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Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

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"This Christmas there will be no peace on Earth."
―Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem tagline

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, often shortened to AVP:R or AVP-R, is a 2007 science fiction film directed by Colin and Greg Strause and starring Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis and Ariel Gade. A sequel to the 2004 film Alien vs. Predator, it involves the Predalien created at the end of the previous film crash-landing in a small American town and wreaking havoc on the local populace. As the inhabitants struggle to survive, the military takes steps to contain the situation.

Filming began on September 25, 2006 in Vancouver with the Brothers Strause directing based on a screenplay by Shane Salerno.[2] The film was released on December 25, 2007. The film was universally panned by film critics and general audience members, and is widely regarded as being the worst film in the series. Despite this, the film grossed $9.5 million on its opening day and took in a worldwide gross of almost $130 million in theaters. According to Home Media Magazine, the film debuted at #1 in sales and rentals on Blu-ray and #2 on DVD when it was released on home video on April 15, 2008. Since then, the film has gained $28,550,434 in home video sales, bringing its total film gross to $157,461,400.[3] The film, along with it's predecessor, has been widely condemned by many fans of the franchise.

Plot

Window26

Birth of the Predalien.

The film begins immediately following the events of Alien vs. Predator, aboard the Predator Mother Ship, which is leaving Earth carrying dead Aliens, living Facehuggers, and the body of the Predator Scar, who helped defeat the Alien Queen. A Chestburster erupts from Scar's body; it is a new creature, a Predalien that is a mix of Alien and Predator characteristics. It sneaks onto a Scout Ship which soon leaves the Mother Ship, quickly matures into an adult, and begins killing Predators throughout the ship. One Predator fires at it, puncturing the hull and causing the ship to crash in the forest outside of Gunnison, Colorado. With the Predators dead, the Predalien and several Facehuggers escape into the forest where a father and son are on a hunting trip. The Facehuggers give chase until Sam trips over a log which allows them to catch up; the father manages to kill one but is himself subdued moments later. The remaining Facehuggers implant embryos into homeless men living in the sewers.

Window20

A Predator sends out the Distress Call.

A distress signal from the wrecked ship reaches the Predator home world and a lone Predator called Wolf responds, traveling to Earth and using his advanced technology to observe the cause of the crash and track the Facehuggers. He begins to erase the evidence of the Aliens' presence by destroying the crashed ship and using a blue liquid to dissolve the bodies of the Facehuggers and their victims.

Meanwhile, in Gunnison, ex-convict Dallas Howard has just returned to town after serving time in prison. He is greeted by Sheriff Eddie Morales and reunites with his younger brother Ricky. Ricky has a romantic interest in his more affluent classmate Jesse and is being harassed by her boyfriend Dale and two of his friends. Dale throws Ricky's car keys down a storm drain and, while searching for them, Dallas and Ricky hear noises and see evidence of something strange in the sewers. Nearby, Kelly O'Brien — also returning to Gunnison from service in the Army — is reunited with her husband Tim and daughter Molly.

Sheriff Morales leads a search party into the forest looking for the missing father and son. One of his deputies is killed by Wolf, who makes his way into the sewers and fights a number of adult Aliens. As the battle reaches the surface, several Aliens disperse into the town. Carrie, resigning for the night at her job at the local diner, is then trapped and impregnated by the Predalien, becoming the first victim of the Predalien's new impregnation method. Wolf pursues some of the aliens to the power plant, where collateral damage from his weaponry causes a city-wide power outage. Ricky and Jesse meet at the high school swimming pool but are interrupted by Dale and his cohorts just as the power fails. An Alien enters the building and kills both of Dale's companions. Another Alien invades the O'Brien home, killing Tim while Kelly escapes with Molly.

Window25

The Predalien implanting Bellybursters.

Kelly and Molly meet Ricky, Jesse, Dale, Dallas, and Sheriff Morales at a sporting goods store to gather weapons. National Guard troops arrive but are quickly killed by the Aliens. The battle between the Wolf and the Aliens enters the sporting goods store, where Dale is killed. The Predator's Plasma Casters are damaged, but he is able to modify one into a hand-held Plasma Cannon.

