And just as the body stumbles back - a-rest on his dull plastic chair - suddenly, like a gush of the eastern morning breeze, so suddenly, the pictures of what lousy predalien fight scenes began to swarm in - that awful jog he had after thus long... - the fact that dinner paid off just nice with only a cent left - and much further back, digging past layers of brain membranes, into the realm of memories: the lamp - fishing - the dinner - risk - christmas - parents - etc. And now, those selfsame fingers stretches a little, that somber colour that had once coated them undrapes as a luminous spread uncovers and sprawls, they were now placed above the black board, eager to punch tales of what happened since he last blogged.
Hola! :-D
The blog has been dead for a good 10 days now as I had to be back in Terengganu - Celebrating christmas / Keeping in touch with old friends / family bonding / extended family bonding / meeting LOBO (best dog the world's ever seen) / yada yada... Point is, I wasn't able to blog as I was cought up in an endless web of activities. And the fact that Terengganu has NO cinema, really didn't give me a point to blog at all. Back in my hometown, there were certain 'happening' events and things that I'v done that I would like to share with you, thing is... them pictures are not with me and I reckon it'd be best that I keep em stories till I have the pictures to share them with. Anyways anyhow, today, I shall talk.. yes.. literally TALK about a movie I saw this evening: Alien vs Predator, Requiem. Oya! I actually went to the gym today :D Since not a single soul back in K. Trg would allow my ears the mercy from words like "Omigoodness" "What happened to you?" "Banyak sihat yer..." or even more blatant ones: "You're fat! Hahaha" "Joel kai pui lo..." Going to the gym wasn't really a choice. Back to the movie, if there's anyone of you who's not seen the film yet, I BEG YOU, STAY AWAY FROM IT! AVP2 is by far the shittiest thing I've set my eyes on this entire year (so much for wanting to be the baby Jesus of the year, the movie's premiere on the 25th of December's is a HUGE disappointing christmas present). I honestly feel that it should not be rated any more than 0.5/10, and before I am judged as being excessively critical, allow me the benefit of a hefty explanation:
Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem
Directed by Brothers Strause
Genre: Action
Cast: Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Ariel Gade, Johnny Lewis
Synopsis: Similar to its previous installment, AVP2's about Aliens and Predators that decided to use earth as their battleground -humans caught in between. Duh~
This is not even a review, I'm seriously gonna just 'talk' about it (forgive me if I'm rude, it can be most disheartening to have high expectations hammered constantly for a good 105 minutes). I've always been a big fan of the Alien and Predator movies, beggining from the first movie "Alien", which was directed by Ridley Scott, and of course the first "Predator" movie which stared Arnold Schwarzenegger, these early movies were rather prone of playing with the audiences' nerves - suspense was the main element in the films. However, as the franchise prolonged, most directors (except Cameroon) seemed to opt a different approach in terms of style to both the Alien and Predator movies. What happens is that you get movies like the first AVP, which was literally a box of beautifully choreographed fight scenes -an
d thats all. Still, the fight scenes were worth a watch, and the rather bizzare story line, still acceptable. AVP2 however, found itself caught in between - as the directors tried to maintain the original look to the movie, I felt that they had taken all the wrong concepts from the original. Take for instance Scott's "Alien", the creature was never really seen throughout the film until only the later part. Even so, the film had stunning close-ups of the alien (with lotsa of water drippin', I don't know why) which actually served to terrify both the players and the audiences. Half of the film actually places the audience along side the actors, as they don't know what was attacking them, putting them in shoes alike. As for AVP2, the story began with a blatant image declaration of both the Aliens and the Predators, well.. fine, so you want to opt a more agressive look to the film, more combats and fight scenes, go ahead, but just then when you thought you would expect pure action (since there's no longer a point for suspense), the directors suddenly bombard the screens with repetitious close-up of alien heads doing the same repetitious tongue sticking thing I thought was cool 'till this movie. Why the hell with the close-ups man? You happily introduced us the Predators space-craft and the baby aliens jumpin' on old folks faces, and then when the real Aliens appear, you suddenly decide to restrain all expected action, and show... only their faces. Thumbs up... wonderful~
I was bloody irritated by the fact that all the action scenes were super lousy, firstly because the lighting sucked (everything was dark and gloomy, yes, it would've been awesome if it was prone horror/thriller, but hello? action scenes! predators whacking aliens... and all in the dark? trying to actually see whats going on was already a problem, leave alone distinguishin aliens from pre
dator), and the fact that most of the action scenes were either medium shots and close ups, barely long shots... GOSH! That aside, comparing the fight scenes to the first installment, once again, AVP2 is a flop as none of the fight scenes are original. Everything was more or less a remake of what (largely) AVP has done before or what the other alien or predator films had accomplished - not that the Strause made it any better, most disappointing. Especially the finale... the only way I could tell predator from predalien was the tail hanging on one of them back, that too, given that there was rather sufficient merficul shots that allowed me a clear look, most of them were just 'things' flying from one end of the screen to another.
