Home
Home

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

DVD Cover (Twentieth Century Fox Special Edition)
Add to Collection
Sign up to add this to your collection
Add to Favorites
Sign up to add this to your favorites
User Lists:
> Worst Films of 2007
Overall Rating 51%
Overall Rating
Ranked #1,350
...out of 20,319 movies
Check In? Sign up to check in!


The small town of Gunnison, Colorado becomes a war zone between two of the deadliest extra-terrestrial life forms - the Alien and the Predator. When a Predator scout ship crash-lands in the hills outside the town, Alien Facehuggers and a hybrid Alien/Predator are released and begin to terrorize the town. --TMDb
User Image
Review by bluemeanie
Added: December 27, 2007
The tagline for the original "Alien Vs. Predator" was - "Whoever wins...We lose". That pretty much summed up the feeling of both the game and the comic. The first film, however, didn't really feel like that. They made the Predator too sympathetic. He worked together with the humans and they added this whole empathy thing that was pretty lame. It was like scrapping Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees in "Freddy Vs. Jason" because they wanted someone with more sympathetic eyes. Give me a break. These creatures are killing machines. They have about as much use for a human being as a wild boar. So, needless to say, I walked into "Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem" with a bit of a hesitation. I was not expecting excellence. After all, this is one franchise combined with another franchise and turned into a video game, then into a comic and then back into a franchise. This film also had the distinction of being my Christmas horror film this year, and the last couple of years that title has been shamed due to garbage like "Black Christmas". This year, however, I am pleased to announce the title holds some character once more. "Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem" was one hell of a fun horror/science fiction film. It was leaps and bounds better than the original and one of the most 'balls to the wall' films I have seen in a while. The popcorn was flowing, the wine was guzzling and the blood was spilling at an alarming rate. Deck the halls.

The sequel takes place not very long after the events in the original film, though that doesn't make a lot of sense considering the first film was so futuristic, set in space, and the new film is so rural and set in...well...West Virginia maybe? After killing the entire crew of the Predator spaceship, it crash lands on Earth, and the Alien creatures escape, including one Predator/Alien hybrid that has all the force of an Alien and all the dreadlocks of a Predator. Basically, the Aliens come to take over Earth and the Predator comes to destroy the Aliens. The big difference - the Predator doesn't want anything getting in his way. Both the Aliens and Predator kill humans at will because they get in their way, something missing from the first film. We also get supporting characters, including the recently released reformer convict (Steven Pasquale), the recently returned Iraq War veteran (Reiko Aylesworth), the lovesick high schooler (Johnny Lewis) and the conflicted sheriff who ends up killing a bunch of people (John Ortiz). Most of the characters end up...well...dead. Just when you think one character would never get killed, here comes a Predator ninja star and smacks one up against a wall and nearly cuts them in half. Or, just when you think the film has gone as far as it can with the gore, the Aliens pay a visit to the maternity ward of the local hospital.

The driving force behind this film is its pace. It doesn't let up for a moment. It starts off with the action already high and then never lets up, not for a second. It devotes little time to developing the human characters, which is fine - they're not the ones we're really interested in seeing. The film is violent and blood-soaked, which is the way it should be and the way the original film should have been. The Brothers Strauss realize that neither an Alien nor a Predator give two craps about any human and would kill one in a heartbeat, with zero remorse or afterthought. The special effects in this film are also substantially better than the original. Truth be told, this film features some of the best all around special effects I have seen in a while, in any film, especially a science fiction picture. The best thing that happened to this film, however, was moving it to Earth. Everything in the first film felt so fake and so artifice. This film feels more authentic and works on a new level. Imagine a creature like an Alien or a Predator let loose on Earth and then watching everyday citizens have to figure out how to deal with them. But these are also creatures that go down with conventional bullets, just like a normal person. Their technology might be greater, but a bullet to the groin hurts them just as badly as it would hurt one of us. And that's how the humans work it.

