When a Predator ship crash-lands outside a small town in Colorado, one of the most formidable creatures ever spawned is released onto human soil - the Predalien. This advanced specimen immediately sets out on a slaughter mission, but is soon pursued by a sole Predator who has been sent to clean up the mess. One by one the local inhabitants become targets of the Aliens and the Predator and the town becomes absorbed in relentless carnage between these two deadly extra-terrestrial life forms - with the humans caught in the middle...

Alien Vs Predator: Requiem (AVPR) is the second movie to pit the Aliens against the Predators. This time around though, there is only one Predator and his task is to wipe out a whole colony of Aliens that are breeding like crazy on Earth. But these aren't your average run-of-the-mill critters. This time, one of their number is an Alien / Predator hybrid.

It's not overly surprising to learn that the human characters in this film are pretty two-dimensional, with the stars of the movie being the Aliens, the Predator and the new hybrid creature. Because of this the script is pretty weak when it comes to dialogue and, as a consequence, most of the acting is pretty ropey.

But my major complaint is that everything is a little too dark in places, making it almost impossible to see what is going on. This is especially true in the scenes between the Predator and the Predalien, where it can be a little difficult to work out which is which and what on earth they are doing.

Extras are pretty impressive and include two audio commentaries. Highlights of the first commentary, with directors Colin and Greg Strause and producer John Davis, include them questioning why the Predator would skin a human body if he was trying to cover up alien activity on earth; the fact that the APC (Armoured personnel carrier) used in this movie was an old prototype which didn't work properly; the revelation about where the scream the aliens make when they are injured originally came from; the fact that scenes with the Predator covered in his own blood had to be scrapped because the rain kept washing it off; and an alternative ending - which funnily enough is how I thought the movie was going to conclude when I fist watched it. It would certainly have been a lot darker.

The second audio commentary is with special effects designers Tom Woodruff and Alec Gillis. This is a lot more tongue-in-cheek, as the two continually plug their book Inside the Monster Shop and poke fun at each other.

Other extras include Weyland-Yutani Archives (Just about everything you'll ever need to know about the Aliens and the Predators. However, be warned. If you are playing this on your PS3 and don't have a decent sized TV, then you'll find it hard to read a lot of the text).

Under "Featurettes" we have eight behind the scenes featurettes: Prepare for War: The Making of AVPR (15 min, 51 sec general behind the scenes); Fight to the Finish: The Making of AVPR (12 min, 14 sec look at general post production including editing, music and sound. It was interesting to learn that they went back to the original films to use the same sound effects for the creatures - apart from the vocal sounds the Predator makes); AVPR: The Nightmare Returns: Creating the Aliens (7 min, 33 sec look at various creature effects that went into bringing the Aliens to life and how their look has changed over the film franchise); AVPR: Primitive Designs: Creating the Predator (10 min, 25 sec look at various creature effects that went into bring the Predator to life and how their look has changed over the film franchise); Crossbreed: The Predalien (8 min, 20 sec look at creating the Alien/Predator hybrid); Building the Predator Homeworld (6 min, 36 sec look at how the look of the Predators homeworld was created. There's also an interesting section that reveals that a scene set on the Aliens homeworld was planned, but eventually dropped); AVPR: Science of the Xenomorph (11 min, 17 sec look at how the Aliens reproduce and then comparing them with creatures we have on Earth that behave in a similar way; and AVPR: Science of the Hunter (10 min, 45 sec look at the Predators way of life).

Also included are Deleted Scenes (20 min, 50 sec which includes scenes with Tom McBeath (who Stargate: SG-1 fans will know better as Colonel Harry Maybourne); several stills galleries; a theatrical trailer; trailers for other releases (Hitman and, for some odd reason, I, Robot); and an interactive featurette that allows you to access more content while viewing the movie.

There are no surprises here - it does exactly what you'd expect from an AVP movie. Fans of the franchise will most likely enjoy it, and it's good to see that the violence and gore, that was pretty much missing from the first AVP movie, is back. But whether you'll want to give this a second viewing is doubtful.

6

Nick Smithson