETHING GOING ON BUT YOU REALLY CAN'T MAKE IT OUT, YEAH THATS ACTION BUT IS IT REALLY ENTERTAINING NO ITS NOT. "LOOK AT THE TRANSFORMERS MOVIE" ALL ACTION BUT YOU DON'T REALLY SEE ANYTHING, DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE CLOSE UP FIGHTS SCENES...LOL...IT DON'T WORK. FOR WHAT EVERY REASON DIRECTORS USE IT FOR. IT JUST DON'T WORK FOR A GOOD FIGHT SCENE WHERE THERE'S BEAST / MONSTERS FIGHTING, THE FIGHT SCENES IN "KING KONG" WAS BETTER WAS CAUSE WE GOT TO SEE EVERYTHING, PUTTING ASIDE THE FACT THAT WE CARED FOR THE BEAST, THE DIRECTOR KNEW THAT WE REALLY NOT GOING TO SEE THE MOVIE ABOUT THE GIRL NO WE GOING TO THE MOVIE TO SEE KONG. SO LET US SEE WHATS GOING ON.
ANOTHER THING THAT MADE THE MOVIE NOT WHAT IT COULD HAVE BEEN, AND I THINK THE MOVIE WAS GREAT IT WORKED FOR ME ON a lot OF LEVELS, WAS THE FACT THAT JUST ABOUT EVERY SEEN HE TOOK FROM ANOTHER MOVIE, THAT FIRST SCENE WHEN THE BOY AND FATHER GET KILLED WAS FROM "ALIENS" WITH RIPELY AND NUTE WAS IN SLEEPING IN THE ROOM AND FACE HUGGERS WAS LET LOSE, NOW THERE IS TONS MORE TRUST ME JUST ABOUT EVERY SCENE WAS TOOK FROM ANOTHER MOVIE BUT THEN DONE AS IF TO SAY WHAT IF THIS HAPPEN .... WELL, LETS TAKE A LOOK... LOL
I LOVE THE MOVIE IT WAS FUN AND ENTERTAINING AND THATS WHAT A GOOD MOVIE IS MADE TO DO, IF YOU MAKING IT MORE THEN THAT THAT YOU SHOULDN'T GO SEE THE DAMN THING
I LOVE ALL ENTERTAINMENT ... CAUSE ITS NOT THERE FOR NO OTHER REASON BUT TO BRING US FROM OUR REAL WORLD AND ENTERTAIN... SO FOR THE ONES THAT LOSE THAT FACT "LIGHTEN FUCK UP"
The Hybrid (PredAlien)'s never-before-seen reproduction stage is simply bogus in my book. Just plain crap.
I could go on but AVP:R just had too few good points to really carry it along. Sure, the blondie is hot but, oh well. I won't spoil the movie for anyone here.
AVP:R = disappointing. I think fans are better off just playing the original arcade game (with Lt. Linn Kurosawa) or reading the original comic book. Why can't Hollywood just bring those to movie screens in live-action?
I wish I had some blue liquid to pour over AVP:R so we could all deny the movie ever existed.
I for one loved the hospital sceans! Very nasty! You may never look at childbirth the same way again!!
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/bdtv/search.php?tag=%20avpr%20clip
EXACTLY.