Two things I liked from the AVP Reuqiem

[ChanceVance]

Back to other things. Movies like this, nobody cares about the human characters but they'd never be greenlit unless they had them. You'd get a movie that's an hour shorter, with more time and money devoted to following the creatures you paid to (barely) see but you wouldn't get a Hollywood budget without people in it. 

That's because people approach "these" kind of movies with that attitude. Just write a good movie. Write good characters. How do you think we got the good characters in Alien, Aliens, Predator, Terminator, the original Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and all the other classics of science fiction horror and fantasy. You just write a good script with solid characters.

Yes I stated as much later on in the post. 

The strength of the Alien movies has always come from the characters. Requiem as a finished product has bland, cardboard cut-out characters to the point where I'd rather have just watched the movie play out without them. In Aliens I find myself lamenting the death of Drake and he's onscreen for like 10 minutes. It's all in the execution.

I think a film that focused on meaningful characters and their everyday lives in suburbia before the Xenos turn everything into a living nightmare could be exceptional if done right. For example what if we got to know a group of people living in Hadley's Hope and then we actually saw the paranoia and horror of the events unfold. 

I'd never want to see that specific example mind you but to communicate the general idea. 

[happypred]

The best character of AvP Requiem is Wolf. He has more peronality than any of the Colorado townies.

[The Old One]

Credit be to Ian Whyte on working with nothing and making it work.

[PsyKore]

I didn't see shit.

And that shot of the guy walking up to check out the car - but not noticing the Alien right next to him was beyond moronic.

Yeah, the comparison between it and Aliens is very rudimentary. Aliens is twenty times better executed in every way. The setup, the tension, the follow through, the characters we've come to like up to this point being both observers and in the thick of it. Watching as all control slips away from the human characters and the Aliens stir to life.

That shot with the soldier looking in the window is so clearly the Strause Bros trying ot do a shot similar to Dietrich's death, but the shot in Aliens is just so much more damn effective and cool. That son of a bitch is right there in the wall! Holy sh*t!

Listening to Mark Rolston talk about when that scene first screened in the theater and how the audience just stood up... Man I would have loved to see Aliens back in 86 on the big screen.

This all goes without saying. And I didn't compare it to Aliens. But I still think it's a cool scene. Think of it more like a video game and don't worry about it.

[OpenMaw]

But, it's not a video game. It's a "film."

It's a cash-in that nearly cashed out two franchises. Permanently.

[PsyKore]

Ok.

[BigDaddyJohn]

Lol openmaw is a bit rough sometimes, but he has a point here. Different medias, different results.

[OpenMaw]

Okay, okay. In game terms:

AVP:R's lighting engine really sucks.
The levels are incredibly linear and over too soon.
The story and characters are uninspired.
The ALIEN AI is awful.
The developers gave Wolf TANK CONTROLS! 

[The Old One]

[Inverse Effect]

I like the outfits and suits for the aliens and the dark shots. Reminds me of Aliens when you rarely get a full body shot of an alien. it's just dark hall ways with flashing lights and you see the aliens.

[The Old One]

I thought the AVPR Alien design, suit and behaviour was terrible in every respect- that goes for the "PredAlien" too.

[SM]

I like the outfits and suits for the aliens and the dark shots. Reminds me of Aliens when you rarely get a full body shot of an alien. it's just dark hall ways with flashing lights and you see the aliens.

The design on AvP:R was awful. Overbites and plated heads... If they'd showed less they might've got away with it. The gunfight in the rain could've great - if there was a gunfight. Have the whole thing lit by lightning strikes and strobing gunfire highlighting shapes of the Aliens without the actual form.

[Corporal Hicks]

I didn't mind the plated head...it's just that damn over-bite. When you're looking at it front on (from what I remember, anyway) they didn't look so bad.

[The Cruentus]

I don't know they made the ridges different, its makes the Alien look vastly different from the ones in Aliens (which is what they were trying to emulate) and once again its an unnecessary design change.

[SM]

They've had that swept back plated look since Alien 3, but was modified along the way.