I need to pay more attention.
I've had AVP:R (Aliens vs Predator: Requiem for about two weeks now from Netflix. The first time I watched it, I was thoroughly engrossed in Diablo II (Yes, I know I'm an addict.) and I basically missed it. Tonight I forced myself to watch it without any distractions (Okay, maybe a couple, but nothing serious.) and I was extremely surprised by it. I am a huge fan of the Alien and Alien vs Predator universes. A friend of mine introduced me to the comic series by Dark Horse and I've been hooked ever since. Due to a number of unfortunate circumstances, I never actually collected any of the comics. However, in the late eighties and early nineties, I discovered the novelizations of the Alien comic books. The names of Hicks and Newt had been changed to Wilkes and Billie respectively, but the storylines were the same. A bit later in the ninties (1993 to be exact) I had a rather disheartening experience with regards to my "Alien" experience; I saw Alien 3 in the theatre. What a fucking letdown. I had built up my expectations based on what I had seen in the comics and read in the books (something I really try not to do nowadays) and nothing I anticipated actually happened. I resigned myself to the books and shut myself off from any further discussion of the movies. Alien and Aliens still held a special place in my heart, but seeing them reminded me of the ickiness that was Alien 3. So, when Alien: Resurrection came out, I let it pass by without even a glance. Curiosity got the better of me and I eventually saw it. It too, was a disappointment, but nowhere near as big as the third movie. Over time, I begin to see Alien: Resurrection for what it was, a comeback from the previous icky movie and it eventually got on my good side.
When I got a free pass to AVP, I shrugged my shoulders and invited my friend B along. The experience I had at the theatre is one of the shining examples why a. I don't like going to movies with certain friends and b. I don't like going to movies when there are other people in the theater. Here are some choice examples of some of the comments I had to make to B during the movie: "Shh!", "Please be quiet.", "Shut up.", "Shut the fuck up." and "Stop talking or I'm moving." The last one finally gave him the clue. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only person there with an urge to add an audio commentary and it took several pieces of popcorn thrown over my shoulder to get the man and his 8-year-old son sitting behind us to stop talking as well. When I got home that night, I realized that I was genuinely disappointed in the movie. It wasn't rated R like all the previous Alien and Predator movies had been and, as a result, didn't have the blood-and-guts violence that was so prevalent in the comic books. Plus, it was way to fucking predictable. The only redeeming qualities were that it introduced one half of "The Company" back story(Yeah, I'm kind of a sucker for that.) and it had one memorable scene taken right out of the comic books. Other than that, it fell flat. AVP:R, in my opinion, made up for all of that.
/* Spoiler Alert */
I'm used to the fictional universes of Aliens and Predator being treated like a salad bar. You take what you want, leave the rest and, if you don't see anything you like, you tell the cook to throw something together and bring it out. That's precisely what happened in this movie. The hybrid with its new impregnation skill was pretty snazzy and it's been something I've been waiting for. Why did it have this skill? Probably because it was gestated out of proximity of any other alien and, thus, grew into something queenlike. Also, it could have been affected by the DNA of the host. Most of the aliens we've seen are gestated from humans and lower mammals. We've never seen what happens when something else gestates one of these things. Also, the multiple impregnations were nice as well. I always was a bit concerned about the 1:1 ratio of hosts to embryos; now they've got a way to really swell the ranks. Plus there were a lot of dark moments. My two favorites were a boy in the beginning dying via chestburster and toward the end, a doctor watching all the monitors flat-line as the patients in the other room died the agonizing death of multiple chestbursters.
/* End Spoiler Alert */
I did have a bit of difficulty seeing the movie since it was so fucking dark. It's difficult to get into a movie where something kind of shiny is approaching a screaming woman. That's not a time I should have to use my fucking imagination. I fixed the problem by upping the brightness on the TV to the point where the letterbox bars were dark grey. But the problem was fixed and I got to see every detail. So cool, and they set it up for a sequel, which I would now look forward to... just a teensy bit. 8)
When I got a free pass to AVP, I shrugged my shoulders and invited my friend B along. The experience I had at the theatre is one of the shining examples why a. I don't like going to movies with certain friends and b. I don't like going to movies when there are other people in the theater. Here are some choice examples of some of the comments I had to make to B during the movie: "Shh!", "Please be quiet.", "Shut up.", "Shut the fuck up." and "Stop talking or I'm moving." The last one finally gave him the clue. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only person there with an urge to add an audio commentary and it took several pieces of popcorn thrown over my shoulder to get the man and his 8-year-old son sitting behind us to stop talking as well. When I got home that night, I realized that I was genuinely disappointed in the movie. It wasn't rated R like all the previous Alien and Predator movies had been and, as a result, didn't have the blood-and-guts violence that was so prevalent in the comic books. Plus, it was way to fucking predictable. The only redeeming qualities were that it introduced one half of "The Company" back story(Yeah, I'm kind of a sucker for that.) and it had one memorable scene taken right out of the comic books. Other than that, it fell flat. AVP:R, in my opinion, made up for all of that.
/* Spoiler Alert */
I'm used to the fictional universes of Aliens and Predator being treated like a salad bar. You take what you want, leave the rest and, if you don't see anything you like, you tell the cook to throw something together and bring it out. That's precisely what happened in this movie. The hybrid with its new impregnation skill was pretty snazzy and it's been something I've been waiting for. Why did it have this skill? Probably because it was gestated out of proximity of any other alien and, thus, grew into something queenlike. Also, it could have been affected by the DNA of the host. Most of the aliens we've seen are gestated from humans and lower mammals. We've never seen what happens when something else gestates one of these things. Also, the multiple impregnations were nice as well. I always was a bit concerned about the 1:1 ratio of hosts to embryos; now they've got a way to really swell the ranks. Plus there were a lot of dark moments. My two favorites were a boy in the beginning dying via chestburster and toward the end, a doctor watching all the monitors flat-line as the patients in the other room died the agonizing death of multiple chestbursters.
/* End Spoiler Alert */
I did have a bit of difficulty seeing the movie since it was so fucking dark. It's difficult to get into a movie where something kind of shiny is approaching a screaming woman. That's not a time I should have to use my fucking imagination. I fixed the problem by upping the brightness on the TV to the point where the letterbox bars were dark grey. But the problem was fixed and I got to see every detail. So cool, and they set it up for a sequel, which I would now look forward to... just a teensy bit. 8)