Homages in AvP Requiem

Now we take a look at Aliens vs Predator: Requiem. This is a film directed by Colin and Greg Strause, who were very outspoken about their fandom. This film is often known as a film containing plenty of fan service and trying to appease the fans of the existing movies. However, despite this, it was very poorly received and it still is. So did an abundance of fan service and homage ruin the film? Let’s take a look at all the homages in AvP Requiem I could find.

The Motion Tracker
During the opening title of the movie, the bleeping sound of the motion tracker from Aliens is heard.

“Looks Like Love At First Sight To Me”
During the opening scenes aboard the Predator ship, when we’re in a room with several containers with face-huggers in, one of them bumps against the glass much in the same manner as a face-hugger does in Aliens when Burke gets too close to the container. However, in AvPR it would seem to be reacting to the Predalien’s presence.

Space Jockey Skull
I’m hesitant to list this one. Because A) You can’t really see it and B) It’s a homage in the way the Alien skull in Predator 2 is, which isn’t much. During the scene with the Predator in the trophy room, there is a Space Jockey skull high up on the wall.

“How You Doing Dallas?”
Blatant homage here in naming one of the lead male characters in Requiem Dallas. Obviously a tribute to Tom Skerritt’s character in Alien, Captain Dallas.

Deploying The Pod
When Wolf arrives on Earth, he is dropped off in a manner very similar to how the Predator arrives on Earth in the opening title sequence.

Lambert Shot
This is an extremely short homage. When Chet appears in the sewers and starts to approach the homeless lady who investigates the face-hugged men, we see a shot of the lady that looks remarkably similar to a shot of Lambert during Alien when the Alien is starting to approach her.

The Power Plant
While not quite a direct homage, it does seem to be a tribute of sorts to the atmospheric processor from Aliens.

Other.World.Life.Form
This is only a tiny little homage to Predator 2 in which the acronym OWLF was displayed on the monitors in Keye’s trailer. The same acronym is seen on the monitor that Colonel Stephen’s is watching.

Interface 2037
In the same scene as above, you can hear the noise made by the computer when Dallas uses the interface to speak to Mother.

“What The Fuck Are You?”
Again, during the above scene, after Stephen’s tells the survivors where to go, he regards footage of an Alien on his screen and asks “what the fuck are you?”. This is a homage to Predator where Dutch asks the Predator the exact same question.

The Motion Tracker. Again
During a later scene with Stephen’s aboard his aircraft, you can also hear the bleeping of the motion tracker.

“Get To the Chopper!”  
Another simple dialogue homage in which Dallas shouts at Ricky to “get to the chopper!”. An obvious reference to Predator and Arnie’s famous line.

Wolf Strips Bare
I’m not too sure about this one. When Chet and Wolf meet on the hospital roof, Wolf throws all his weapons down and goes at it with Chet with only his fists and wrist-blades. This could be a homage to Predator since in no other Predator film does the lead Predator strip off all his equipment. That said, we do know the Predators love and appreciate a good challenge. I’ll leave this up to you to decide.

The Ripley & Newt Dynamic
The characters of Kelly and Molly are often considered a direct homage to the relationship Ripley and Newt develops in Aliens. However, there are some differences in the characters. Both Ripley and Newt have lost their only family and turn to each other for surrogate family while Kelly and Molly are existing family. AvPR does try to introduce some distance between Molly and Kelly but this is all but forgotten when the Aliens attack.

The Soundtrack

While many movie series carry musical themes and elements between each entry, the Alien series has never been one to carry musical elements. Each soundtrack is different from the other. The Predator series, however, does carry particular themes and musical movements between the movies. The AvP Requiem soundtrack takes movements, themes and many musical elements from all previous Alien and Predator movies and fuses them with its own style to create what essentially feels like a remix of the other soundtracks. In my opinion, it doesn’t detract from the quality of the soundtrack and it’s easily the best aspect of AvP Requiem.

Read More: Homages in AvP – Homages in Predators