As the survivors attempt to escape Gunnison they make radio contact with Colonel Stevens, who indicates that an air evacuation is being staged at the center of town. Kelly is suspicious of the military's intentions, convincing a small group to go to the hospital where they hope to escape by helicopter while Sheriff Morales heads to the evacuation area with the rest of the surviving citizens. The hospital, however, has been invaded by Aliens, with the Predalien reproducing by implanting embryos directly into pregnant women in the maternity ward. Wolf also arrives at the hospital and in the ensuing battle Jesse is killed, Ricky is injured, and Dallas takes possession of Wolf's Plasma pistol.

Window27

The Predalien and Wolf both mortally wounded.

As the battle reaches the rooftop Dallas, Ricky, Kelly, and Molly escape in the helicopter while Wolf and the Predalien battle hand-to-hand. The two creatures mortally wound each other just as a military jet arrives and is revealed not to be a rescue airlift but rather a bomber; it executes a tactical nuclear strike that destroys the town, killing the Predator, the Predalien, and any remaining Aliens and citizens. The shock wave from the explosion causes the fleeing helicopter to crash in a clearing, where the survivors are rescued by the military and Wolf's Plasma pistol is confiscated. Colonel Stevens presents the weapon to a Ms. Yutani, who remarks that the world is not ready for this technology. Colonel Stevens replies that the technology is not for our world.

Cast


Writing

Inspired by Terminator 2: Judgment Day, brothers Colin and Greg Strause moved to Los Angeles to break into the film business. After an unsuccessful attempt to find employment at ILM, the brothers worked on the X-Files film and founded their own special effects company, Hydraulx. The company produced special effects for films such as Volcano, Titanic, The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon and 300 and the brothers began a career directing commercials and music videos. Colin believes Hydraulx secured a strong relationship with 20th Century Fox, which owns the Alien and Predator franchises.[4]

The brothers unsuccessfully pitched an idea for the first Alien vs. Predator film and Fox almost bought a film titled Wolfenstein suggested by the brothers, "When the script came up for this movie, they thought we'd be perfect for it because it's an ambitious movie for the budget that they had and they knew that having our visual effects background was going to be a huge thing."[4] The brothers were hired to direct the sequel to Alien vs. Predator in late spring 2006 and had limited time to start filming in the fall.[4]

Filming

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem was filmed on a 52-day schedule in Vancouver.[5] During filming breaks, the brothers supervised visual effects work on 300, Shooter and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer by using in-house supervisors and a system called "Mavis and Lucy", which let the brothers track, view and approve dailies. Colin estimates Hydraulx produced 460 of the 500 visual effects shots including the nuclear explosion which was created using Maya fluids and BA Volume Shader. The interior of the Predator ship was created using CGI, as the brothers felt it would be more cost effective than building a set.[5] The visual effects team peaked at 110 people for several months and averaged 70, almost all of the entire Hydraulx staff.[6]

Using their knowledge in visual effects and making use of principal photography, the brothers tried to film as much as they could on camera without resorting to CGI, Colin said "Other than the exterior spaceship shots, there are no pure CG shots". CGI was used for the Alien tails and inner jaws, whereas they required puppeteers and wire removal on previous films. The main visual effects of the film included set design, a nuclear explosion, the Predator's ship crashing and the Predator cloak, about which Colin stated "We wanted to make sure it didn't look too digital".[5]

The film was rated R for violence, gore and language, unlike its predecessor, which was given a PG-13 rating.[7] The BBFC's classification decision for the film is the same as the original (Rated 15), whilst the Australian OFLC rated the film MA, up on the original's MA rating.

