I think the tagline for Aliens vs Predator: Requiem should be:
Abandon Ye All Hope
And I’m not referring to the characters in the movie… I’m talking about the audience.
The first trailer for AVP2 is out, and be warned that this is a “Red Band” trailer. Meaning it is not approved for all audiences, has tons of gore, violence and R-rated language.
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Within the first 20 seconds, before a single character had appeared on the screen I already had my first “uh oh” moment. The trailer opens with the classic tagline from the original Alien:
In space no one can hear your scream.
Except here it goes like this:
In space…
Cut to a spaceship flying by, with a very definite engine whooshing sound.
…no one can hear you scream.
Cut to the same ship pulling away, again with loud whooshing sound.
So I guess the deal is that although in space no one can hear you scream, you can hear the sound of spaceships flying by…
To me this looks bad, bad, BAD. I’m sorry, but the very first thing that bugs me is that right off the bat the movie is populated with a bunch of under 25 year olds. I got flashbacks to Transformers not only from that, but from scenes that followed. It felt like a cross between that and one of the Friday the 13th sequels with Aliens substituted for Jason Voorhees.
I had really hoped beyond hope that this one wouldn’t stink like the first one, but unless this trailer is completely misrepresenting the movie those hopes have gone flying out the window.
I’d love to hear what you think about it.
For larger versions of the trailer head on over to IGN, which premiered it.
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33 Comments
Wow… is it just me… or do the visual aesthetics in the first half look like some kind of kids movie, like ‘Ewoks: Caravan of Courage’… only with gory adult content?
As for that spaceship bit at the beginning… you’re right, Vic… it’s not exactly atmospheric, is it?
I must admit… the film doesn’t look completely awful. I actually enjoyed the first one, even… but we’re talking absolute, brain-free, dumbass popcorn enjoyment here.
I think I was going through my post-Film & TV degree, sick of analysing narrative merits stage. It included my love for ‘Fantastic Four’, too, if you get my drift…?
What is it with Hollyweird’s insistence on turning movies like this into glorified video games? Speaking of which, I bet the video game for this movie (with the same storylines and action sequences) isn’t too far behind.
Brian
All I got to say is…Why me? (Or us) This movie could have been so much better than that trailer is showing us. I mean, a world (or at least some part of america…) Fighting them to the end, sounds good in your head…but come on. This looks like crap, and I’m like one of the only guys around here who liked the first one.
I got a few questions. First, is this a true squel or are they just slapping on the name tag and not even worrying about the first. Only because I didnt even see the Hybrid AvP no where. Unless I didnt look hard enough. And second, Id like it know why they’re back on Earth after they pretty much killed the mother Alien and thats that. I unno. And you’re right Vic. I don’t think no one here is getting our hopes up.
I stopped caring about the Alien series with the third movie, and though the Predator movies were OK, they were never as interesting to me as the suspense and atmosphere of the first two Alien films.
I recognize these films for what they are: milking two franchises that have already run dry individually in the hopes that mixing together any two previously established creatures will result in magic. Here’s a hint, Hollywood: It doesn’t.
On the Tonight Show, Matt Damon told of his confusion when he was asked who would win in a battle between Jason Bourne and James Bond. What? They’re not meant to exist in the same continuity, and mentally conjuring awkward contrivances in order to force them together is the stuff of a 6 year old’s imagination. Stuff that sounds like fun to your inner six-year-old, but you’re smart enough as an adult to realize how incredibly stupid it would be. Same is true of the AVP movies.
I sincerely hope we don’t see a whole new genre of ‘vs’ movies, attempting to randomly smash two popular franchises together in an attempt to boost the mileage out of both (when all it does is run on fumes). There is nothing so feared in Hollywood apparently as an original, untested idea.
How is asking who’d win between Bond and Bourne any different to any of these little ‘this vs. that’ sections in a magazine? It hardly has to be an actual film pitch. It just sounds like a bit of fun to me.
