AVPR - Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem

Directed by: Colin and Greg Strauss

Starring: Stephen Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, Jon Ortiz

Synopsis:

AVPR follows on directly from the first Alien Vs Predator movie. Having recovered their fallen comrade, the Predators leave the Antarctic and head for space. However the dead Predator has been implanted with an Alien embryo which hatches and causes havoc onboard, causing the spaceship to crash just outside the sleepy town in Colorado. The Predators are able to send a distress signal back to their home planet, and a "fixer" is sent to destroy all evidence of the Aliens and the dead Predators and their ship. Meanwhile, the Alien/Predator hybrid is out creating a nest...

Review:

I saw the first of this cash-in series on DVD and enjoyed it. Pity it was the PG-13 version though. Aliens without a bit of gore is like a foam party without the foam. When a sequel was announced, I groaned. Why? I'm a big fan of the following; Alien, Aliens, Predator 1 and 2. Not expecting anything, I went into watching AvP2 with an open mind. I saw the theatrical version and this extended version. My feelings toward the movie are much like that of MikeOutWest . This could have been any horror movie. It was as if the studios blew the dust off an old script and exchanged the existing threat with Aliens and a Predator. I can see the execs around a table in a way similar to the UK Orange mobile phone ads that were aired at the cinemas. "People wanted the Aliens to visit Earth , let's give them a movie that does just that".

To me, the movie's tone and structure is a lot like the 1988 remake of The Blob, with Kevin Dillon. At some points I recognised actual scenes from that movie. As The Blob 1988 was a guilty pleasure of mine, it didn't bother me too much. Some notable similarities are:

the participation of vagrants to the story and how they end up early victims. In The Blob, a local friendly vagrant walks his dog through the forest, to witness the alien lifeform crashing through the trees. He is rewarded with his investigation of the crash site with a piece of Blob that eventually consumes him.

Also, in The Blob '88, a plucky young waitress is introduced, played by Candy Clark. She looks to be a major character until she goes into the kitchen to find the Chef being eaten by The Blob. She suffers a similar fate. In AvP2, Gina Holden plays a waitress in an all too familiar sceanario. But I bit twice, I thought she'd last more than two minutes.

The cast is competent too. The casting was made up of some familiar and well liked actors from T.V. shows. Now, not that long ago, if we said that a movie was populated by TV actors it often meant that the movie was a bit bargain basement and the quality of the performances were suspect. Now, this is not the case. Demands on quality acting in both TV and film are quite high. I'm not talking oscar winning, but good solid performances and we get this in AvP2's cast. Reiko Aylesworth (Michelle Dessler in 24) plays a strong female lead. John Ortiz, (who I'm ashamed to say that I didn't recognise from the awesome 2006 picture Miami Vice.) playes the sheriff. Steven Pasquale (Rescue Me) puts in a good turn as an older brother looking to get on the straight and narrrow, after jail time only to get swept up in the extra-terrestrial threat. Johnny Lewis plays his younger, geekier brother. Lewis is quite the TV veteran, despite being only 25. A special mention must got to Ariel Gade, who was very good in the show, Invasion. She continues a strong career at the tender age of 11.

Another aspect of the movie that I enjoyed was the score. Brian Tyler has composed some stirring scores for movies such as Bubba Ho-Tep (not a well known movie, but a moving score), Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and recently (referencing Jerry Goldsmith's theme) Rambo. In AvP2, Tyler adds note of Jerry Goldsmith's Alien score, James Horner's score for Aliens, and Alan Silvestri's Predator score. Some of the references are subtle, some are overt like the Predator jungle sound. This meant that there was a little more familarity and was also great for us soundtrack collectors.

It's not only The Blob that was used as a template, some scenes appear to be taken or borrowed from the original Alien and Predator sagas. When the National Guard hit town, they are dispatched rapidly, with helmet mounted cameras, similar to the massacre in Aliens. I almost thought I heard Michael Beihn shout "Wierzbowski". Robert Joy's satellite system has the same sound effect of the Colonial Marines tracking device. The Alien's shriek as they're dispatched owes more to the movie Aliens than the subsquent films. Aylesworth gets a genuine Ripley moment as she takes command of an APC.

There's no point in highlighting much of the bad points in a movie like this. If you've read this far, you've either seen it already or are interested enough to switch off and enjoy it anyway. It's not a great movie, but neither is it a bad one. One aspect made me laugh a little. The Predator spends most of the first quarter of the movie in stealth mode getting rid of the evidence of both Aliens and it's human victims. Later, a nest (?) of Aliens burst forth from the roadway, so does the Predator. It's as if the creature thinks "Ah, screw it! I've had enough of tip-toeing around". Not a major flaw, but funny. I'm not sure it was intentional.

I didn't notice much difference from the threatrical version; just a bit more gore and characterisation.

Verdict:

Overall, I have every sympathy with fans who demand a quality Alien movie, or a Predator one for that matter, and who feel that this was a "cheap" money-making exercise. I agree. But, we didn't get a film to the quality of Aliens. One day we might. I live in hope.

6 out of 10 (Wayfarer)