Deleted Scenes

See: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem deleted scenes

Release and Reception

Box office

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem was released in North America on December 25, 2007, in 2,563 theaters. The film grossed $9,515,615 on its opening day for an average of $3,707 per theater and was number ten at the box office.[8] It grossed $5 million in Australia, $9 million in Japan and the United Kingdom and $7 million in Russia for an international total of $86,288,761. As of February 24, 2009, the film had taken in a domestic gross of $41,797,066 and an international gross of $87,087,428, bringing it to a total of $128,884,494.[3] The budget of the film was $40,000,000.[9] The film is the lowest grossing Alien film in the domestic box office and is the second lowest grossing Alien film worldwide, next to the original Alien, excluding the effect of inflation.[10]

Reviews

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem was universally panned by film critics and audience members. Based on 66 reviews, the film scored a 12% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes and 29 out of 100 at Metacritic, the worst for a film in the franchises.[11] Chief criticisms of the film included acting, dialogue, cardboard characters, over-the-top gore, excessively murky lighting, "jumpy editing", and lack of new ideas; however, a few critics praised the film as "a fun B movie".[12]

The "over-the-top gore" was considered by some to be extreme even for Alien and Predator standards. The concept of the Predalien purposely targeting pregnant women for "bellyburster" hosts was considered to be in bad taste, as the gruesome death of the unborn baby, and subsequently the mother, was not well received by audiences. Another example of this is a scene in which for the first time in the franchise the audience sees a chestburster come out of a young child which was not well recieved by audiences and critics alike. Furthermore, the off-screen implication that the Predalien slaughtered a full maternity ward's worth of babies was considered distasteful and unnecessary.

Chris Hewitt of Empire called it an "early but strong contender for worst movie of 2008", while BBC critic Mark Kermode's scathing review called the film "noisy, badly shot rubbish".[13] Stina Chyn of Film Threat felt the camerawork "is a smidge too shaky and the lighting/color design too dark for me to relish the Predator-on-Alien butt-kicking". Josh Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle dismissed the film stating it was "An orgy of mindless violence, a random collection of bloody bodies, alien misanthropy and slobbering carnage designed to bore straight into the pleasure centers of 13-year-old boys and leave the rest of us wondering when the movies got so damn loud."[14] The Hollywood Reporter contributor Kirk Honeycutt called it a "dull actioner that looks like a bad video game".[11]

Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly felt it was a "B movie that truly earns its B", though he gave it a grading of "B" on an A to F scale. Variety contributor Joe Leydon said it "Provides enough cheap thrills and modest suspense to shake a few shekels from genre fans before really blasting off as homevid product," and Ryan Stewart of Cinematical said he "can't recommend it as a good movie on its own merits, stocked as it is with cardboard cutout characters and a barely coherent plot, but it's miles more interesting than the last Alien vs. Predator film." Todd Gilchrist of IGN stated the film is "competently executed, occasionally scary and frequently fun to watch, no matter whether you choose to laugh at or with it".[12]

There was the occasional positive review; Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times stated "It may not be classic sci-fi like the original Alien, which it has in its DNA, but it’s a perfectly respectable next step in the series." Daily Variety called it "Slam-Bang-Horror Action!" and MovieWeb.com said "A cool new monster...over-the-top violence...AVP-R is a lot of fun!"[11]

Fan reception

The film was condemned by fans of the Alien creatures, as they believed that the Predator killed too many Aliens effortlessly for a single predator and that the Aliens were in comparison, weak, and easy to kill and completely defenseless against the Predator. This seems to contradict the similar feeling Predator fans had of the first film, where the same type of bias appears to have occurred for the Aliens. The scene where the Predator rips an Alien to pieces with his whip and then crushes it's head was not well received by Alien fans (likely due to the fact that the Predator seemingly took no damage from the acid blood). This apparent bias (according to some fans) occurred due to the Strause brothers' seemingly blatant favoritism of the Predator (in the audio commentary for the DVD and Blu-ray of the film it appears that the brothers are "mocking" Alien fans).

