Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

  • Review Date: April 14, 2008
  • Rated: R
  • Genre: Science Fiction
  • Release Year: 2007
  • Running Time: 86 minutes

Common Sense Media says

More violent, bloody extraterrestrial mayhem. Ick.
  • Review Date: April 14, 2008
  • Rated: R
  • Genre: Science Fiction
  • Release Year: 2007
  • Running Time: 86 minutes

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Quality(i)

 
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What parents need to know

Positive messages

Bullies pick on Ricky; ex-con Dallas is selfless and brave; mother/Iraq war veteran Kelly is selfless; the sheriff makes some wrong decisions; federal government representative is dishonest.

Violence

Typical Aliens-style violence includes chests exploding, teeth ripping flesh, acidic blood burning human faces. Standard Predator business includes hunting prey, shooting with lasers. Several scenes stand out: A small boy watches his father get attacked by an alien and cries in terror; the father's arm falls off, and after the boy is also attacked, both of their chests explode to "birth" toothy, hissy little aliens. A small girl sees her father assaulted by an alien who crashes through her bedroom window and rips him up. An alien enters the pregnancy ward, sucks babies out of women, and implants its own babies inside; a later scene shows their bellies bursting open bloodily to reveal little aliens. Other images include a space ship crashing, heads blown off or shot through with Alien's penetrating jaw, a girl pinned to a wall by Predator's throwing star, bullies hitting and kicking Ricky, shooting at the aliens that produces blood and burning flesh, and blood all over. Alien-Predator fights feature punching, kicking, biting, shooting, throwing bodies against/through walls. Nuclear explosion kills some protagonists.

Sex

Some women's T-shirts show cleavage. Brief flirtation between teenagers leads to her invitation to "go swimming": she removes her top to reveal lacy black bra and boy-short underpants; they kiss passionately, interrupted first by bullies, then aliens.

Language

Repeated uses of "f--k" (two with "mother"), plus other profanity, including "hell," "s--t," "damn," "dickhead," "a--hole," "bitch," "slut," and "ass." A joke about a "sausage-lover's pizza" is meant to suggest that the boy who ordered it is gay.

Consumerism

GMC truck.

Drinking, drugs, & smoking

A couple of scenes show protagonists in a bar with drinks. Two clerks in a sporting goods store admit to being "stoned."

Parents Need to Know

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.

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What's the story?

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.

Is it any good?

QUALITY
 

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...

  • 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)?

Movie details

Theatrical release date:December 25, 2007
DVD release date:April 14, 2008
Cast:Reiko Aylesworth, Shareeka Epps, Steven Pasquale
Directors:Colin Strause, Greg Strause
Studio:Twentieth Century Fox
Genre:Science Fiction
Run time:86 minutes
MPAA rating:R
MPAA explanation:violence, gore and language.

This review of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem was written by

Cynthia Fuchs

About our rating system

  • 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 of any age.

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Kid, 7 years old July 10, 2010
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Adult Written byMovieLover4Lyfe October 26, 2010
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Horrible, horrible movie. No child should be let near this movie. No adult for that matter...it's that bad.
What other families should know
Too much violence
Too much swearing
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Kid, 10 years old September 12, 2010
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16
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way to much blood and langauge.action scenes are awesome not as good as the first one
What other families should know
Too much violence
Too much swearing
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