Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

Let’s get into my first movie review. As you will notice, it’s not going to be your normal movie review that you have read online or viewed on television. It will be something new, a review in the most simplistic form along with a focus upon certain statements or scenes within the movie.

AVP:2 is your typical action/science-fiction movie. It features simplistic drama scenes only to allow for a break in between of the expected gore and death scenes that we have come to expect from an alien or predator movie. There have been no improvements or advancements with the standby character development of the predator or alien. Character development for an alien or predator you ask? Yeah, that’s a problem because they have been basically been given zero attention to their history or race origins. If you’re an alien or predator fan however, you will still want to see the show to stay on track. If not, your best bet is to pass and watch a better movie with your time.

In this movie, which takes off exactly from the end of AVP:1, you are finally given the opportunity to see aliens on planet earth amongst a civilized community. The predator seems like an afterthought to most scenes and is mostly in the way in my opinion. The human element is also very lacking as there appears to be scenes out of nowhere to fill an allotted space in the movie reel. We are given a very straight forward movie with very little substance in any way. The alien and predator series before this sequel at least offered some higher profile actors and movie development to keep our attention spans in check. This movie has failed in almost every category and does not support the alien or predator legacy.

Where do we go from here? Well, there were two statements within this movie that were cliché but sparked my interest. Statement one goes basically as follows: “The government doesn’t lie to us.” Now, I know there are certain factions of society out there that may actually believe this, but I hope they choose to not exercise their right to vote. While it may be nice to think this statement to be true, it truly does belong in a science-fiction movie. The government is a collection of nothing more than highly paid public servants with an agenda of retaining the support of their voters. If truth were at a premium, we would have a continuous string of single term officials. Why? One, the public wouldn’t be able to handle to truth behind all of the lobbyist money and vote trading going on and two, legitimate officials would not be able to withstand the hypocrisy required of a public official. I’m not saying there aren’t people with good intentions, but I am saying they have all sacrificed some of their integrity to reach the highest level of political ambition. Politician, do you see truth or honesty in the dictionary definition of this word? No.

Second statement up for review was given to us by an acting marine: “We were just following orders.” How many times throughout history have we heard this from all angles? Nobody just follows orders. We are all human beings with our own consciousness and determination of right and wrong. The time of only following orders occurred during the ages of 0 to maybe 4 and that’s probably pushing it. Beyond that, the little devil or angel sitting on either side of your head has given you the ability to disagree or agree. If there is something that comes up in your life that you are morally required to object to, then you must refuse to comply and accept the consequences at hand. You cannot sacrifice your moral values to satisfy the orders of supposed authorities. To choose to “just follow orders” puts you as much responsible for the action as the person who decided what to do. Yes, I said choose. You chose. You are responsible.

To close my first movie review, don’t watch AVP:2 unless you are a diehard alien or predator fan and NEVER believe “the government doesn’t lie to us” and NEVER “just follow orders.”