Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis, Ariel Gade, Kristen Hager,
Ian Whyte, Tom Woodruff Jr, Sam Trammell, Robert Joy, David Paetkau, Matt Ward | Written by Shane Salerno
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £24.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 97 minutes | Directed by Colin & Greg Strause
First disappointment: despite the name, AvP: Requiem isn't a musical. A shame really, because this is a film that desperately needs some sort of novelty factor to detract from its predictable structure, confused action sequences and wooden cast of pretty unknowns. At a certain level, AvP:R — to give the film its poster-friendly abbreviation — is an effective mainstream thriller. It presses the right buttons, shows a healthy disregard for small children and cuts right to the chase, eschewing the credits sequence in favour of a drop-kick straight into the action.
Of course, you won't have heard of any of the cast, so a credit sequence would be pretty bloody pointless anyway, but it's still a crowd-pleasing gesture. Unfortunately, after a reasonable set-up and a couple of decent set pieces, the Brothers Strause throw their cameras around with abandon, to the extent that every big Alien v Predator fight is impossible to follow. It may be billed as the universe's ultimate killers facing off but every fight scene is just a mess of flashing teeth, drool and wobbly tentacles and you'll only find out who's won at the end. As for the Alien / Predator hybrid... Well, unless you know what you're looking for — in which case you'll probably get the in-joke in the final scene as well — it's as confusing as Father's Day at Ulrika Jonsson 's house.
The only real positive that might come out of this film is a precedent for pairing previous hits for a violent sequel. Bring on The 40-Year-Old Virgin vs American Pie then, or — even better — Love, Actually vs Bridget Jones, in which Colin Firth is thrown into a pit with Colin Firth and can only be freed when he's killed himself. Hey, I'd pay to see that.
EXTRAS None