But, yes, I agree with the contrived feeling when these ideas actually do get smushed together. I mean, I’d go nuts if they ever tried a ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek’ mash-up. I mean, planet Earth doesn’t belong in the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy.
Can we say…
Freddy VS. Jason?
Can you believe that I actually own a copy of a Star Trek meets X-Men comic book?
Vic
How does that work out? Does Mr. Spock whip out the Vulcan Death Grip on Wolverine?
LOL, I haven’t looked at it in a long time, so I don’t remember.
Vic
They’re going to ruin that franchise EXACTLY the same way Paramount ruined Star Trek!
Remember before Alien 3 came along?
Aliens was a great sequel and did very well, but now Ms. Weaver wanted out! So… you decided to drop her out of the franchise one way or another and have William Gibson write a script for the next movie.
Sounds good? Was good! But then the suits at Fox read the script and the accountants shook their heads. Waay to expensive!
So they sent the movie into development hell and when enough talent had been burned they chose the “kid” Fincher to direct. Mostly not for his talent, but because he had no authority! Politics, you know.
But guess what, Ms. “Career-Actor” finally wanted back in! Officially, because she wanted no “Aliens vs. Predator” to ruin the franchise! Baloney! But as long as she could have her “permanent” death and good riddance, she could be a co-producer!
And that’s exactly what happened. Dead characters left and right, dead stop and dead end for the franchise.
When they finally saw the sign of “$” at the end of the corridor they gave it another shot. The fanboys were paying enough for merchandise.
This time the artist Jeunet from France was chosen. Talent and European weird cinema, you know. It was politics again, so Monsieur Jeunet could not make the movie he wanted to. But at least it worked for the most time.
Interest in Part 5 came and went as Cameron and Scott were asked and asked themselves, but no real money or script was behind that. Just the intent to milk the cow a little more and check for reactions.
Next thing, Aliens vs. Predator is hot! Lots of comics sold, lots of video games sold. Hell, it’s still alive!
So they chose another “kid” (this time Mr. “Blue Pill” Anderson) to direct. Not really a talented guy this one, but good at making less budget look like more budget. Besides, Mortal Kombat had been a video game-adaptation and AVP was supposed to be in the same league! Yep, they took the franchise “serious”!
And then they cranked AVP out. At first I thought I was in the wrong movie. Where’s the plot? Character? Development? Hello? The Predator-movies had been excellent action-fodder but this felt more like a rushed job. Cram in everything that’s cool and see what happens!
One lesson I learned here: One cook will use the same exact ingredients and cook something delicious – while the other will fail completely.
Sorry, but AVP stank. The DC redeemed some of the failures but not the misconceptions from the get go!
And now Pt. 2 is up for the next round. And I saw the trailer and my eyes rolled all by themselves.
It’s like Star Trek, I thought to myself:
Movies bad, movies fail. Series bad, series fail. Producers hire idiots. Idiots ruin continuity for more brainless action. More bad movies fail. Producers confirm idiots. Idiots ruin next series. Idiots realise failure after three seasons. Last minute hire of competent personal. Series fails anyway. Franchise R.I.P. Relaunch to follow.
And now we see the continuity of the Alien-franchise go down the toilet for even more brainless action on earth. Thank you so much, Fox!
If this one fails, maybe you should hire Berman and Braga and produce a TV-series?
ZAR.
LOL, Zar, what a GREAT post!!!
Great history of the “Alien” franchise. I think you’re right on the money, bud.
Vic
Hey, Vic. Had to pop over from First Showing after reading your post over there and check things out.
In response to Zach above (#3), I am under the impression that this is definitely a sequel to the first AVP. As for where I am drawing that conclusion …
1.) The Predator ship appears to crash land on Earth. I assume this is as a result of the predator-alien hybrid that was shown in the final frames of AVP1.
