Aliens Versus Predator Requiem.
Where do i begin? Im a huge fan of both franchises, and when i heard in 2004 that Fox was going to be releasing an Aliens vs. Predator movie, i was stoked!
AVP back in 2004 was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, who from what i have heard has been ruining film franchises for a long while. and when i saw the amazingly bad, PG13 rated Aliens vs. Predator in theaters back in '04 i knew exactly why. There was virtually no plot, it was mindless clash of the titans action that only the most loyal fans of the Aliens and predator series would enjoy... and even then only slightly.
for the reasons mentioned above, i was not too optimistic about Aliens Vs. predator Requiem, in fact, i wasnt even going to go see it in theaters, i planned on shamefully going to wal mart and buying it out of the bargain bin while hiding my face from onlookers for fear of being branded a fan of crappy films.
but, my wife and i had little to do this evening after the Christmas celebrations and we were looking for some entertainment. We decided that we could go see national treasure: book of secrets (again) or we could give AVPR a chance. we elected to see AVPR.
WOW. :o
lets start off with a definition of the word "requiem", dictionary.com says "A solemn mass sung for the repose of the souls of the dead." fitting considering that the Aliens and Predator franchise was ruined almost irreversibly by AVP director Paul W.S. Anderson!!
(as a reminder) after the final battle in AVP, the dead predator is taken on board the ship by his "friends" where they lay him on an alter and begin the trip back to their home world. Just before the credits roll, a hybrid alien/predator erupts from his chest and roars at the camera.
This time, under the direction of "the Brothers Strause" (Colin and Greg), the movie begins where the last film left off. the alien hybrid grows, and attacks the remaining predators on board, killing them all. the ship, damaged during the fighting inside seems to autopilot back to the point of departure, earth... where it crashes in a mountain range near a small Colorado town. Some of the alien face huggers are freed from their containment vessels during the crash scene... uh oh.
First Contact:
Hunting in the Colorado mountains a boy and his father stumble across the accident and are almost immediately overcome by the face huggers which implant the eggs inside them kicking off the infestation.
zoom out about a million light years, a predator sitting in some sort of command room receives the distress signal from his fallen friends, and springs immediately into action, gathering up his weaponry and loading into the space craft bound for earth. the viewer is left with the feeling that the predator has an "Uh oh!" moment, and that their race has some sort of protocol for containing situations in which hunted races face the possibility of cohabitation.
the predator arrives on earth and immediately begins to destroy any evidence of the predators or the aliens as he hunts down the aliens one. You get the feeling that he is very experienced, surgical, has a well defined plan of dealing with this situation.
If Chuck Norris was a predator:
Unlike the last film... this predator is tough. It takes you back to the older predator movies in which the character kicks azz and takes names! he ambushes aliens, and takes them down in epic hand to hand combat 3 to 5 at a time on occasion.
The predator frequently elects not to kill humans, (perhaps as if they are out of hunting season?) only killing a human if the incident is collateral damage or if the human attacks him first or the predator thinks the human might compromise the secrecy of his alien quarantine operation.
the predator character definitely becomes more complex in this film, in one scene for example; actually showing respect and sadness upon finding his dead comrades within the crashed ship by gently placing his hand on the fallen predators helmet, shaking his head slowly and then bowing his head, as if to say "Damn... they got george, i knew george, he was a good soldier".
to offer up any further information would be incredibly difficult without massive amounts of spoilers. but if you disliked the last AVP film, you will love this one...
and if you're an Aliens or Predator fan who thought the last film butchered the series (which it did)... well... be prepared to have new life breathed into the flaring nostrils of this franchise.
i give this movie 4 out of 5 stars!
Simviation Forums
Flight Simulator and other chat
:-/