Further criticism of the Alien included the behavior of the alien creature itself. Whereas the alien creatures were capable of using their surroundings to their advantage and displaying basic problem solving skills, (such as cutting the power and using elevators in Aliens) these aliens displayed a rather high amount of unintelligent behavior that is unusual for a creature as intelligent as the alien. An example of this is during the sewer scene, the aliens spend an absurd amount of time pointlessly stalking Wolf instead of attacking him when they have the advantage in numbers or setting up an ambush, therefore giving Wolf enough time to prepare for battle and when it ensues Wolf easily overpowers the aliens, tossing them around with little to no effort and holding two of the aliens up by their throats without them retaliating, this is in contrast to the first film in which one Alien is easily able to match the strength of a predator and even over-power them. This is also evident during the power plant scene where an alien manages to shove Wolf over a railing and impale him with a metal pipe and instead of finishing him off the alien sprints away with Wolf attempting to shoot the alien with his Plasma Caster and causing a city wide blackout in the process and making the situation worse.

The design of the Predator creatures was regarded as an improvement over the creatures from the first film and received generally positive reviews from Predator fans as opposed to the dissatisfaction with the predators from the previous film. Despite the praise for the design of the predators, there was criticism from Predator fans in that just like the first film, the predators other than just Wolf displayed unusual and incompetent behavior. An example being that one of the predators on the scout ship encounters the Predalien and starts to open fire on the Predalien with his Plasma Caster and continues firing damaging the scout ship therefore causing it to crash.

The main Predator's behavior has also been criticized, the predator is said to be a veteran and is sent to earth to clean up and remove extraterrestrial evidence but displays a high amount of incompetence throughout the film. First he skins a cop alive which alerts the authorities of his presence (This also appears to violate the Yautja honor code as the cop did not attack or threaten him). Wolf mis-fires his plasma caster and releases the Aliens from the sewer and as noted before, he caused a city-wide blackout by firing his plasma caster out of anger, hitting the power plant and causing the black out. Wolf loses the only weapon that would have allowed him to kill the Predalien with ease (the plasma pistol) and takes a considerable amount of time taking his mask off when confronting the Predalien, Aliens are noted to be essentialy like animals and thus are driven by instinct and will attack any non-Xenomorph lifeform with no hesitation, yet in this case, the Predalien waited patiently for Wolf to disarm himself, this behavior from the predalien has been criticized heavily. It is possible though that the Predalien inherited some knowledge of the Yautja honor code from her host and the Predalien waiting for Wolf to disarm himself is simply an after-effect of inherited genetic memory.

The Predalien's design has received mixed reviews. Some fans praised the design of the creature especially for incorporating features from both species while others were not so positive. Aside from the design of the creature the Predalien's behavior has also been heavily criticized as idiotic and incompetent. An example of this is in the beginning of the film the Predalien slaughters two Predators with relative ease proving she is a vicious killing machine yet later on in the film the Predalien constantly smacks Wolf with her tail instead of killing him despite always having the upper hand in the battle. This is also evident during the fight in the hospital where the Predalien manages to subdue Wolf and as she attempts to kill him Wolf slashes her with his Wrist Blades and the Predalien recoils in pain despite the fact that for a creature as vicious and massive as the Predalien she should have easily shrugged off the wound.

Awards

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem was nominated for two Golden Raspberry awards in the fields of Worst Excuse for a Horror Movie and Worst Prequel or Sequel. The awards however, went to I Know Who Killed Me and Daddy Day Camp.[15]

On May 8, 2008, AVP:R was nominated for an MTV film award for Best Fight Sequence.[16]

Home video releases

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on April 15, 2008 in North America and May 12, 2008 in the United Kingdom by Fox Home Entertainment. It was released in three versions: a single-disc R-rated release, a single-disc Unrated Edition and a two-disc Unrated Edition, including a second disc of special features. Extra features on the single-disc editions include two audio commentary tracks: one by the directors and producer John Davis and a second by creature effects designers and creators Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis.