2.) You do see a predator-alien hybrid in the trailer at least twice … I think a few more times. The two sequences involving the hybrid that stand out in my mind are the one in which the Predator upper-cuts the xeno with its wrist blades and drives them through the front of its skull (look closely, the xenomorph has predator-style mandibles) … and another time when a predator is squaring off with what “looks” like a small Alien Queen. If you watch carefully, it has dreadlocks like a predator and the same mandibles.
-Mike
Hey Mike,
Great to have you here. I’m always pleased to see another intelligent commenter visit my site.
I hope you like the site and come back once in a while!
Vic
OK I thought the trailer looked good. Of corse there are faults and thats expected but I think its safe to say that this isn’t going to be another AVP. You can’t expect perfection, if you do you’ll never get the film you want. From what I see in the trailer thay hae got the important things down like, Yautja/Alien behavior (with the exception of pinning an unarmed girl o a wall, lets hope there is a good reason for that)plenty of R rated material and no rips from other stories (like human/yautja team-ups). My point is don’t go hoping for a PERFECT AVP movie, just hope for a DECENT one.
Anthony,
One can always HOPE for a great movie, can’t one?
If we expect mediocre movies, why should they deliver anything else? Even Sci Fi, horror, fantasy and superhero movies can be done well.
Vic
LOL, I did say hope didn’t I? Well lets try that again. By all means do HOPE for a great AVP film, and make it known to fox that you want perfection. However don’t EXPECT it to happen. Hope for the best but expect the worst.
Somehing I feel many fans will do with this movie is decide that it is a failure before they actually watch it and, when they do watch it, pick out every little flaw. I would hope that most of use can bring ourselves to enter the theater with an open mind. Remember that when the fans start to die out the franchise will follow suit, and thus so will our chances of one day seeing that “perfect film”.
woops. prepair for the worst*** don’t expect anyhting LOL.
Anthony,
Actually I’ve seen many of the more cro-magnon-type fans really defending this movie based on the same trailer that I thought looked awful.
And by cro-mag I’m referring to the sort of folks who defend the movie like this (from firstshowing.net):
“F&@#$@ing critics!!! Lets just dis the movie before it even comes out!!! Don’t wanna know how many fans dissed the transformers movie and when it came out they all just shut the f@#$% up!! WATCH IT FIRST HIPPIES!!!!!”
LOL
Vic
…… least I was nice about it
Yes, you were.
I have NO problem with intelligent disagreements to my reviews and opinions but I have a VERY low tolerance for ignorant flame-filled rants.
Vic
Just wanted to comment to those who don’t know: Aliens Vs Predator the movie isn’t an idea of combining two franchises. It’s just a standard follow-up to the popular game AvsP, which is the franchise combo. And the game, might I add, was perfect (at least the second part I played) and Aliens and Predators were perfectly combinable.
Hi, Jedo.
Not to be terribly picky, but the notion of “Aliens Vs Predator” was first conceived long before the most recent “AVP” video games hit the market. Everything formally began in 1990 when Dark Horse Comics released “Dark Horse Presents #36,” a three-story splat which included the genesis of the original “Aliens Vs. Predator” storyline. It was later continued with the release of the full Aliens Vs. Predator comic book line.
It is also worth noting that a Xenomorph skull appears on the trophy rack of the Predator ship in the end of Predator 2, which was also released in 1990.
The AVP video games (I will assume you are talking about the two First Person Shooters?) are only one of the latest brackets to fall into the combination of franchises.
One thing that is worth noting, however: almost EVERY single “AVP” story up to the release of the AVP movie was set in the FUTURE and included the COLONIAL MARINES as the primary human roles in many of the stories. One of the biggest gripes that fans of the franchise have is the fact that the movie producers seem obsessed with putting Aliens in the modern world. This lends to the perception many have that this is merely a slash-and-gore “I Know What You Did Last Summer: With Aliens!”
They need to drop this modern era obsession and start focusing on the circa 2179 – 2200 part of the timeline.