Can you even comment on performances in a film like this. Most of them come from actors none of you have ever seen before, and most of them actors you will never seen again. In terms of eye candy, Johnny Lewis is quite nice as Ricky. He was on "The O.C." for a short while and has another horror film hitting in January and it was nice watching him. He's also not that bad an actor and has some nice scenes here. The great character actor Robert Joy also pops up as a Colonel who has to make a 'decision' equivalent to the one you might remember from the film "Outbreak" or "Return of the Living Dead". The rest of the cast really isn't worth mentioning. They all do what they are supposed to do and then returned to their day jobs on whatever soap they are currently supporting. As for the two lead performance - the Aliens and the Predator - I would say they both carry the film in ways one can scarcely imagine. Their chemistry together is unstoppable and they really seem to have a love for the craft. Their acting lessons since the first film have paid off.

Which creature did I want to win? I have always preferred the Aliens to the Predator. I root for the underdogs and any creature that doesn't have a laser gun on it's arm or a blue liquid that makes everything disappear is certainly the underdog. I enjoyed "Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem" so much because it was the total opposite from the original film, which I loathed. It was also exciting to see a film that didn't care who it killed - woman, man or child. I can respect that approach. And, at the end of the day, it just had some really cool bad ass sequences. That's what my Christmas movie has been missing the past couple of years. How odd to say that a film like "Alien Vs. Predator" could restore my faith in the holiday season. I will be seeing the film again in theatres and recommend it to both horror and science fiction fans as a great way to spend a couple of hours and a great way to see some blood splatter in all directions. How fun is that?

8/10.
User Image
Review by Crispy
Added: December 26, 2007
Let's talk about the first Alien vs. Predator movie for a second. Specifically, let's talk about what was wrong with it. Over the years, these two breeds of alien have proven themselves to be extremely violent, often causing quite the bloody mess. AVP's violence was severely watered down to hit that coveted PG-13 rating, so they could make money from all the teenie boppers. On top of that, there was a huge hype behind this confrontation, as the concept has been alive for close to two decades. Fans have been waiting for years to see these two collide on the silver screen, but instead, the movie suffered a noticeable lack of Alien-vs.-Predatoring, opting to focus on the humans caught in the middle of the situation. Well, I'm very happy to say that this sequel succeeds where its predecessor failed. This movie is what the franchise should have been all along.

The story begins right where we left off last time. The predator ship is leaving the planet when a hybrid xenomorph bursts through the chest of the fallen warrior of the last ordeal. The creature, known as a predalien, quickly wipes out the predators on board, and to make matters worse, a few missed shoulder cannon blasts have ripped through the hull of the ship, and it slowly starts falling back to Earth. At the last minute, one of the preds is able to send a distress beacon to their home planet. The call is picked up, and a lone predator suits up and hightails it to Earth. The ship crash-lands near a small, rural town in the mountains of Colorado, and the predalien and face huggers on board escape. They come across a father and son on a hunting trip and a few homeless people living in the sewers and quickly build a small nest beneath the town. However, the predator has finally arrived, and he wastes no time at all in taking on the alien threat and hiding the evidence of his clan's blunder. Meanwhile, the residents of this formerly peaceful town are doing everything in their power to survive the bloody battle.

On the way home following the movie, I literally couldn't say anything other than "Holy fuck" over and over again. The Brothers Strause signed on after Anderson turned down the movie, stating the movie didn't warrant the sequel. All I can say is "Thank God." In their feature length directing debut, the two Strauses knocked this one out of the fucking park. They're obviously huge fans of the franchise and were aware of a very important fact that Anderson just can't through his head. When you go to a movie like Alien vs. Predator you don't give a shit about the story, you don't give a shit about the humans involved. You just want to see huge amounts of violence and two killer aliens tearing each other to pieces. My God does Requiem deliver. The movie starts off firing on all cylinders and it never slows down. Sure, we got some downtime from time to time to get to know the human characters in the film, but the focus is primarily on the predator's mission. There's about four or five group of people that we follow around, so naturally their back stories are touched on just enough so we can understand the characters, and that's all the time they're given. That's all the time they need.

