Did someone say Hybrid?
I just caught this film on HBO tonight, not much going on here in South Florida, the temperature dropped below 70 so we are all huddled by our plasma screens waiting out the terrible chill. Predator was on last night, about 2 a.m., excellent movie, so I figured I would check out the latest installment.
This fourth sequel in the Predator chain and fifth sequel in the Alien franchise was a decent film considering how difficult it is to make a marketable sequel with such a long lineage. I was expecting a much less professional film than what I got; the acting was solid for non A-listers and the story was adequate to move the action along. I am sure a lot of people wanted to see less of the humans – but I personally think that gives the tension between the Aliens and Predator more fire.
The special-effects were astounding compared to the original films, still too much of that pitch-black sequencing for my taste. When the Brothers Strause and Daniel Pearl allow you to get a clear visual of the action, it is sharp and on point. The acting was solid enough that I really felt empathy for these poor people caught up in the middle of an all out genocidal conflict between the two alien factions.
The hybrid thing was a bit stale to me, probably my least favorite aspect of the film. It looked more silly than scary, still I am sure if I ran into something like that on the street I wouldn’t point and laugh for very long. It would suck to get killed by something so retarded looking though, ya know? It would be like getting killed by a Prius instead of a Hummer.
Requiem didn’t have the B.S. factor running throughout like the original AVP with t-shirt wearing teens running amuck in the Antarctic; not once did I think, oh come on! Every killing is plausible, and what actually scared the shit out of me when I was a kid watching the original Aliens and Predator films is the fact that it might not be so science fiction to think there could be some alien race out there even worse than both of these creatures. Remember, the Aliens were derived from a certain wasp that lays her eggs in the head of her victims to hatch and eat the host body. Nature is full of wonderful little surprises, so sleep tight tonight and remember that scurrying sound you are hearing is just a rodent, right?
Rating this strictly as an action movie, I'd have to give it about the highest score of any in the Aliens series. Rating the films in terms of what's interesting, enjoyable, and downright memorable, of course, they still haven't managed to approach the quality of Aliens.