What the hell is this? This is a movie? This is something the powers that be at 20th Century Fox deemed worthy of two of their biggest franchises of all time? I mean that too, besides 'Star Wars' 'Aliens' and 'Predator' I would say rank up there as the studio's higher up series in their roster and being a sequel to these two great films, you'd expect something but not this, I don't think any fan was expecting nor requesting anything quite like 'Requiem'. Okay, before getting into the details I should calm down here and go into the basics. The film continues right where 2004's 'Alien vs. Predator' ended, with the final Predator warrior being transported back to space to receive his heroic burial rights by his fellow clan members. However, things get messy when a hidden chestburster emerges creating a new Xeno/Predator hybrid which soon begins running amok on the ship, which causes it to crash land into a rural Colorado town. Hell follows soon after with your typical slasher film characters and tropes falling prey to the hybrid creature along with many other escaped Xenomorphs and the Predator Warriors chasing them all down.
That last sentence is the biggest problem with 'Requiem'. It's a really shitty slasher flick that just happens to have the Alien and the Predator as stand ins for Jason or Michael Myers. While many know that I love me some silly slashers now and then, this style really doesn't work in the film's favor. Everyone in this movie is either annoying, an asshole you can't wait to see bite it, or so forgettable that I can barely recall them without looking into it. The film is also extremely mean spirited, with young children and even pregnant women and their infants being consumed by the Xenomorphs and the Hybrid creature. It's really uncomfortable to sit through these sequences and even when comparing to the darker films in the franchises such as 'Predator 2' or 'Alien Resurrection' this is too extreme. I think the content is pushed to the extreme is at the time, Fox had received some minor backlash with the previous film being toned down to a PG-13 rating and I guess the executives were trying to make us fans happy with this one. However, they go too far with it and the film just becomes another gorefest horror film you'd commonly see at this time.
The movie is a product of its time, and would have been long forgotten if not for its association to the classics it spawned from. I really had a difficult time re-watching 'Requiem' for this review because literally every single thing about it is unpleasant to sit through. It's characters are given horrible and obscene dialogue that is acted poorly or feels like something out of a Rob Zombie screenplay. The special effects at times look like they copied and pasted footage from the PlayStation game released at the time onto the film itself, as if they needed to save some budget. As for the Predator and Alien suits or action scenes, if I could actually see them in detail I would likely have a better opinion of them. The movie is literally too dark to see many of the fighting scenes between both humans and alien creatures. When it wants to shock you with needless gore, it's bright and visible however in the few scenes that you may actually enjoy watching, it's dark and bland. The cinematographer should have been fired, but then again the whole production should have been shut down and re-worked. And yes, I did view the Blu-Ray edition of the film and it still looks too dark. The photos you see in this review reflect it successfully.
'Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem' is by far the worst film in either franchise. I dare someone to argue with me how this is better than 'Alien 3', 'Resurrection', or 'Predator 2'. This film is vulgar, poorly produced, and it came out on Christmas Day for God's sake. What was Fox thinking? At least the fans voted with their wallets on this one and the 'AvP' spin off series has thankfully died a rightful death.
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
( F )
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