AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem (2007)

[Foxbat]

The problem with films like these is you don't get a refund if they forget to include a plot.

[PTeppic]

Just got back from seeing it (as promised) and didn't think it was too bad. There won't be any acting Oscars but that's not what you want... but what you did get was a lot of Alien vs Predator. And it does what it says on the tin. Some lovely one-liners to keep things moving, plenty of action, endless dark places and rain and clearly an entire town that doesn't go to the movies... Has nobody seen "Outbreak"? The reviewers may not have given it a great score, but I go to escape the real world and so for me it ticked the boxes. As ever, start a list of characters and work out who's going to die and how...

[Harleyquin]

AVP2 was much better than the first incarnation, it had action and even a teensy bit of suspence. it was nice that they actually built up the characters before the all out carnage ensued...

The Bad: its a little too dark in places when the fighting actually starts, maybe becuase the pred-alien dosent work as well as the traditional ones, the end is a teensy bit preditcable.

the Good: they are not afraid of killing children, and some of the casual way it deals with the ensamble cast is really rather nice - if they could have gotten riddley, or Cameron for this it would have had about 100 million more budjet and been stunning - as it is it was competantly filmed and rather nicely done if your not going to get too hung up on the minor issues of some of the woden acting from minor cast members

I rather like the idea of one elite Predator rather than a whole group of them going in for the clean up and kill - it really feeds into the "supream hunter" myth.

If this is the film to end the current run of the series its definately done it proud - its a LOT better than alien 3 / 4 and imo better than predator 2 also. so for me its not a let down becuase its going back to the darker horror fantasy where it should live, where very bad things happen to good people,

I would personally liked to see some new predator weapons (theres the odd one or two), just be nice to see some other arsanal instead of the shoulder cannon - maybe a "dreadnaught" preadator :P

yes they could make a third AVP film if they wanted too but I hope they let it rest here for 10 years to let the franchice re-invent itself

[Lucien21]

A truely dreadful movie.

A film populated by a bunch of ex tv "stars" and nobodies with barely fleshed out characters that you don't give a hoot about any of them surviving.

A plot so full of holes it's transparently thin. Lone predator so keen to cover the tracks of the Aliens with his blue goo but strings up and skins a cop.

A ludicriously hilarious script "People are dying... we need guns!"

However, there were a couple of decent moments (The fight in the sewer being the best bit) and it gets kudos for upping the gore aspect and reducing the CGI monster quota with real SFX.

The whole point of these films is to emphasise the human element so that you care who lives and who dies. You could care less in this movie they appear and die virtualling in the same scene without knowing anything about them. The ones who are on screen are barely sketched, Bad boy out of prison, mother home from army, Sheriff out of his depth, Hot blonde teen to provide eye candy, young kid etc etc etc.

The seperate Franchise movies are vastly superior to this nonsense and please make Alien 5 or Predator 3 next and don't god-forbid sully the names again with another AvP low budget mess.

[andrew.v.spencer]

Cameron or Scott should make Alien:Three and forget the rest of the sorry mess was ever made. Set it twenty years after Aliens and use Sigourney.

[Cayal]

Originally Posted by Lucien21

The whole point of these films is to emphasise the human element so that you care who lives and who dies.

No it isn't.

[PTeppic]

Strictly speaking it's to make money, but to get there it should be to entertain. For me it did so. Off to see it again in an hour.

[Lucien21]

Originally Posted by Jaire

No it isn't.

Yes it is.

[Nesacat]

Saw it and didn't like it. Oddly enough I liked the first one. I thing it was the Predalion that got to me. Neither one nor the other and both are splendid in their own individuality.

[Harleyquin]

Characterisation, wooden acting, seriously thin plot... erm sorry but take the rose tinted glasses off - sorry but the Original Alien film was very very thin on plot - what it had in spades was good characters, better actors and genuin terror, Aliens was some wooden acting gone nuts - but Cameron did to perfection was to amp up the action to compensate so you just didnt care (appart from praying newt would die)... on to Predator, again relitively thin on the plot front, and relitively thin on the SFX front relying on a decent amount of tension and interaction of the characters... other than these though Pred2, Alien 3 films just relied on their predecessors to get audience, with Alien 4 pulling up with a duper truck of money to beg sigorney (the only saving grace to the mess) to revitalise the dying alien franchise.

