| ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. | |
| OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Parents need to know that this violent sci-fi action sequel is loud and gory, with multiple exploding chests and heads; lots of mangling, penetrating, and acid-burning; bloody injuries; screaming children; and gross-out assaults. There's a bit of cleavage, a scene that lingers on a girl's skimpy-underwear-clad bottom, a bit of drinking, and references to being stoned. Language includes repeated "f--k"s, plus other profanity.
ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM begins where the previous film ended, as the Predators' ship heads home with Alien lab samples. An Alien bursts through a Predator's chest, producing a hybrid version that kills all the Predators aboard, sending the ship crashing into Colorado. Here the fast-multiplying intruders wreak their usual havoc -- the face-huggers infect, screechy little Aliens explode from chests, and big Aliens kill everything. Then one Predator arrives from Predator Planet to hunt the Aliens and save Earth -- though he's more than willing to kill, skin, and de-spine any humans who approach him with weapons. The human characters that survive long enough to have names include townie sheriff Eddie (John Ortiz), returning Iraq war veteran Kelly (Reiko Aylesworth) and her young daughter (Ariel Glade), just-released ex-con Dallas (Steven Pasquale), and his pizza delivery-boy brother (Johnny Lewis). They don't know that their fate is entwined with that of the Predator, who means to "clean up" the Aliens (indicated by his use of a blue liquid that dissolves all evidence). Neither do they imagine that their own government isn't exactly looking out for them.
Without Sanaa Lathan, the sequel to Alien vs. Predator lacks a crucial emotional center. Instead, it delivers lots of gore and several flimsy main characters, none of whom ever quite understands what they're up against.
Requiem not only lifts themes from the Alien and Predator series, it actually steals well-known scenes from its parent franchises, from the Alien's drippy jaw to the Predator's removal of his high-tech helmet for the big showdown. As usual, the Aliens are slapdash in their rampaging, and the Predator is relatively moral, holding to strict rules of hunting. Unfortunately, the humans are also rather slack, providing cardboardy background for the main action -- which is consistently dark-shadowed, loud, and gooey.
Families can talk about what makes a movie scary. Why do some succeed, and some fail? How is this movie similar to and different from the franchises that it was spun off from? Do you think the aliens are meant to represent any specific threat in the real world? If so, what? Are they standing in for terrorists (as referenced in the film)?
| Studio: | Twentieth Century Fox |
| Directors: | Colin Strause, Greg Strause |
| Cast: | Reiko Aylesworth, Shareeka Epps, Steven Pasquale |
| Genre: | Science Fiction |
| Run time: | 86 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | December 25, 2007 |
| DVD release date: | April 14, 2008 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | violence, gore and language. |