Anyone who knows me knows how much I wanted to love Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. I didn't have great expectations when it comes to dialogue or acting. I just wanted to see some crazy alien-on-alien violence, with unwitting humans caught in the crossfire.
Unfortunately, the poor dialogue/acting steal more screen time than the P vs. A grudge match. With a cast of TV second-fiddles, I shouldn't have been surprised; Steven Pasquale (aka Sean Garrity on "Rescue Me"), Reiko Aylesworth (aka Michelle Dessler on "24"), and Johnny Lewis (aka Marissa's surfer friend Chili on "The OC") round out the list of D-list "headliners". I don't think these are horrible actors in their respective shows, but this screenplay certainly did them no favors.
The action sequences, though decent, were not much more intense than the fight/death scenes in the first AVP. The producers ratcheted up the MPAA rating without a proportional ratcheting up of the action and violence.
What does AVP:R have going for it?
1. A good premise. Even if the execution was less than stellar, the movie's storyline was intriguing. AVP:R picks up immediately after the previous film, opens with a bang, and makes the Predator a more interesting character. As the directors have revealed in interviews, the Predator of AVP:R is loosely based on Harvey Keitel's "Wolf" character in Pulp Fiction. He's a cleaner, sent to mop up a disgusting mess, and he's damn good at his job. The humans in this film are in the mold of the hapless Quentin Tarantino character. Knowing the cinematic inspiration for the Predator's character made watching the movie at least slightly mentally stimulating.
2. A tip of the hat (in fact, several) to the fans.
The new movie certainly honors its roots, while taking some steps to extend the AVP mythology. We get a look at the Predator home planet when the "Wolf" Predator takes off on his mission. We are introduced to the newest Alien form, the Predator-like "Predalien", and we soon discover that it has a unique method of procreation. In terms of story, the writer-directors unabashedly combine the plots of the original Predator and Aliens movies, as illustrated by their frequent homages to the previous films: "Hold on!" (as Aylesworth's Ripley-inspired character prepares to accelerate the military vehicle), "Get to the chopper!", etc. Seeing scrawny Steven Pasquale utter this line while trying to channel his inner Arnold Schwarzenegger was (unintentionally) hilarious.
Here are several things that still confuse me about AVP:R (don't worry - these aren't spoilers):
1. Is it just me, or does fandango.com list this movie as "Alien [singular] vs. Predator: Requiem"? The opening title of the film most definitely reads "AlienS", and the movie's website confirms that this is the correct title. Seems strange that no one corrected fandango. Did no one notice? Did no one care...?
2. Wasn't Shareeka Epps supposed to be in this movie? She was listed AVP:R's imdb page within a month of the movie's opening. I was hoping the young co-star of Half Nelson would bring a little credibility to this film. Not so much...
3. (Ok, this one could be a SPOILER, but I won't be too specific) Why are the deaths in this movie so freaking random? It seems like the two directors ("the Brothers Strause", as they tout themselves in the credits) just sort of had fun randomly killing off characters, often without much fanfare. The trailer definitely gave away some of the flashier deaths. This could be one reason I left this movie feeling unfulfilled. But honestly, if they were going to put all of the great parts in the trailer, then why did I have to pay $10 for this in the first place?
Aliens vs. Predator: Reqiuem, 1.5 PB Jars
Unfortunately, the poor dialogue/acting steal more screen time than the P vs. A grudge match. With a cast of TV second-fiddles, I shouldn't have been surprised; Steven Pasquale (aka Sean Garrity on "Rescue Me"), Reiko Aylesworth (aka Michelle Dessler on "24"), and Johnny Lewis (aka Marissa's surfer friend Chili on "The OC") round out the list of D-list "headliners". I don't think these are horrible actors in their respective shows, but this screenplay certainly did them no favors.
The action sequences, though decent, were not much more intense than the fight/death scenes in the first AVP. The producers ratcheted up the MPAA rating without a proportional ratcheting up of the action and violence.
What does AVP:R have going for it?
1. A good premise. Even if the execution was less than stellar, the movie's storyline was intriguing. AVP:R picks up immediately after the previous film, opens with a bang, and makes the Predator a more interesting character. As the directors have revealed in interviews, the Predator of AVP:R is loosely based on Harvey Keitel's "Wolf" character in Pulp Fiction. He's a cleaner, sent to mop up a disgusting mess, and he's damn good at his job. The humans in this film are in the mold of the hapless Quentin Tarantino character. Knowing the cinematic inspiration for the Predator's character made watching the movie at least slightly mentally stimulating.
2. A tip of the hat (in fact, several) to the fans.The new movie certainly honors its roots, while taking some steps to extend the AVP mythology. We get a look at the Predator home planet when the "Wolf" Predator takes off on his mission. We are introduced to the newest Alien form, the Predator-like "Predalien", and we soon discover that it has a unique method of procreation. In terms of story, the writer-directors unabashedly combine the plots of the original Predator and Aliens movies, as illustrated by their frequent homages to the previous films: "Hold on!" (as Aylesworth's Ripley-inspired character prepares to accelerate the military vehicle), "Get to the chopper!", etc. Seeing scrawny Steven Pasquale utter this line while trying to channel his inner Arnold Schwarzenegger was (unintentionally) hilarious.
Here are several things that still confuse me about AVP:R (don't worry - these aren't spoilers):
1. Is it just me, or does fandango.com list this movie as "Alien [singular] vs. Predator: Requiem"? The opening title of the film most definitely reads "AlienS", and the movie's website confirms that this is the correct title. Seems strange that no one corrected fandango. Did no one notice? Did no one care...?
2. Wasn't Shareeka Epps supposed to be in this movie? She was listed AVP:R's imdb page within a month of the movie's opening. I was hoping the young co-star of Half Nelson would bring a little credibility to this film. Not so much...
3. (Ok, this one could be a SPOILER, but I won't be too specific) Why are the deaths in this movie so freaking random? It seems like the two directors ("the Brothers Strause", as they tout themselves in the credits) just sort of had fun randomly killing off characters, often without much fanfare. The trailer definitely gave away some of the flashier deaths. This could be one reason I left this movie feeling unfulfilled. But honestly, if they were going to put all of the great parts in the trailer, then why did I have to pay $10 for this in the first place?
Aliens vs. Predator: Reqiuem, 1.5 PB Jars
3 comments:
P - after that scathing review, you still gave AVP:R 1.5 PB Jars, putting it somewhere between "mediocre" and "entertaining." A mildly entertaining flick about aliens killing each other would still earn a spot in my rental queue - is it worth it? Thanks for saving me the 10 bucks and 100 grams worth of popcorn butter topping fat.
Definitely worth a rental. If the cinematography and lighting were better, it might have helped justify the ticket price...
Although 1.5 is technically halfway between a 3 PB jar classic and a 0 PB jar dud, you can see from my list of reviews on the left that anything below a 2.0 is pretty suspect for me. I'll put it this way: I can definitely get enjoyment from a 1.5 PB Jar rental, or even some 1.0's (Van Wilder 2, Turistas, John Tucker), but anything below a 1.0 should remain in the B'buster/Netflix warehouse where it belongs.
Could P really give any Alien vs. Predator movie a really bad rating? I don't think so. A vs. P ocho will still get at least an OK rating from him.
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