I suppose that "Aliens Versus Predator" comes as advertised. What do you expect from something that sounds like the second part of a Saturday afternoon creature double feature? As so many talented directors and actors have developed the "Alien" and "Predator" mythologies so far, a fan of the series may hold onto the idea that the people who are making the movie care as much about the universe and the characters as its fans and will do the series some justice when playing with a multi-million dollar budget to bring it to the big screen. Perhaps that some new director may have some James Cameron or Ridley Scott running through their veins, or that maybe an action star will emerge as a new Schwarzenegger or Sigourney Weaver. Of course expectation easily leads to disappointment which is what "Aliens Versus Predator: Requiem" delivers in spades.

The film must have been cooked up by executives in conference rooms who forced the inclusion of the kind of mind-numbing formulaic elements they think every movie must have - and which have no place being in an "Alien" or "Predator" movie. This includes centering the plot around a small suburban town in Colorado where the story is focused around a group of teenagers, a returning war veteran, and an older brother, played by "the Shield's" Steven Pasquale, who just got out of prison and is trying to straighten his life out. And of course there's a hot blond chick played by Kristen Hager who we know will have a reason to strip down to her underwear at some point, shortly before the monsters come out of the shadows.

Surprisingly the same executives who put in these pedestrian plot points must have been the same ones who gave the go ahead to pander to the sickest common denominator by having the monsters in the movie go out of their way and kill a room full of new born babies. Clearly when scooping in the muck, the bottom knows no boundaries in Hollywood. "AVP 2" should cancel the Strause Brothers career ambitions as film directors, and we can hope they will return to their regular jobs as special effects supervisors after this.

As bad as "AVP 2" is, there are a few nods to try and please "Alien" and "Predator" fans like including the signature sounds of the motion trackers and the Predator, as well as a nod to the start of the Weyland Yutani Corporation seen in all of the previous Alien films. There's even a weird "AVP" coincidence that even the filmmakers probably aren't aware of. The character Jack is played by an actor named Sam Trammel which is only a couple of letters off from the name of the president of Atari at the time the "Alien Versus Predator" game on the Jaguar console was made. The game which I was the producer and a designer on, brought new life to the license and spawned numerous sequels as a computer game in the 90's which in turn may have helped justify the studio making "AVP" into a movie.

Still wanting to see the "AVP" movie that we've waiting for with colonial marines representing the human race instead of bimbo's and high school jocks, for movie magazine this is Purple.

© 2008 - Purple - Air Date: 1/2/08