Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem
1 rating since posting on Wednesday, December 26, 2007
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Overall Rating  based on 1 rating |
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Okay, so a movie that comes out Xmas day but it's not a family or Xmas movie. Interesting. The next in line for the combined Aliens and Predator franchises: you betcha my butt was in the seat opening day. Like AVP, this movie was quite superior to the final two Aliens movies (but that's a bit like Valedictorian of Summer School). However, this movie had a little more of the feel of a Halloween franchise. That's not to say it was formulaic, but it had gaping problems in how it handled a lot of the issues, and concentrated a lot more on the interpersonal reactions of the players. I could have done with less of the love triangle around the Hot Chick, and a little more exposition about the two main aliens. Aliens got away with it because it directly affected the group's relationship with the monsters, this didn't. *Begin Spoilers* Plot: AVPR starts at the same moment AVP ended: with the Alien-Predator hybrid popping on the Predator hunting ship. This alien seems to have the best of both races, so it acts with the hunter instincts, tactics, etc without the benefit of a queen. Let's call it a "king" Alien, you'll see why later. The King causes the demise of some of the members of the Antarctica hunting party, and in the fight their ship is damaged. This causes the hunting ship to crash land in the Colorado hills. And this is about where the problems begin. First, the only two people who see the crash (or feel, hear, etc) are two hunters, a father and 10 year old son. I know city folk are kinda oblivious, but absolutely NO one in the nearby city of Dennison (est population in excess of 100,000) brings up the flaming fireball in the sky, the resounding crash, or notices the large black scar in the hills. However, this is also where the film shows that it's not pulling any punches. On the ship, the surviving member of the hunting party has his arm/bomb short out and gets eaten by the King before being able to fix it. Several stored facegrabbers (from Antarctica we presume) get release and both of the two hunters become the first victims. At about this point the scene shifts to a surprise set: a predator world. Somme predator is sitting in an observation deck, and gets the signal from the ship crashing on Earth. I think this guy is supposed to be the Wolf from Pulp Fiction. He speeds off to Earth and begins cleaning up the mess. Of course, the only messes he bothers to clean up are the traces of the Aliens. He still takes time to hang and skin the occasional human and leave the trophy remnants behind. No explanation of this dichotomy or his reasons for cleaning up the site are given. But the Wolf arrives, checks out the site, takes some samples and leaves a bomb behind before tracking the grabbers into the city of Denison. Every Alien he takes out, or dead human host he comes across, he pours some mysterious blue goo onto and they dissolve into a sickly puddle in seconds. Again, no explanation. However, it IS clear that he's hunting down the King. Okay, time for a little backstory. The movie starts out with the trouble-making older brother getting off the bus (labeled "crested butte") and meeting his old friend, the new sheriff. the hothead younger brother is working a pizza job and is forced to deliver to the hot chick and her over territorial boyfriend. On the way out after the delivery, the aggressive boyfriend and two flunkies beat up the hothead and toss his keys in the sewer (where _we_ know the aliens have started nesting and feeding on the homeless). This causes the hot chick to break up with her boyfriend, and the hothead to walk home to get a baseball bat, apparently for the boyfriend. Upon arrival, he runs into the newly returned older brother and after a tete-a-tete they both cool down and decide to hunt for the keys. And finally, the hot female soldier returns from Iraq to her estranged family with the usual tensions of an extended absence from young children (10 year old daughter). *sigh* Okay, so, The flunkies get taken out pretty early, and the hot chick buys it from incidental fire. The younger brother manages to survive an alien tail to the back. Father buys it quick, the daughter makes it, the soldier is needed to fly the chopper out, so she lives. Sheriff and pizza boss buy it in poor decisions based on some loose contact with the military. The agro boyfriend outlives the hot chick, but only by about a minute, he's taken out by alien blood. The entire rest of the town is taken out by the military's brilliant plan: convince all the people to gather in the center of the city "for airlift out" then bomb them. Yup, they nuke the city, but leave the area where the original ship crashed alone and any stray facegrabbers that might have stayed in the area. Only the two brothers, the soldier and her daughter survive and crash land in the forest. The King displays a new and interesting talent. He is able to mimic the abilities of a facegrabber by injecting ova directly via mouth-to-mouth. He can apparently inject several at once, however, seems to need a pregnant woman to make it all work. Not sure why they had to be preggers, but that may have simply been a coincidence that he ran into the Maternity ward. And, also, like a queen he can control his minions, and displays above average intelligence. I feel that the King definitely satisfies the Alien tradition of presenting a new critter each movie. On the Predator side, we have a couple of new tech items in the arsenal. First is the blue goo. Who knows what it's really for, but it does neutralize pretty much anything Alien. We have a new addition to the faceplate tracking system: an analyzer from something that looked like a medkit that seemed to allow the Wolf to track a specific facegrabber. A shoulder blaster that can be unmounted and used like a shotgun. Somme kind of laser detection grid that gets put into play in the underground tunnels. Provides both remote viewing and might function as a backup weapon. And finally, the new cool hand weapon: a chain whip that appears to be invulnerable to alien blood. Now, this might have simply been an alien tail that he ripped off, but it looked to me like he pulled it out after losing the staff. I give this movie 4 stars, but only as compared to the full spectrum of SF trash out there. Compared to other A-list SF (IRobot, AVP, ST) this slug only warrants about 3 stars. The anti-clamactic and somewhat confusing ending take it down a bit. The over-emphasis on otherwise disposable characters, and the confusing subtones of the main monsters detract too much to maintain the illusion. Plot Holes: Odds of any soldier returning from Iraq today, very small, the odds that one would be returning to the one city that desperately needs on, nearly zero. Too convoluted of a device to introduce low-light goggles. Ship crashes on the opposite side of the mountain from the Dennison valley, how do we know that all the face grabbers will obediently (and idiotically) follow the King to Denison? The first two struck hunters in the area, why not hit some of the dear, bear, or mountain lions in the area? Why would the military assume that the valley would be the natural containment for an alien species? The Wolf takes great pains to clean up the crashed ship, alien bodies (at first), humans dead from incubating Aliens, etc. But takes the time to skin a human and hang him???? WTF? Is he cleaning up or showing off? National guard mobilizes and shows up... IN TANKS?!? ... about 30 seconds after being called. you can't get an ambulance as fast as they showed up. Military says that all roads out have been compromised. The heroes choose to disbelieve the other half of their communication and avoid the center of town. Why would they then still believe the story about the roads being closed? A little too convenient of a plot device to get them in direct conflict with the King (who has selected the ONLY building in town with light to infest). *sigh* The ending. Okay, this is CLEARLY an attempt to set up the next movie, and like the rest of the flick, it's done with all the elegance of a dying Soap Opera. But, let's take a little count of Predator artifacts on earth: 2, no, 3 staves, 1 net, 1 fork projectile, 1 floating laserdisk, blood, a med kit, and probably a few other things. How could one weapon, out of power, possibly teach us more about these guys? too much. Overall: see it. It doesn't suck. See it in a theater with good sound, it's worth that too. But don't pay full price, catch a matinee. - Tedward , posted 12/26/07 |
Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem was recommended for:
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