ALIEN VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM
(unrated)
MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5)
STARRING
Steven Pasquale as DALLAS
Reiko Aylesworth as KELLY
John Ortiz as MORALES
Johnny Lewis as RICKY
Ariel Gade as MOLLY
Kristen Hager as JESSE
Sam Trammell as TIM
Robert Joy as COL STEVENS
Directed by: The Brothers Strause
Studio: 20th Century Fox
BY KEVIN CARR
If you saw “Alien vs. Predator: Requiem” in the theaters, I’m sure that you had a double take when they released the Unrated DVD. Like last year’s “The Hills Have Eyes 2,” I had to wonder what could be worse in the unrated version that wasn’t shown in the rated version.
After all, this film, which is a modern equivalent of a 1950s monster movie (in which ugly creatures attack a small town while the people living there run around like drunk chickens), featured a variety of horrible things: aliens eating kids, decapitations, dead dogs and xenomorph mutants infecting a pregnant woman.
Believe me, the unrated version is worse.
It’s not that bad, really. If you could make it through the theatrical release, you should be able to make it through this one.
The movie takes up where the last “AVP” film left off. The Chuck Norris Predator has been alerted that his compadres’ ship has crashed on earth, and he’s dispatched to clean things up. On earth, the alien has melded with a predator to make an uber-hybrid known as the Predalien. With irrelevant human storylines scattering about, things lead up to the ultimate clash between the Chuck Norris Predator and the Predalien.
The unrated cut offers more gore and a little more story. More people get killed and in more gruesome ways. Ultimately, it’s a better film because it was made as an action gore-fest, so the unrated cut is one to catch on DVD.
The special features include two commentary tracks, five featurettes, a still gallery and the red band trailers of the film. But my favorite feature is the added footage marker, which can be enabled during the play of the movie. This allows you to see the parts of the film – from a few frames to several minutes – that were added to the theatrical release.