-Mike
LOL… you guys are too much. Someone said it best, this is just a sit down with pop-corn, throw your brain out the door and HAVE FUN movie.
People have a hard time cutting loose from reality and just having fun anymore. What a shame.
You want a BAD movie? PATHFINDER is a BAD movie. I never walk out on movies and I did on that one.
Aliens vs Predator?!? COME ON… we got special effects, explosions and tons of ways to die! lol…
Could you just put your stuck up attitudes aside and sit back and have a little fun for once? I mean you ARE on a forum arguing about a stupid movie, how much intelligence could you possibly have anyways? rofl
Not that I care one way or the other about the Alien or Predator or AvP franchises… but how much more condescending would you like to be, Ellindar?
Argue about the intelligence of film geeks with those who spend their lives studying the craft as film and television academics or students and I guarantee you’ll come up short. If discussing low-brow cinema is a sign of low intelligence, then so is the study of pop art and Shakespeare.
What’s stuck up is when people come on a forum like this to tell people their chosen topic isn’t worthy of discussion.
Elindar,
It’s us “stuck up, low intelligence” types whose constant commentary regarding raising the bar on even sci fi movies that helps keep EVERY movie with “special effects, explosions and tons of ways to die” from being as crappy as “Pathfinder.”
I don’t tolerate insulting posts on this site, but Kane’s response was so good that I’m going to let yours stand.
Vic
Who’s arguing? I see people discussing their opinions. Thats a bit different from an argument. You see, the reason we care about how this movie ends up is becuase, the franchise has never been “sitdown eat popcorn and throw your brain out the window”. Those are movies like “The Hills Have Eyes” or “The Fast and the Furious”. AVP is more in the catagory of something like “The Lord of the Rings” or “Star Wars”
LOL… seriously? You guys get that mad huh? You don’t think it’s an ‘insulting’ post when you guys put down things others like? That goes right back to that ‘egotistical’ attitude I’m talking about. So if you’re going to threaten deleting insulting posts, wow, gl getting rid of most of the comments.
And I noticed you skipped over the point altogether. Are you here, seriously trying to tell me, that AVP2 can’t be a sit down and have fun movie? Because the first one was, and I liked it just for that. (and from comments above, apparently several others did as well)
Go ahead, put it down all you like. Because in the end, people who *can* have fun are generally happier. I’d rather be on that side of things anyways.
As far as Aliens vs Predator being in the catagory of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings?!? I’ll just giggle here in my chair and pretend that wasn’t even said. There is no sane person in the world who would even want to compare those. lol
Putting down a poorly made movie is very different from insulting people who’ve posted here. Saying I hate mango flavored ice cream is very different from saying you’re an idiot for LIKING mango flavored ice cream. Got it?
So let me ask you: Why wasn’t Pathfinder “fun?” Why did you walk out? Why can’t we call YOU “egotistical” because you that that movie was awful, hmm?
So now you’ve experienced for yourself the fact that a movie can in fact, suck. Even if it doesn’t have aspirations of winning an Oscar.
I’ve seen plenty of movies that are fun… For example, I didn’t think Die Hard 4 was an excellent movie, but it was indeed fun. The first AVP however, was just plain stupid. But notice I don’t say that I think you’re stupid for liking it.
Vic
you know ifigured you would have the common sense to realize what i meant by sayin AVP is more in the catagory of star wars than the hills have eyes. AVP has a fairly large fanbase, people who have follwed it since it started much like star wars and lord of the rings do. I thought it was a pretty simple concept to grasp… guess not. I for one, cannot wait to see AVP-R, so I am not trying to say its not gonna be good enough, a rushed, enderdeveloped action flick with poor acting like AVP1 is not something the AVP franchise should ever put out. If you are not an AVP fan and can simply enjoy a movie like AVP1 then thats fine. Just don’t try to come into a forum and tell die hard fans they are wronge for not liking it, becuase if you haven’t followed the franchise you have no idea what you are talking about.
Sorry for the grammar in that.