For years fans were crying out for a match-up between the Aliens and the Predators, but they were less than impressed with the 2004 addition to the mythos of both these creatures:
Aliens Vs Predator.
At least that had Lance Henriksen in it as Charles Bishop Weyland
(the 'inspiration' for the Bishop android in Aliens) to tenuously tie it in to the earlier films.
Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem picks up right from the end of the first continuity-befuddling
AvP film, with the birth of the 'PredAlien' (
a hybrid Alien born out of the chest of a Predator).
It attacks the Predators on the ship and forces a crash-landing back on Earth, near the small, isolated Colorado town of Gunnerson, releasing not only the PredAlien, but hordes of little face-huggers, in the wilds.
This is a town of bland, non-entities (
the only slightly famous face I spotted was Reiko Aylesworth aka Michelle Dessler from 24) meaning that anyone could die at anytime (
including children and pregnant women), as none have the protection of star quality.
We are quickly introduced to an array of stereotypes - from the returning soldier who has lost her 'special bond' with her daughter, to the disenfranchised local sheriff and the recently released convict returning to his home, and delinquent brother, to make a new life - before the action rapidly escalates.
You can't fault the directors Colin and Greg Strause for the speed with which they make the carnage snowball, as the alien horde grows exponentially and the humans quickly discover that there is nothing they can do to avoid becoming monster chow.
The Predators have dispatched one of their own to Earth, presumably to clean up the mess they've helped create, and he starts butchering humans and Aliens alike in his zeal.
Before you can say "but what's the story?" the film has spiralled into a plotless gorefest of Aliens munching on humans, humans running around screaming and the Predator killing anyone he can lay his hands on.
Much of the action takes place at night, and with the town's power out, so it's often difficult to even get a sense of what's going on, but ultimately it's difficult to grow tired to watching two of cinema's greatest killing machines doing what they do best.
There are some half-decent moments - such as the ambush of the national guard, which is a low-budget re-enactment of the marine massacre early in Aliens 2 - but don't expect to remember many, or any, of the performances about 10 minutes after you've stopped watching.
In the end, it is left to the US Army's radical "evac" plan, and a cameo by Françoise Yip as Ms. Yutani, to claw the franchise back into some vague semblance of the continuity established in the first three Alien movies.
Gone are the gritty, outer space environments, the 'lived in' space ships and alien planets, replaced by everyday, contemporary Earth; reducing the Aliens to just more monsters that go bump in the night.
In theory, it's actually not a bad idea - to remind us all just how bad ass Aliens and Predators are - but it could have done with a bit more story to back it up. For lengthy sequences, this movie ranks on a par with watching someone else play a particularly violent video game.
Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem is really one for die-hard Alien/Predator completionist fans only or if you're just looking for some moving wallpaper while you do something else; don't go into this expecting anything new or inspirational and you won't be disappointed.
