Alien vs Predator Requiem

Finally, its here. The sequel to the AvP movie many a year ago. And it looks like they have finally got it right this time. Without further ado, let me present you with a short trailer of whats to come.

I have been an avid fan of the Alien aka Xenomorph and Predator aka Yautja (some refer to it as Genesis) franchise since as long as I can remember. I watched all their movies, read most of their books and even scour the net on more information on these creatures to devour on. I can pretty much say with confidence that I know more about them then most others would. And I can pretty much judge if a person truly knows about them by just asking them a few questions or simply listen to what they have to say.

This reminds me of a story, let me side track abit... When I was in Primary 4, my best friend then and I were amongst the top 5 in class. And being the top 5, you can say that we were treated as our teacher's pets. Within this group of 5, there is this guy, a school prefect, a competitor, a rival so to speak. He is those type that like to attract attention to himself by any possible means to impress the teacher. Me and friend? We couldn't care less. We just want to have fun, living in our own world. So, one day, on one occasion, our teacher actually mentioned about the Aliens movie (aka Alien 2). And this prefect guy was like: " I know! I know!" bobbing up and down, hand up in the air waving frantically; happy like bird. This got me and my friend interested. We were already fans then. We want to know what he had to say...

"Its blood got poison one..."

WTF! Me and friend looked at each other sheepishly, eyes half closed; thinking: "Its ACID you idiot!" Anyway that was one small instance on my days in Primary school laughing at noobs and their ideas. So much later on, I volunteered to bring my video tape of the movie for everyone to watch in the AVA room. On that day itself, I forgot that my tape was not rewinded to the beginning of the movie. And the VCR player had problems rewinding the tape (thank god for DVD digest nowadays). So we simply played the tape from where it was. Guess what, it was at the part where the chestburster was bursting its way out of its human host's chest. WOOO... blood everywhere. I can still remember hearing all those girls screaming and boys peeing in their pants. They probably had nightmares sleeping that night.

Ok back on track. And so came the Alien versus Predator saga. I bought the first game. It was great at that time. The eerie feeling was very well presented to the player. Then came AvP2 by Sierra. It was more fun than the first though not as scary. I still remember installing it onto 8 computers in a LAN shop (I know the owner) and start playing with my friends. While other customers were still shooting at one another with their bee-bee guns in that saturating Counter Strike, me and friends were shelling, impaling and slashing at one another. It was not long before we drew this enormous crowd being our 8 computers as more and more people became curious as to what we were up to. Even the owner was too engross in observing our game to notice the big crowd. He probably had the highest number of people in his shop that day. And of course, I manage to convince friends to buy the original game to play with me online for hours on end even after 5 years of the game's release. They probably found it in some dusty corner of the "half-priced" shelf. Then came the expansion for AvP2, Primal Hunt. It wasn't done by Sierra this time. It had potential but was a let down in the end. It lost the feel totally.

Talking about a let down. Nothing is as much a disappointment as the AvP movie. When it was first announced, I was simply delighted to hear it. But horror dawned on me as I watched the movie in the cinema. The whole movie lost its chance to redeem it self when the whole cinema burst into laughter. Yup, you guessed it. It was the part where the female lead actually used the carapace of an alien's head as a shield, and its barbed tail tied onto a pole as a spear. What in the world is this crap? And everything else is wrong. The Predators looked so big and clumsy. They are suppose to be big, tall but graceful like an athlete. Not some lumbering gorilla. And some behavioral characteristics of the Xenomorphs and Yautjas depicted in the movie were simply disturbing. Any true fan will tell you that "They are doing it WRONG!".

Anyhow, when they announced the filming of AvPR, I wasn't expecting much out of it. Didn't harbor much hope for it, lest it disappoints me again. A couple of days ago I saw the trailer and did some research on it. Apparently the directors filming this movie are pretty well known. And they finally did it right by keeping the blood and gore. Yup, its going to be R-rated. Looks like I can safely look forward to this movie's release.

So let me give a break down on some little aspects of the trailer that I find worthy to make a note of.

As I mentioned earlier, expect blood and gore in this one. Here a multi-bladed shuriken was thrown by the predator, impaling a girl to the wall.


The original blue thermal version for the predator is back. Looks good.

I wonder if they will show footage from the predator's point of view without its mask. You see, in Predator 1, the predator actually took off its mask before sparring with Arnold. From the predator's perspective, it seem to have a vision of a dog or bull. Red vision only, lacks contrast and very near sighted. However, in Predator 2 and in the games, it would appear that the predator can see normally like any human being. Or maybe the directors/game makers thought it was impractical to show the audience/players the true vision of the predator without its mask on. This is still something that I am still not too sure about.

Here you can see a much leaner Predator.


The ridge-headed aliens are back, though the extend of the ridge patterns seemed to be less than in Aliens (aka Alien 2).

And lastly, if anyone can recall, there was a chestburster bursting out of the chest of a fallen predator near the ending of AvP. This xenomorph is a Predalien.

Much slender than the game's counterpart. Different in stance and head design as well. If it has an inner jaw, that would be another difference as the one in the game didn't have one.

I would love to think that the directors had finally done it right. And I will know instantly whether if they are as shallow as the director in the first movie if I ever see the Predalien cloaks. Please, don't let me see that. I pray hard. The Predalien shouldn't be able to cloak although its a predator-alien genetic hybrid. Why? Cause the predators use technology to cloak themselves. Machines!!! And to all those noobs out there trying to say that the Predalien should at least have a camouflage ability like a chameleon, please go eat a rock! They can never have that ability. Again why? Cause the xenomorph assimilates some DNA of its host into its own genome during its development inside its host, resulting in it having some attributes similar to its host And I can bet my pair of socks that predators do not have any genes that codes for the ability to camouflage like a chameleon in their DNA! So please. Before you make any e-gnorant comments which tells me that you were living under an e-rock all these while. LURK MOAR!

Well thats about it. I hope I can truly enjoy myself when I watch this movie in the cinema and probably get its DVD-rip, eh i mean DVD for collecting purposes. It will be released in Singapore on the 25th December 07 and 26th December 07 in Australia. See you in the cinemas.