Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem begins mere seconds after the original AVP films ends, with the hybrid alien bursting from the chest of the dead Predator on board their spaceship. Taking over a smaller, scouting vessel that’s been sent back to earth, the hybrid unleashes an army of face-huggers (all conveniently pre-packaged on board the ship in mini tubes) on the unsuspecting townsfolk in the wilds of Colorado (but actually filmed in the wilds of Vancouver, B.C. in Canada). The Brothers Strause, the co-directors of AVP:R, show us right off the bat that nobody’s safe in this film by having a father and his young son overcome by face huggers (which is probably the one time when playing video games would have been a much better idea than going to the Great Outdoors).
The Predators aboard the scout ship manage to get an SOS out to their brethren, who sent back one--just one--Predator hunter to deal with the situation. He goes around pouring some blue goop over the alien-ravaged victims to cover up their presence--which makes sense, because it would be in the Predator’s best interest to cover their tracks from humans. Yet when a local cop stumbles onto the Predator, he flays the cop’s body and hangs it upside-down from a tree for everybody to see! If the Predator doesn’t care if somebody comes across his own kill, then why even bother covering up the Aliens’ tracks to begin with?
But that major contradiction is just one example of the lame script that AVP:R is saddled with; where the first AVP focused on the sympathetic Artic explorer Lex Woods, here we have a smorgasbord of future victims to choose from--all of whom are so blandly written, that you can’t wait for them to be killed by the monsters. Another major problem with AVP:R is that the movie is too dark--and I don’t mean the tone of the film, but literally: you can’t see anything! There are long stretches where all you can see is inky shades of black, accompanied by ominous music and growling. In some scenes, it’s actually impossible to make out what’s going on.
And what we can see is basically a bad re-hash of James Cameron’s Aliens, especially in a derivative scene where national guard troops come up against an army of Aliens. I kept expecting to hear Aliens’ Sgt. Apone start shouting orders ("Go to infrared, people--look sharp!" Watch those corners!") The problem is that this obvious "homage" to Aliens is nowhere as good, nor is it as smartly handled, as Cameron’s masterpiece was. The first AVP was very silly; yet it was still good, clean goofy fun--notably in the scenes where the Aliens and Predators squared off against each other. But AVP:R is just an exercise in frustration.
--SF
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