Released: December 2007
Directors: The Brothers Strause(Colin and Greg Strause
Run Time: 94 Minutes
Rated R
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Science Fiction/Action/Horror
Cast:
Steven Pasquale: Dallas
Reiko Aylesworth: Kelly
John Ortiz: Moralez
Johnny Lewis: Ricky
Ariel Gade: Molly
Cross-over films have been around since the days of the Universal Monster movies. You know, Dracula, Frankenstein, and all those films. But during that time period, you began to see movies with Dracula going up against the likes of the Wolfman and the Frankenstein monster. The concept of the cross-over film is not a new one. This kind of film didn’t really start picking up again until we saw Freddy Krueger’s clawed glove show up in Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday. The thing is, is that The Final Friday wasn’t the first film in the 90s to tease a potential match-up between iconic movie monsters. There’s a scene in Predator 2 in which Danny Glover’s character boards the Predator ship and sees their trophy wall. An astute observer will notice that one of the trophy skulls on that wall is that of the xenomorph from the Alien films. When people saw that, speculation spread like wildfire. The idea got so much attention that comics were made as well as some video games during that decade. The idea of a live-action match-up of the Predator and the xenomorph was just too tempting. In 2004, director Paul W.S. Anderson and 20th Century Fox released Alien Vs. Predator in theaters to…….mixed reviews. People were confused: A film featuring two of science fiction’s most iconic creatures, both being R-rated properties themselves were put into a PG-13 film. To be fair, I didn’t think it was that bad of a film. It was straight-forward, it knew what it was, and it knew that it needed to deliver. For the most part, I think it did, it just wasn’t as savage as it probably needed to be considering the creatures involved. Well, after complaints from the audience, Fox green-lit another film to be released during the Christmas season of 2007: Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem. The resulting film was…….savaged by both audiences and critics alike. So, what did yours truly think of it? Let’s take a gander, shall we?
Following the events Alien Vs. Predator, Requiem sees a group of Predators leaving Earth’s orbit with the body of their fallen comrade. All of a sudden a Predator-Xenomorph hybrid bursts from the body and causes the alien ship to crash land back on earth outside of the town of Gunnison, Colorado. A father and his son, who are out hunting, discover the ship only to be attacked by facehuggers. The resulting creatures and the “pred-alien” hybrid make their way towards town in search of potential victims. If you go into a movie with Aliens Vs. Predator for the title and expect a good story, you’re not going to get it here. I’m not going to lie: The idea of a xenomorph invasion of Earth is actually a freaky idea. It’s been done in comic books, novels and video games, but it really hasn’t been done on film before. In the hands of better film-makers, it might have worked, but with Colin and Greg Strause at the helm, it comes across as ineffectual. The entire film is set within the city of Gunnison, yet it feels far too big to be really effective.
Shrouding a film in darkness does not build tension. Tension comes from what you don’t see, this is true, but the problem that the Strause brothers got themselves into was thinking that under-lighting a film creates tension. I said that tension comes from what you don’t or can’t see, but shrouding a film in darkness doesn’t create tension. This is a dark film. I’m not talking in terms of tone. That issue I’ll get to later. No, this film is literally dark. The lighting in the film makes it so that you can barely make out what’s going on. This is almost as bad as shaky-cam. Say what you will about the first AVP, you could at least see what’s going on. The shots and the lighting in that film were actually pretty good. That because Paul W.S. Anderson at least understood that you want the audience to see the action. In Requiem, the film is constantly in the shadows. Even the scenes that take place in daylight are darker than in real life. If it was supposed to create some kind of mood, the Strause brothers failed, because the actual tone of the film is all over the place.
I get the feeling that what the Strause brothers were going for in terms of tone was a combination of the serious and gritty atmosphere of the first two Alien films and the B-level aspects of Predator with questionable success. This film feels like Aliens Vs. Predator Vs. Seventh Heaven. You got these two iconic monsters thrown into the middle of some really weak-ass human drama. I don’t go to a movie called Aliens Vs. Predator for the human drama. I went to Aliens Vs. Predator for the monster-on-monster carnage. I think I got it, but again, you can’t tell because the film is poorly lit. Even on Blu-Ray, the lighting is dubious. That brings me to the acting in the film, if you can call it acting. The idea of acting is to pretend to be somebody you’re not. Here, these people are pretending to be acting. The acting here is abysmal. The characters are so poorly written and conceived that I honestly didn’t care if they lived or died. In a horror movie, you want to be able to connect with characters so that you can feel that these people are actually in danger. Not here. Everybody is pretty much cannon fodder. The Strause brothers basically turned this movie into a glorified slasher flick. If that’s what you came to see than you may not walk away disappointed.
You know, I really do appreciate it when a horror or science fiction film doesn’t pull its punches in terms of violence. I admire that, really. However, the tone is also important when it comes to on screen violence. The violence in the Predator and Alien movies was for a reason. You basically understood what the characters in those films were up against. That also adds to the tension. The problem with Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem is that it’s really fucking mean-spirited in terms of its violence. Don’t get me wrong, I really like it when nobody is safe in a movie. Not even kids. But the level of violence directed towards kids in this movie is pretty brutal. Not only that, but I think the pregnant women in this film almost get the worst of it when they’re attacked by the hybrid. I’m a total gore-hound. I love the spilling of blood and guts as much as the next guy, but even I had to ask, “Was that really necessary?” The violence in this movie is simply there for the shock value and quite frankly, it doesn’t work. When I first saw this movie back in 2007, I honestly got a kick out of all the violence. Getting older, though, you realize that there needs to be more in a film to justify the level of violence that’s being displayed and Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem just doesn’t justify it. I’m not saying that the film should’ve been PG-13. Far from it, but the over-the-top level of graphic violence in the film is almost hilarious. When you look back at the first two Alien films, they weren’t overly gory. There was some gore here and there, but there was also restraint. AVP: R is simply unrestrained violence, and I can dig it when I’m in the right mood.
Is there anything good to say about Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem? Yeah, the creature designs are awesome. The hybrid is fantastically designed, when you can see it. It’s an imposing figure as is the Predator. The film isn’t boring. In fact, it moves at a really quick pace. It’s over before you realize it. We get to see the Predators’ home world for the first time which was awesome, but it didn’t last very long. Some of the action is pretty good. The sound design is incredible, as well as the music by Brian Tyler. Unfortunately, the film is let down by shoddy directing, bad lighting, a terrible script, god-awful acting, and violence that comes across as extremely mean-spirited at times. This should have been the Aliens Vs. Predator film that people were asking for, but instead, we get a film mired in bad film-making and bad decisions. I will fully admit that I enjoy the film from time to time. In fact, I loved it when it came out, but it’s not a very good movie. I would still put it above Alien: Resurrection any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Fact of the matter is, is that the AVP movies are disposable. If you’re a fan of Alien and/or Predator, stick with those ones.
My Final Recommendation: “The government doesn’t lie to people!” 5/10.