Aliens Vs. Predator:
Requiem – Extreme Unrated Edition
(Blu-ray with Digital Copy DVD-ROM)
Picture:
B+ Sound: A- Extras: D Film: D
When
Ridley Scott’s Alien first arrived,
it was shocking, mysterious, intense, smart and broke so much ground that Blade Runner would not have been
possible without it. It was the first
R-rated Science Fiction film (2001
was rated G, Clockwork Orange rated
X, than demoted to R later) ever, though it was also a Horror film and that Fox
got two good sequels and one amusing one was risky at that. Then there was the successful comic book of Alien vs. Predator and the many years
fans of both franchises hoped for a film that had the edge of the books. Instead, they got an offshoot with mixed
results, as several of our reviews of that first teaming will show, including
the link to this Blu-ray edition:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4964/Alien+Vs.+Predator+(Blu-ray/Unrated
Well,
here comes a second teaming dubbed Aliens
Vs. Predator: Requiem and to call it a total
disaster, the one fans feared the first film would be is an
understatement. Picking up with the
not-so-shocking conclusion of the last film featuring the birth of the
PredAlien (a better tile for this film if they had the guts to do it) on a
rampage, the ship crash lands in Colorado (!) and a new army of Predators have
to go in for a salvage job.
Unfortunately, this does not extend to the script!
The
script is by Shane Salerno, the hack who already trashed the whole Shaft franchise with his
dreadful-beyond-words script for the amazingly bad sequel in 2000 and comes
from TV, TV that is not all that memorable to begin with. He keeps writing screenplays this bad, either
someone will send a cease and desist order or his name will be synonymous these
days for ruining franchises. The Charles
Bronson thriller The Mechanic is the
next good film he is set to ruin, so you have been warned.
Though
there is a some money and a little more technical improvement here, this film
is a total dud, you watch in shock at how silly the pacing is, forget about
even trying to take the acting seriously and know that The Brothers Strause
(Colin & Greg) make a mess of everything!
At times, it becomes like the infamous Star Wars Christmas Special in its silliness, but it is unintended
her and Bea Arthur never shows up. I
wanted to go back and rewatch the first two Species films to remind myself that they really were more
entertaining.
Years
ago, there was a soda pop ad on TV where teens run from the original Alien, but
he is more interested in drinking a soda pop.
He does, then burps! Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem is like
watching a 94 minutes-long version of that nadir of the franchise, but adds
ruining a second, wastes our time and makes us all hope Colin and Greg either
learn how to direct or find new work.
Fans already took it as a slap in the face, but more then they will
consider it a backhand of bad cinema.
Skip it!
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 image was shot in Super 35mm by Director of Photography Daniel Pearl, who
makes this look a bit better than the last film and makes this more watchable
overall, though even someone with his skill cannot overcome the awful, terrible
writing and plotting. Digital effects
look a tad better too. The DTS HD MA
(Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix is the default highlight of the disc, sounding
very good and though the mix really has no character to it (though the D-BOX
function, also included in the soundmix and our review of the first AVP
release) and the score by Brian Tyler, which is passable. At least the performance combination is
passable and makes for demo viewing on Blu-ray.
Extras include
added footage marker for the lame uncut version versus the R-rated mess, two
audio commentaries without end, two stills galleries, five laughable
featurettes, trailers and a bonus DVD-ROM so you can download a digital copy by
putting the disc in a PC or like player hooked to the Internet, then retrieve a
full-length low-def copy. Even that
cannot make this catastrophe more hip.
- Nicholas Sheffo