d thats all. Still, the fight scenes were worth a watch, and the rather bizzare story line, still acceptable. AVP2 however, found itself caught in between - as the directors tried to maintain the original look to the movie, I felt that they had taken all the wrong concepts from the original. Take for instance Scott's "Alien", the creature was never really seen throughout the film until only the later part. Even so, the film had stunning close-ups of the alien (with lotsa of water drippin', I don't know why) which actually served to terrify both the players and the audiences. Half of the film actually places the audience along side the actors, as they don't know what was attacking them, putting them in shoes alike. As for AVP2, the story began with a blatant image declaration of both the Aliens and the Predators, well.. fine, so you want to opt a more agressive look to the film, more combats and fight scenes, go ahead, but just then when you thought you would expect pure action (since there's no longer a point for suspense), the directors suddenly bombard the screens with repetitious close-up of alien heads doing the same repetitious tongue sticking thing I thought was cool 'till this movie. Why the hell with the close-ups man? You happily introduced us the Predators space-craft and the baby aliens jumpin' on old folks faces, and then when the real Aliens appear, you suddenly decide to restrain all expected action, and show... only their faces. Thumbs up... wonderful~ I was bloody irritated by the fact that all the action scenes were super lousy, firstly because the lighting sucked (everything was dark and gloomy, yes, it would've been awesome if it was prone horror/thriller, but hello? action scenes! predators whacking aliens... and all in the dark? trying to actually see whats going on was already a problem, leave alone distinguishin aliens from pre
dator), and the fact that most of the action scenes were either medium shots and close ups, barely long shots... GOSH! That aside, comparing the fight scenes to the first installment, once again, AVP2 is a flop as none of the fight scenes are original. Everything was more or less a remake of what (largely) AVP has done before or what the other alien or predator films had accomplished - not that the Strause made it any better, most disappointing. Especially the finale... the only way I could tell predator from predalien was the tail hanging on one of them back, that too, given that there was rather sufficient merficul shots that allowed me a clear look, most of them were just 'things' flying from one end of the screen to another.Another problem I had with the movie was seriously their acting... I don't get how B-film quality acting was any near snatching the world's attention from Jesus. John Ortiz's performance in American Gangster was awesome, but in this movie: Buuu. I don't get it. I mean, com'n, just look at the Millitary mother's daughter, all she did was to merely shake as an indication that she was scared (in the gun store), her bulbous eyes and barely pale face..? Geez... "I want Dad to read it" "Remember how you've always missed mummy and you're afraid to tell her? Its okay to tell her." "Okay" "Erm Mr. Director, shall i recite the script again?" As for the others, I honestly did not feel convinced at all. Was it some audition sh
ots they took and placed it in the film? One girl he loves so much, dug shit and all, saw her tits pass 'em bras at the pool, and when she died... all you saw was him yelling with a loaded gun, running towards the Predator. Huh?! Seriously, I don't buy it... It was a catastrophe.
