People aren’t wrong for believing that a franchise featuring two of the greatest predatory enemies going hand to claw in gruesome combat would be an awesome sight to behold. It would be. Unfortunately, even after the second take – it hasn’t reached such a level. Aliens Versus Predator: Requiem corrects many of the mistakes of its predecessor only to trip once again on unsatisfying action and excitement. What do we want to see? We want to see full-blown battles of Predators using high-tech tools to obliterate the cunningly vicious Alien species. AVP:R instead opts to give humans being ripped to pieces by Aliens as the Predator hunts them down and kills them off with little ceremony.
A Predator ship passing by Earth suffers a cataclysmic accident when the Alien-Predator hybrid escapes from its cage and kills most of the Predator crew. The ship crashes to earth and the battle between Humans, Predators and Aliens begins anew. The Predator kills everything in its path as it seeks out and destroys all of the Aliens that have bred off the unsuspecting humans.
As always the concept is incredibly simple with the main focus being gore and the promise of a face off between the Sci Fi Horror genre’s favorite two creatures. In this way could AVP:R have been any less satisfying? The final bout between the two creature protagonists is anti-climactic and nowhere near as cool as it should have been. In fact compared to the first it seems to pale in comparison. AVP:R only amped up the human deaths. What the hell is that? If I wanted to watch humans die at the hands of Aliens or Predators I’d watch the original films of those two franchises – after all the creature effects in those two were so much cooler.
On the bright side – Aliens Versus Predator: Requiem marks the series’ return to using actual rubber costumes to bring the Aliens to life. The CG Aliens of Resurrection and the first AVP were shameful and deplorable cop-outs in the eyes of the Sci-Fi horror audience. Unfortunately, AVP:R doesn’t totally undo this calamity. When the Alien spawn burst forth from human chests, Directors The Brothers Strauss chose to use CGI Alien babies instead of good old fashioned puppets. Is it just me or was the alien puppet chest burst one of the most horrific images to survive from the horror movies of old? To replace such a brilliant piece of horror puppetry with a CGI abomination which looks like tripe hurts my brain. But, when the large rubber suit Aliens do get the attention they deserve it’s a very refreshing and cool sight to behold.
Reiko Aylesworth, from 24, plays the military mother who acts as the point person for the surviving group of hapless villagers. It’s no mistake that at times her appearance and voice resemble Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, and while I appreciate the throwback, I find that its failure to reproduce the same amazing female figure to be all the greater of a disappointment. The human survivors do have this on their side - they seem to have a better knack for survival than most small town dwellers placed in harm’s way.
Steven Pasquale plays Dallas Howard, an ex-convict fresh out of jail and determined to set himself and his younger brother on an honest path. I enjoy Pasquale in Rescue Me and I must say he maintains much of the same character in AVP:R though slightly less clueless.
There’s never any doubt in Aliens Versus Predator: Requiem as to who’s going to survive – the poor writing makes this abundantly clear.
In the long run AVP:R sees a steep increase in overall quality over its predecessor yet it still fails to deliver on the main draw of the pairing: an all-out, no holds barred fight between the two nasties. How can two entries in the saga have passed by and both having neglected the most important feature of the concept? If you liked the first – the second will please you to no end. If you’re an AVP faithful – see it because the more people who do the higher the likelihood that a third will get made. And here’s hoping that the third installment will feature the main event.
On a sidenote: there’s a scene where two aliens corner a woman in a kitchen and for a split second I thought they’d give a little shout out to the famous Jurassic Park scene – only to be horrendously disappointed at the scene’s abrupt and totally lackluster end. Ah well, we can’t all have Michael Crichton’s genius.
"Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" opens December 25, 2007 and is rated R. Horror. Directed by The Brothers Strause. Written by Shane Salerno. Starring Reiko Aylesworth, Steven Pasquale, John Ortiz, Shareeka Epps, Johnny Lewis, Sam Trammell.