These two men have completely defined what this series was always meant to be. The movie is simply unforgiving, its violence is completely off the charts and it never once even thinks about holding back. In the first fifteen minutes, we got a ten year old child getting implanted by a face hugger and waking up to watch his father get torn apart by a chest burster, before his own parasite breaks free. We got a predalien loose in a maternity ward, and it's implied that it slaughtered an entire nursery ward of babies. Now, this is never shown on camera, but my sadistic ass has got my fingers crossed for the unrated cut when it hits DVD. The predator was also given an adrenaline boost this go-around. The last flick had three novice predators, but this one is a seasoned veteran. The fights where he single handedly took on an entire swarm of xenomorphs were nothing short of breathtaking, due to this thing being such a sheer badass. I always preferred the predators to the aliens, and I admit I felt they were shafted pretty hard last time, but damned if it wasn't made up for here. And none of that "team up with the humans" bullshit either. This one doesn't think twice about eliminating any humans that are in the way of his mission. Hell, at one point he even grabs a guy and strings him up as bait!

I would like to make a short comment about the ending of the movie, so the following paragraph will have spoilers in it. Skip it if you haven't seen this yet. Everybody good? You sure? All right. Now, the movie ends with the company getting their hands on a predator cannon. If any of you have played the video game Predator: Concrete Jungle, you're aware that this is basically the starting point of the plotline there. I'm taking this as a small sign that hopefully they're using that as a segue way into Predator 3, adapting the plot of the video game. As a huge fan of both the movie franchise and the game, I think that could be a smashing success, especially since it'd be a fresh plot for the movies to work with.

In just one full length film, The Brothers Strause have taken a bold jump into a solid position among my favorite directors. This movie wasn't made to win awards, or showcase the talent of up and coming stars, this movie was made to do Alien Vs. Predator as it is supposed to be done. It gives the fans exactly what they want to see; I personally had a huge grin on my face throughout the entire running time. These guys have absolutely no problem with pushing the envelope a little further than most directors are prepared to go, and because of this they nailed the tone a project like this is supposed to have. In the grand scheme of things, it's certainly not the perfect film, but it is the perfect AVP film, and because of that, I'm giving this a 10/10.
waxtadpole3657 #1: waxtadpole3657 - added December 27, 2007 at 1:07pm
I haven't seen the movie yet (the first was a pretty huge POS), but I have to say...that Japanese poster is fucking BADASS.
Nirrad #2: Nirrad - added December 28, 2007 at 11:27am
Wow, its really this good? I wanted to see this on Boxing Day but no one else wanted to. Now I really want to see it.
bluemeanie #3: bluemeanie - added December 28, 2007 at 12:11pm
No one was as shocked as I was. I mean -- it's not winning any awards or anything, but it was SOOOOO much better than the original and it just entertained the hell out of me. Maybe it was the mood I was in or something.
Chad #4: Chad - added December 28, 2007 at 5:59pm
I love how the Korean poster shows the World Trade Center as still being there. Get with the times, folks!
Crispy #5: Crispy - added December 28, 2007 at 11:35pm
Even better when considering the movie takes place nowhere near NY, or in any city at all for that matter.
Nirrad #6: Nirrad - added January 7, 2008 at 9:58pm
Just got back form seeing this and I enjoyed it. We missed the first 10 minutes or so which kind of sucked, but whatever. Overall I liked it (Tristan Loved it!), but I expected more violence, but what can you do. I didn't understand the ending until I read 385's review, and if thats the case, then thats awesome!
Tristan #7: Tristan - added January 7, 2008 at 10:10pm
Sooooo yeah. I didn't think this was any better than the first one, and I have no idea what you two fools are babbling about. I'll admit there was a few cool scenes, but overall, this was one big fucking borefest. The characters were less believable than the first film, and the predator/alien battles were terrible. There was absolutely no story line, and what little plot they tried to create was so fucking cliched and lame I was furious. I'm giving it a 3/10, and that's being very generous.
Nirrad #8: Nirrad - added January 7, 2008 at 10:20pm
What happened to your 5/10? And I saw you in the theater jumping around going "oh snap" and "that was badassssA!"
C L #9: C L - added April 14, 2008 at 3:37am
I watched this last night. I liked it, it was much better than the first one. Plenty of violence, good sfx, I give it 8.5/10.
Chad #10: Chad - added April 20, 2008 at 2:53am
Fucking awful. 3/10, and I'm only going that high because I don't want to imply that it's worse than the first one or rewrite that review.