ots they took and placed it in the film? One girl he loves so much, dug shit and all, saw her tits pass 'em bras at the pool, and when she died... all you saw was him yelling with a loaded gun, running towards the Predator. Huh?! Seriously, I don't buy it... It was a catastrophe. Yet, one thing I'd love most to talk about... Is seriously the film's direction. Probably I lack the wits to grasp the film as a whole, but most parts really sent me "Huh?" I mean, woaw, Mr. Predator felt generous and decided to do some social work by cleaning up the dead bodies with his/her/its high tech blue goo, er.. why? Oh! Probably so that the humans will not be alarmed - not be aware of the existence of the predators and the aliens. Ok, ok, I got it. Just when I huddled comfortably with that conclusion, the Strause decides to hang a dead man on a tree, "skinned alive" so to speak, Huh?! And what happens next is, Mr. Predator decides to change his mind and be a good boy again, back to social service it is, he decides to evaporise an entire pool. *Claps* Or better still, the military mother that came home all dressed up like she was ready for Iraq, when escaped to the gun store with her daughter, instead of seeing her all tough and mighty, military style, probably teaching some of the people there how to use a gun, checking which guns are better, giving commands etc. the Strause decides to have her holding a towel and wiping her daughter's face - and thats all, Huh?! Then why bother introducing her as an army person? Oh! I get it, just so you can have someone to operate the chopper later in the film. *claps* In my opinion, the two directors should have spend more screening time on character development than those boring repetitious shots of baby alien jumping on peoples' faces, aliens coming out from stomachs, biggy aliens with their joy for giving tongue-jobs. I mean, showing all those just once or twice was enough eh? But the film had to go on and on with it, beginning in the woods, the sewer, then the kitchen, and then the pool, the hospital, THEY WERE ALL THE SAME. And what with that snippets of government talk: "This is not a democracy" "The government never lies" "The world is still not ready for this technology" Huh?! Down from the start till the end, the film floated in from nowhere, and floated out to nowhere, once again, round of applause to the Strause Brothers! *Claps*
3 komente:
This could have been a really good Xmas blockbuster but it fails for the following reasons.
1. After the predator ship from AVP crashes back to earth and the predators discover that something has gone wrong they only send one predator back to clean up the mess knowing that the aliens will be multiplying like rabbits. The movie would have been more interesting if a squad of predators were sent to clean up the mess.
2. In Predator II and AVP there was a predator mother ship standing by to observe how the predator hunters made out. There was no mother ship in AVP2. The predator in AVP2 was out there alone trying to defeat hundreds of aliens.
3. In AVP it was established that when the Aliens started winning the battles the predators would just nuke the whole town in order to contain them. Again where was the mother ship in AVP2? In AVP2 the sneaky U.S. government nukes the town.
4.The town sheriff is really dumb. I mean really really dumb to the point of making some of the scenes downright boring.
5. The movie spends too much time on human interest stories (boy meets girl, little girl loses Daddy, little boy loses Daddy) when the Aliens and Predators should have been duking it out.
6. A young man loses his keys down a sewer. He and his brother climb down and walk all up and down the sewer looking for the keys. The law of gravity says that the keys would be directly below the grate where they fell. Why are they walking all up and down the sewer network looking for the keys? And why don't they just have a spare set? Wouldn't that be easier? I know this scene was a setup for an encounter with an Alien but don't insult my intelligence in doing so. Terrible script.
7. The predator didn't seem to have a strategy. He was just wandering around town trying to eliminate an impossible number of Aliens. He could have used lots of help from his boys back on planet Predator. They abandoned him. Why??
8. At end of movie a sneaky government bureaucrat brings a predator weapon to a higher up sneaky government female bureacrat. Why does she look like Condi Rice??
All in all the movie is ok. I could have waited for it to come on cable and saved $20 (ticket, popcorn soda). This could have been a really good movie but it fails. On a scale from 1 to 10 I'd give it a 6.5.
Wonderful review. The action scenes were probably the only parts of the movie worth watching - and even then, I have to agree with your point about the frequent close-up shots and poorly lit areas.
My biggest issue with this movie was the fact that they tried to place so many 'human stories' in it that wasted so much time and went nowhere at all.
And true, the inconsistency with the Pred first dissolving all traces of the dead bodies, only to leave the guy hanging skinned alive left me wondering too.
Plus they didn't even bother explaining why just that one Pred came down instead of a whole squad of them to clear up the mess. The best reasoning I can think of is that the earlier Pred that died was a very close clan brother or something and this Pred just came down to seek revenge.
Or maybe this Pred's just a temperamental psycho. Would explain his inconsistent behaviour with leaving dead bodies around...:P
ok the Pred left the body back there was because it was it's habit of leaving human prey like that, according to the previous Pred movies...
it used the chemical to vapourize other people,were victims of the alien and the fact that it does not want humans to discover the existence of Aliens.
and during the ending, the female bureaucrat plays an important role in the previous Alien movies... because that woman's name was Yutani. Ring any bells yet?
if you dont know, she is one of the Chairman of the company- Weyland Yutani. the company provides the technology for mankind to travel into space etc.
Posto një koment