Alien vs. Predator: Requiem Review

Posted by Jerome Cusson on 01.07.2008

See if this film is better than it's mediocre predecessor



Steven Pasquale - Dallas
Reiko Aylesworth - Kelly
John Ortiz - Morales
Johnny Lewis - Ricky
Ariel Gade - Molly
Kristen Hager - Jesse
Sam Trammell - Tim
Robert Joy - Col. Stevens
David Paetkau – Dale
20th Century Fox presents a film by Colin Strause and Greg Strause and written by Shane Salerno. Running Time: 86 minutes. Rated R for violence, gore, and language.

When I considered reviewing this film, I wanted to make sure I could say that there was the potential for something good. The above trailer, which I highly recommend you watch before continuing to read, is what made me think this film would be decent at least, However, what was created instead has nowhere near the tension, nowhere near the action, and nowhere near what the title even advertised.

The plot deals with the ramifications of a half-breed alien/predator coming from the first film. Despite being on a ship of predators, the half-breed escapes and goes down to earth, specifically to a small town in Colorado. As the ship of the half-breed crashes in a forest area, a father and son are hunting. After all of about two minutes, their faces are covered by the half-breed. Shortly after that, we get to see aliens spawn from the stomach of the father and son. This was just the first of many opportunities wasted by this film. Instead of these two characters being given depth or having their name mentioned more than once, they are immediately used as fodder.

Other human characters are introduced as well. They fit into archetypes very nicely. The clueless sheriff. The young man who just got out of prison for some inadequately explained reason. There is also a returning soldier, but to be different this soldier is female. There is also a trouble-making high school kid who is attracted to a girl that should be way out of his league, but of course the girl has a soft spot for him.

The half-breed continues raising all kinds of hell, including one of the better scenes of the movie where it goes after a group of pregnant women. If only there was an explanation as to why it’s doing this. I think a good filmmaker could take this franchise into a direction similar to the comic. What the Strause brothers fail to understand is that the humans are irrelevant. It even shows with the quality of actors in this film. Reiko Aylesworth of 24 fame? Steven Pasquale from Rescue Me? It’s like Fox just took a group of random actors from the television series they produced and stuck them in this movie.

The screenplay features some pretty awful lines too. My personal favorite was Aylesworth saying without a hint of irony “The government wouldn’t lie to us.” The relationship between Dallas and Sheriff Morales reeked of Planet Terror. There is a tension between the two and Morales is shocked when Dallas grabs a gun, just like Freddy Rodriguez and Michael Biehn’s characters in Planet Terror. When you’re ripping off a film intended to honor the Grindhouse movies of the 1970s and don’t do it nearly as well, that would be rock bottom.

The most offensive part if you ask me is twofold. First, it’s not really Alien vs. Predator. It’s more Predator vs. Predalien. Also, the battle between the two lasts for about five minutes, and if you’re looking for a decisive winner you may be disappointed. If that isn’t bad enough, Fox may not be done with this franchise yet based on the ending of this one. Well, I am.

The 411: I walk into every film as much as possible wanting to enjoy it, especially when walking into a movie theater having spent ten bucks just for ticket. I wasn’t expecting an awards-worthy film, but I was expecting something better than the first Alien vs. Predator. Not only was this worse, but this is a contender for the worst film of 2007, certainly among sci-fi/action movies. Alien and Predator were not my favorite franchises although I did enjoy some of the films. However, this was the worst film for either franchise

Final Score:  3.0   [ Bad ]