Aliens Vs Predator - Requiem

[dalekboy]

It was kind of ordinary. I wasn't bored, but neither was I thrilled, amazed, surprised, shocked, delighted... It's not a bad film, but neither is it remarkable. The comments that I've heard that said it was a "hits of the Aliens, and Predator, series" was accurate

Comments

[mondyboy]

I just thought it was a terrible film. Actually, I thought the first AvP film was better (and that aint much chop either). It was a by the numbers film, with some horrible acting and some cliched moments. So I wasn't surprised by the implicit sexism in the film. It sort of fits with the shitness of the script.

[dalekboy]

Actually, that's a good point. I don't like the first film at all. I thought it a clumsy, ill-thought out piece of rubbish. AVPR actually makes more sense, in some ways, but I liked it less.

Actually no, That sounds like I like AVPR more. AVPR commits the mortal sin of cinema, I don't care about it one way or the other. But if I was going to choose a film to watch, it'd be the first one, because it at least provokes a response from me.

[angriest]

I think AVP knows what it wants to be (as I've mentioned before, it's the WWE with aliens in it) and does it to the letter. AVPR's biggest problem for me was that it reeks of two fresh young directors clearly thinking they're making a masterpiece, when all they're really doing is name-checking the best bits of the preceding seven films.

[dalekboy]

And the sad thing is you can make a really great film this way, people have built whole careers on ripping off from great films and directors - they don't come close to pulling it off. All their scary, edgy moments feel so predictable and by-the-numbers, they totally fail to elicit a reaction.

[stephen_dedman]

I was unimpressed by AVP and haven't seen AVPR, but the horror movie that most irked me with its violence against women was Deep Rising. While it was, on the whole, a better movie than AVP (no great feat, admittedly), I couldn't help but notice that the first two victims were young Asian women - particularly as most of the cast was obviously Caucasian. I remember wondering whether the director had recently been dumped by an Asian woman and was enacting his revenge - something I haven't thought since de Palma's Blow Out.

[dalekboy]

I haven't seen Blow Out, but what you say about Deep Rising is interesting as I hadn't noticed the first two women killed as being Asian. Now you say it, yeah.

Mind you, is it still violence against women, or racism, or both? Or is it simply the director going 'I'll use that actress and that actress,' and never being consciously aware that two people of the same ethnicity are being killed in a mostly Caucasian cast?

Which raises the other question, if you're aiming for equality, and you're killing lots of Caucasians, when does killing non-Caucasians become a racist act? If the only survivors are Caucasian, by dint of casting, be it deliberate, dictated by the studio, or just picking the best people for those parts, then everyone else dies anyway.

Not asking you specifically, you've just got me thinking out loud, as it were.

[stephen_dedman]

kateorman has discussed this aspect of Torchwood and Doctor Who.

I suppose you could accuse Aliens of only leaving the Caucasians alive, but it killed off most of them first as well as the others. I know Predator II was applauded by some for ending up with an African-American hero, who survived at the end, without any fuss being made about his race.

[stephen_dedman]

Back when I was working for DEST's apprentice and traineeship section, I saw an ad for the CES and traineeships where they'd used a multi-ethnic cast, apparently at the government's behest. Unfortunately, I saw it with the sound muted (my preferred way of watching ads), and so I saw: male aborigine has a door shut in his face; Asian girl has a door shut in her face; Mediterranean boy has a door shut in his face; Caucasian girl approaches doors, and they open wide for her. CES logo comes on.

The dialogue, which I heard later, had the last girl say, "I've done a traineeship", which was the point of the ad - but it still looked as though it was saying "The CES - we'll let you in, but only if you're white."

[logansrogue]

Ahh, in comics it's called "Women in Refridgerators". *pats you on the shoulder* Welcome to my rage.

[dalekboy]

I've always had this rage, I'm an angry little man :)

My amount of annoyance and anger is directly proportional to when something was made, the style of film, etc. If I see a modern slasher movie, I expect it to have a high body count for both genders, and likely to be sexist and exploitative. But if I saw a modern film where only women died, I'd likely get pretty pissed off if there wasn't a bloody good reason behind it.

Whereas, if I'm watching a film from, say, the 60s or 70s, that was the nature of the beast back then, and I accept it in the context of the time. Accepting it doesn't mean I like it. I fucking HATE the orginal Ocean's Eleven. There's a good film in there, buried under a pile of misogynistic crap

[mistress_wench]

Yeh the hospital ward scene made me feel ill :(