In this respect AVP2 I would maintain was better than Pred2 and Aliens 3 - 4 easily. Sure there was the cookie cutter "reformd rebel" and "army Mom" - the characters all from the pop up book of how to build a plot... but this said if you hadnt taken some shortcuts with using these simple place holders for the cast it would have had to be like alien where half or more of the film is totally dedicated to building up the characters on screen.

as for the "plot hole" of the clean up of the alien infection, yet the predator leaving a skinned human - your assuming the predator was there to erase the evidence for HUMANS to detect... perhaps what the Predator was really doing was removing evidence so other PREDATORS didnt come accross it - so it alone could claim the supream kills and be "da man" back home on the home world - granted this wasnt portrayed in the film but its got legs plot wise.









*********** SPOILER ALERT**************
******** You Have been warned ***********

Best Movie bits:

"daddy - are you alright daddy..." chestburst al la gore

Prety blond running down the corridor - she's got to live as she's the "nice girl" who fancies the hero's brother..." she isnt killed directly by the alien or the predator - no she's collateral damage from a thrown weapon ... she's just in the wrong place at the wrong time yet they kill her of wonderfully!!!

The maternity ward - genuinely a great idea! replication through the womb! terrific..

sorry but film is very respectful to both the alien and Predator originals, I would be compeatly happy with these guys doing another turn of a follow up if they where allowed to invest more money and time of the cast... the main man / woman despite their "character by number" paper thin back stories actually delivered very good performances - ok no sigorny weaver in Alien but still not too shabby and iff they where brought into a follow up would be highly watchable.

[Lucien21]

Nobody expects Oscar material, but a decent script, decent characters and a well paced action movie isn't too much to ask. Instead we got none of that.

Personally I think the Pred 2, Alien 3 and 4 films are vastly superior to this dross, but meh... Each to their own opinion.

[Cayal]

Originally Posted by Lucien21

Yes it is.

Not even close and it is simple thinking to think otherwise.

For one, it is a B Grade movie.
Two, the title Alien vs Predator. Not Alien vs Predator vs Humans. Anyone who expected to connect to the characters is sorely missing the point of the movie. It was never going to be about the humans, it was about two monsters from classic films going up against each other. There is not going to be characterisation, the point of it is to see the Aliens and Predators kicking ass. Who cares about the humans in it, they are there to give it some semblance of a plot to wrap around the main focus - Aliens, Predators, Blood, Guts, Gore and Horror.

[Lucien21]

Originally Posted by Jaire

Not even close and it is simple thinking to think otherwise.

For one, it is a B Grade movie.
Two, the title Alien vs Predator. Not Alien vs Predator vs Humans. Anyone who expected to connect to the characters is sorely missing the point of the movie. It was never going to be about the humans, it was about two monsters from classic films going up against each other. There is not going to be characterisation, the point of it is to see the Aliens and Predators kicking ass. Who cares about the humans in it, they are there to give it some semblance of a plot to wrap around the main focus - Aliens, Predators, Blood, Guts, Gore and Horror.

Wow, Thanks for impling i'm simple

I don't give sh*t what grade of movie it is, as I said, i'm not expecting Oscar material.

The reason ANY story works, but it is essential in horror movies, is that the viewer/reader relates in some way to the characters otherwise what is the point. They care what happens to them.

Simply put without character you have no story, without story there’s no character.

Nobody cares whether Aliens can beat up Predators or vice versa there is no emotional attachment to either one. They care that the humans caught in the middle survive or they would if they were not cardboard cutouts.

[PTeppic]

Er, I quite care about the Predator, but not the aliens, and not much about the soon-to-be-dead-things which walk round in clothes...

[Dave]

Okay, can we stop with the personal attacks. Incidently, I think you are BOTH correct, if that is possible.

These films are about Aliens fighting Predators and Humans are incidental, but for any horror/thriller film to work, the filmgoer does need to be relate to the characters and care if they live or die. If we aren't meant to care about the characters, why have Humans in them at all? Why even set them on Earth.

Originally Posted by Harleyquin

the Original Alien film was very very thin on plot - what it had in spades was good characters, better actors and genuine terror.

Alien had plot too, it was just very subtle. The powerful Company and the expendable humans point was fairly heavily made I thought. Everyone now is very familiar with the Alien's biology and life-cycle, but the way the characters learnt that was story.

Originally Posted by Harleyquin

sorry, but film is very respectful to both the alien and Predator originals.

sorry, but they are not for very many reasons, some I made already in the thread about the first AvP film. Unfortunately, trying to prevent them is like stopping the tide coming in.