Aliens vs Predator - Requiem - So close (and yet so far)

Believe it or not (and many fanboys don't), Aliens vs Predator was actually a financial success at the box office. Therefore a sequel was never going to be far behind. However, the studio was aware that the core Aliens/Predator fans felt short-changed from the first instalment, therefore the answer - apparently - was to make the sequel `darker.'

They succeeded. Aliens vs Predator 2 (or `Requiem' for whatever reason) is indeed darker. In fact, sometimes it's so damn dark you can hardly see what's going on at all. Guess what... the fanboys still hated it.

In fact, it got such a bad reception (both critically and commercially) that it managed to kill the franchise (not counting Prometheus). Therefore, you could be forgiven for thinking that watching Aliens vs Predator 2 is not that far away from having needles stuck in your eyes for an hour and a half. But that's going a little too far.

It takes place only moments after the first film has ended. A half alien/half Predator has crash-landed on Earth, bringing with it a wave of death and destruction to a small American town. A `cleaner' Predator is therefore despatched to sort it out so that the humans remain unaware of both races existence.

It's not as bad as some people make out. Yes, it's no classic, but it is your average monster-munching movie. And perhaps that's the problem. And film with either the `aliens' or the `Predator' attached to it is expected to be a hell of a lot better than your average monster-munching movie. And, sadly, this one will never achieve such a high status as its seventies/eighties predecessors.

It all seems a little like a teen slasher film. Instead of hardened soldiers (ala Predator), or Colonial Marines (ala Aliens), we have high school kids being stalked by the famous monsters. I can't put my finger on it, but it just doesn't really work.

No, AVP2 is not as bad as the real haters say, it's just that it could have been so much better. Don't set your expectations too high and you might get a decent (if practically pitch black) hour and a half out of it.

6/10 May just keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights