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All Movie Info
Starring:
John Ortiz, Steven Pasquale, David Paetkau, Gina Holden, Shareeka Epps, Reiko Aylesworth, Johnny Lewis, Kristen Hager, Ariel Gade, Liam James, Tim Henry, Ty Olsson, Chelah Horsdal, Juan Riedinger, David Hornsby, Juan Riedinger
Directed By:
Colin Strause, Greg Strause
Written By:
Dan O'Bannon, Shane Salerno
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AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (2007)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
December 30th, 2007
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Zombieboy has already given an accurate description of 'AVP:R' and what to expect from it, which is admittedly, not too much. At least it relishes its R rating, with loads of gore, including some particularly gross chest-bursting scenes. I have always been partial to the Predator, a creature of greater intelligence and special effects, and there is only one to deal with hordes of aliens, who terrorize a small Colorado town after a Predator ship crash lands in the nearby forest, where it is discovered by a hunter and his young son, who are promptly attacked by the vicious, parasitic creatures. The Predators apparently were studying them, which is always a mistake, and they managed to escape. So the Predator arrives to eradicate them, and avenge his murdered brethren. Meanwhile, we meet the hapless humans who are struggling to survive in Gunnison.
Dallas (Pasquale) has returned after a long hiatus; it is never explained where he went, if such a thing would matter. His brother Ricky (Johnny Lewis) is hopelessly in love with Jesse (Kristen Hager). Morales (John Ortiz) is the sheriff, who has to deal with a situation that is rapidly spiraling out of control. Reiko Aylesworth is Kelly, back from Iraq and hoping to reconnect with her daughter Molly (Ariel Gade), who has grown closer to her father since Kelly has been away. Kelly's military experience leads to some overly convenient developments, as only she can drive a tank and pilot a helicopter, and senses something is amiss when Morales is told by a colonel to head to the center of town to be evacuated. The Predator uses its stealth camouflage and other flashy gadgets to kill the aliens, at least those not blown to pieces by Dallas and Kelly. The Predator only attacks humans when threatened by them. This Predator looks almost exactly like the one from the Schwarzenegger movie from the 1980s, maybe with only slightly more detail. It spends most of the film hidden behind its suit, revealing its face at the very end, just like it did 20 years ago, but we already know what it looks like, so there is little surprise. The aliens pretty much look the same, too. The battles between the two monsters provide decent entertainment, but sadly, most of them occur in dark places, so we cannot really see what is what, and the action is obscured by shadow, punctured occasionally by bright explosions. Pasquale was the only actor I knew, from the TV show, Rescue Me. Everyone else was more or less a stranger, but they are there only to scream and die, so it doesn't matter.
The moments of serious exposition, exploring the relationships between Dallas and Ricky, Ricky and Jesse, Kelly and Molly, are tedious and pointless, take up too much time, and this is a short movie, only 85 minutes long. And the ending introduces a character that is brand new to this movie and I believe the last one, so it perhaps sets us up for a third installment. I wondered why this series exists in the first place, but then there are fanboys who actually want to see stuff like this, the same people who will attend conventions in full Predator costumes, weighing dozens of pounds and costing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. For them, it may be a treat, but to me, it is silly and absurd. But perhaps not a total waste of my time. There is fun to be had, I suppose, but absolutely nothing stands out about it, and almost everything is substandard.
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 | Zombie Boy
Dec 31, 2007 12:35 PM
also wrote a review of AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem 
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1. This sub-franchise was predated by a series of comics, and it took nearly ten years to get the first film made. You would think that spending all that time "trying to get it right" would have allowed them to, you know, get it right.
2. In the first film, it was set up that the Predator beings used the Alien beings as essentially practice hunting. Since the Aliens are such perfect predators themselves, it is viewed that when you are adept enough to hunt and destroy them, that you can hunt and destroy anything.
3. I think your review is right on. This film is pretty much for the geeks, for the fanboys. For me, all I really wanted was to see some carnage and destruction, and I got it. I'm not proud. |
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