Aliens Versus Predator: Requiem (2007)
2007-12-26
I went into this movie knowing nothing. I purposefully avoided all trailers and production stills, so I had no expectations except for those that were set by the extremely disappointing AvP. Aliens Versus Predator: Requiem picks up exactly where the first one left off, is a hell of a lot more brutal, but overall ends up being only slightly better of a movie. I was exhausted by the 45 minute mark... not because of the brutality, but because there were literally as many scene changes as there were minutes by that point.
I think the action cinematography was very effective. I was especially a fan of the predator hunts in the sewer scene. The effects by and large were really good, with one notable exception being the crappy CG effect of the predator's cloak. I'm not sure how they did it in predator 1 & 2... but the cloak looked better in those movies than it did in this movie.
The music was very uneven. When is wasn't generic droning, it only served to remind me of much better films. At one point near the end, I think when they're entering the staircase, I could swear they were ripping off the Total Recall soundtrack.
This next point kinda ties in with the "scene a minute" problem I had with the pacing and story... there were too many characters, all of whom you don't care anything about. Alien and Aliens made memorable characters out of every single company employee and space marine. Predator and Predator 2... every single commando and cop was important to the stories. AvP2 goes the route of AvP1, and gives us generic fodder that you have absolutely no emotional investment in, and you end up rooting for the Aliens. I kept expecting Dennis Leary to show up and call Garrity a fucking dipshit. Not to say the actor who played him acted like that character from another show... but just that I couldn't think of anything else because aside from the scene that introduced him as a drifter ex-con... he had zero character development. And that guy is the closest thing this movie gives us to a hero. So you root for the Aliens. So much that you laugh when "main" characters die, and you(i) end up wanting insane things like a badass Predalien to eat a nursery full of babies. IMO, they would have been better off just copying the Critters 2 plot and placing it at Christmas instead of easter, than giving us this poorly written hodgepodge.
All that negativity being said, part of me enjoyed this garbage. I'd say this is a "rental"... but this is the type of movie that really lends itself to the big screen. So... buy a ticket for a good movie that you've already seen, like No Country For Old Men, or Sweeney Todd, and then theater-hop to see this. And then never watch it again. If AvP was 5/10 then AVP:R is a 6/10.
Labels: review
posted by pureevilmatt @ 00:47,