Disc one of the two-disc unrated edition includes both commentary tracks as well as both cuts of the film seamlessly branched and an exclusive "Weyland-Yutani archives" picture-in-picture reference guide to the warring alien races;[17] five behind-the-scenes featurettes: "Prepare for War: The Making of AVP-R," "Fight to the Finish: The Making of AVP-R," "AVP-R: The Nightmare Returns - Creating the Aliens," "Crossbreed: The Predalien," and "Building the Predator Homeworld"; multiple galleries of still photos showing the creature designs and sets; and the film's theatrical trailer. The second disc includes a "digital copy" download feature.

In its week of release, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem debuted at #2 on the DVD charts, making $7.7 million and #1 on the Blu-ray charts. The film has made $28,550,434 in DVD sales in the United States, bringing its total film gross to $157,461,400.[3][18]

Unrated Edition

See: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem Unrated Edition

Merchandise

A tie-in video game for the film was released on November 13, 2007 in North America, November 30 in Europe and December 6 in Australia.[19] The game, developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Sierra Entertainment,[20] was a third-person action-adventure game, allowing players to take the role of the Predator from the film.[21] The game received generally negative reviews from the gaming press.[22]

Trivia

  • As an Easter egg, the sound of a Motion Tracker detecting movement can be heard during the film's title card. The sound effect is also heard in the background of the scene where Colonel Stevens informs Sheriff Morales of the airlift.
  • On set, an Alien dummy was stolen. The police had to get involved and caught the person selling it on eBay for a low price.
  • Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem is the first, and so far only, film in the franchise not to have a novelization and/or comic book adaptation (although the novelization of Prometheus was only released in Japan).
  • With a running time of 94 minutes (theatrical version), this installment is the shortest film in the franchise.

See Also

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ "Box Office Mojo: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2009-04-24.
  2. ↑ "AVP2 news: title, filming, etc". Cinescape (August 1, 2006). Retrieved on August 1, 2006.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem". The Numbers. Retrieved on August 23, 2009.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Mclean, Thomas (December 21, 2007). "AVP-R: The Strause Brothers Strike Back Page 1". Vfxworld. Retrieved on February 21, 2008.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Mclean, Thomas (December 21, 2007). "AVP-R: The Strause Brothers Strike Back Page 2". Vfxworld. Retrieved on February 21, 2008.
  6. ↑ Mclean, Thomas (December 21, 2007). "AVP-R: The Strause Brothers Strike Back Page 3". Vfxworld. Retrieved on February 21, 2008.
  7. ↑ "AVP2, FF2, DH4 & more". JoBlo.com.
  8. ↑ Pandya, Gitesh (December 28, 2007). "Aliens and Debaters Join End-of-Year Lineup". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on February 20, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on August 23, 2009.
  10. ↑ "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on February 20, 2008.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem — 20th Century Fox". Metacritic. Retrieved on February 20, 2008.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem fresh reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on February 20, 2008.
  13. ↑ "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem — review". BBC Radio 5. Retrieved on April 17, 2008.
  14. ↑ "Josh Rosenblatt — Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved on June 13, 2008.
  15. ↑ "Golden Raspberry Award Foundation". Golden Raspberry Awards. Retrieved on August 23, 2009.
  16. ↑ "MTV Awards 2008 — Best Fight". MTV. Retrieved on June 13, 2008.
  17. ↑ "Information about the Alien vs. Predator DVD and Blu-ray". Dvd.monstersandcritics.com (February 27, 2008). Retrieved on August 23, 2009.
  18. ↑ K. Arnold, Thomas (April 23, 2008). "Juno, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem lead the way". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on April 23, 2008.
  19. ↑ "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem Release Information for PSP". GameFAQs. Retrieved on March 19, 2009.
  20. ↑ Magrino, Tom (August 14, 2007). "Aliens fighting Predator on PSP". GameSpot. Retrieved on March 19, 2009.
  21. ↑ Gibson, Ellie (October 12, 2007). "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved on March 20, 2009.
  22. ↑ "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved on March 20, 2009.
  23. ↑ "The Moviefone Blog - Sci-Fi Movie Poster of the Day: AVP2: Requiem". Retrieved on 2013-1-5.

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