Alien Vs Predator: Requiem (15.)
Directed by Colin and Greg Strause.
Starring Reiko Aylesworth, Steven Pasquale, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis, Ariel Gade. 86 mins
After the worst film title of the year – Lust, Caution – last week, this one sees the release of surely one of the all time great movie titles, a piece of pure poetry. If it was simply called AvP2 you wouldn’t be reading a review here. A Two is all too avoidable, but you just can’t ignore a Requiem, particularly a Requiem for Alien vs. Predator.
Of course, despite the strange excitement provoked by the title, the expection was it’d be rubbish. But, as cheap mindless instalments designed to sieve out a few dollars more from a franchise that has long since bid fond farewell to any semblance of inspiration or point go, it’s not too bad.
This time the conflict takes place in present day Colorado, in a mountain town. The human cast are a dull old lot – a woman who used to have a desk job in 24, a sheriff who always looks like he’s close to tears - but it doesn’t matter as, on average, most people are dead within a minute of appearing on screen. This is no Hitchcockian exercise in tension and suspense but debutant directors The Brothers Strause (special effects bods who’ve worked on Fantastic Four, X-Men, 300) provide a well turned out procession of blood splattered mayhem.
I had a thoroughly good time at AVPR though judging by the sinfonia of groans and sighs from the rest of the audience I was the only one.
There is one very major failing with the whole Alien vs. Predator concept – it’s a total miss match. Alien remains a horror classic. Three decades on from Ridley Scott’s original, HR Giger’s design continues to thrill, while all the Facehugging and Chestbursting, though overdone, is as potent a horror standard as Dracula baring his fangs to sink into an exposed neck. The Predator, a big dreadlocked Rasta dressed up in a metal suit, on the other hand is the sort of monster you might see on a duff Doctor Who.
Directed by Colin and Greg Strause.
Starring Reiko Aylesworth, Steven Pasquale, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis, Ariel Gade. 86 mins
After the worst film title of the year – Lust, Caution – last week, this one sees the release of surely one of the all time great movie titles, a piece of pure poetry. If it was simply called AvP2 you wouldn’t be reading a review here. A Two is all too avoidable, but you just can’t ignore a Requiem, particularly a Requiem for Alien vs. Predator.
Of course, despite the strange excitement provoked by the title, the expection was it’d be rubbish. But, as cheap mindless instalments designed to sieve out a few dollars more from a franchise that has long since bid fond farewell to any semblance of inspiration or point go, it’s not too bad.
This time the conflict takes place in present day Colorado, in a mountain town. The human cast are a dull old lot – a woman who used to have a desk job in 24, a sheriff who always looks like he’s close to tears - but it doesn’t matter as, on average, most people are dead within a minute of appearing on screen. This is no Hitchcockian exercise in tension and suspense but debutant directors The Brothers Strause (special effects bods who’ve worked on Fantastic Four, X-Men, 300) provide a well turned out procession of blood splattered mayhem.
I had a thoroughly good time at AVPR though judging by the sinfonia of groans and sighs from the rest of the audience I was the only one.
There is one very major failing with the whole Alien vs. Predator concept – it’s a total miss match. Alien remains a horror classic. Three decades on from Ridley Scott’s original, HR Giger’s design continues to thrill, while all the Facehugging and Chestbursting, though overdone, is as potent a horror standard as Dracula baring his fangs to sink into an exposed neck. The Predator, a big dreadlocked Rasta dressed up in a metal suit, on the other hand is the sort of monster you might see on a duff Doctor Who.