Oh, and someone please get those kids a book on proper lighting techniques.
Crispy #11: Crispy - added May 4, 2008 at 1:39am
I just watched it on DVD, and they must have darkened it for the release. It wasn't bad at all in the theaters. This was almost unwatchable.
bluemeanie #12: bluemeanie - added May 4, 2008 at 6:56pm
Yeah, I don't remember the film being too dark in theatres. I didn't have a problem with it. There were certain scenes that were darker than others, but on the whole I don't remember that being a problem. Maybe it's something with the DVD release.
Chad #13: Chad - added May 4, 2008 at 8:17pm
I didn't see it in theaters, but I can tell you that the lighting on the DVD was atrocious. It's hard to tell who's who, you can't really see what's going on throughout 95% of the movie, and - having avoided news and reviews before watching it - I didn't even know about the "Predalien" thing until after the credits had rolled.
bluemeanie #14: bluemeanie - added May 5, 2008 at 2:06am
Has to be the DVD then. Was not the theatrical version.
grain of sand #15: grain of sand - added May 5, 2008 at 6:03pm
After seeing this last night, I'm glad to come here and see others talking about the lighting! it was so fucking annoying.. Also, I didn't see this in theatres but the unrated version claimed to have "MORE BLOOD.. MORE GUTS.. MORE GORE!" but I really saw nothing that I thought couldn't be seen in theatres.. It sucks because I was actually excited for this and I'm more than let down. Oh, and that HORRIBLE teenage story deal stringing it together.. . 3/10, for the funny face the little hunter kid makes when the chest burster pops out.
Rik #16: Rik - added July 31, 2008 at 3:19pm
Yeah, it was pretty boring to me. Not to mention the fight scenes were very very jumpy, like almost all fight scenes in action movies.

Why can't they shoot scenes Matrix style, which uses minimal movement yet effective angles?
Bliss From A Dead Embrace #17: Bliss From A Dead Embrace - added January 30, 2009 at 2:16am
Whats not to like? Predators pushing shit in and Aliens ripping people to shreds. Add in some dead babies and we got ourselves a great film. 8/10
Ginose #18: Ginose - added December 24, 2009 at 2:21am
Holy shit. With the others who didn't see the DVD and only saw it in theatres. Might give the blu-ray a rent, just to see if it looks any better, but this movie was fucking awesome. Pure and fucking simple.

7.7/10
Ginose #19: Ginose - added December 24, 2009 at 2:22am
Fuck that. 8.7

Those fucking keys are too close to one another. Someone should fix that.
Lucid Dreams #20: Lucid Dreams - added May 25, 2010 at 1:30am
I enjoyed and it blew the first out of the water. 7/10
Sign up to add your comment. Sign up to add your comment.
Recommended Movies
AVP: Alien vs. Predator Aliens Alien: Resurrection Alien 3 Predator The Predator Alien: Covenant Predator 2 Predators Alien Prey Project Wolf Hunting The Island Of The Fishmen The Fishmen And Their Queen Doom AVH: Alien vs. Hunter Batman: Dead End Prometheus
Layout, reviews and code © 2000-2024 | Privacy Policy
Contact: Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Review Updates