Rating of
3/4
"AVP: Requiem" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 03/08/12
AVP 2 continues directly from the ending of the first film, with an alien/predator hybrid causing the ship to crash land back on Earth. A second ship is dispatched containing a kind of space-age alien cross between a CSI and Batman to clear up the resulting mess. The first film was dumb but fun, but I have to say I did not have high hopes for this one. At first it seemed that my fears were going to be justified because the first act of the film resembled a teen slasher flick more than anything else, complete with semi-clad nubile teens, people being picked off one by one in dark corridors and the inevitable pre-scares and false alarms. However, once the aliens hit the surface things got a LOT better. It "borrows" ideas heavily from other sources, notably Dawn Of The Dead and especially Aliens; a couple of scenes are lifted directly from it and the kick-ass mom protecting her young daughter is an obvious copy of Ripley. But it does it WELL. Despite the fact that the film can look a little too dark making it difficult to tell what's going on in places, it does look great and the fight sequences are very well done. The small town stereotypes are a little underwritten but as the violence gets more and more intense it gets better and better. Short on originality and suspense but long on blood spattered action, like Zack Snyder's remake of Dawn Of The Dead, AVP Requiem does not work as horror but for a shooting-monsters-with-big-guns sci-fi splatterfest it's a visceral, edge of the seat rollercoaster ride.
