Aliens vs. Predator--Requiem: Decent horror/action flick filmed without LIGHTS!!

* 1/2 (out of 5)

I would add a star if I could have seen what was going on.

A few months ago, I pulled the wires out of the back of my DVD system for a reason I'm not sure I remember. I didn't mark them, thinking I could remember where they went. I didn't. I criss crossed some wires and while I have a picture and good sound, I don't have color. Not a big deal to me, because I grew up watching TV in black and white, but it does take something away from the movie once in a while.

I am too complacent to fix the problem so I just live with it, but it does get confusing sometimes. Last night, I was watching the 6th movie in the Alien saga and the 4th in the Predator story, while reading the early edition of the Sunday paper. I started watching it last week with my wife and fell asleep around a half hour in. So I got the basic idea of the story, but I started it again to refresh myself. A boy and his father are hunting a deer, which means they have to be killed. A man is coming home from prison, which means he must be heroic. And a woman is coming home from Iraq which means she has to gently emasculate her husband. I got it the first time, now on to the Sports section.

But like last week, I said to myself, oh boy, I better fix those wires, the screen is so dark I don't have a freaking clue who's getting killed here. Then I read the Netflix viewer reviews and it turns out my player is fine, that it was actually filmed this way. Who's "bright" idea was that, pun intended. Half of the beginning of the movie takes place in the woods and sewer, but can we pretend there is some light in these places? Expenses were not spared regarding explosions and effects, so I'm guessing that this was an artistic decision. Artistry was lost on the Alien series, 4 movies ago and Predator never aspired to them. Let's get a grip here.

As these movies go, it's not boring. Well, it's not slow. All the killing does get a little boring after a while and the repetitive Terminator 2 "action" music gets very old when it is used throughout the entire movie. Does every scene have to be heightened dramatically. And this film is a little more nasty than usual. I thought it was harsh to have the alien jump out of a little boy's chest, but that was before the aliens embark on a maternity ward. When they were looking through the glass at all the infants I wasn't sure if the alien was excited about all the future implanting prospects or just looking at it like a buffet, but if he had harmed one of those infants I would have hit the Stop button on my DVD remote.

Twentieth Century Fox must use these movies as a testing ground for some of its lesser known TV stars. Steven Pasquale (Rescue Me), Reiko Aylesworth (24), John Ortiz (The Job), Johnny Lewis (The O.C.) all lead the cast. It reminds me of the old studio days in Hollywood where no one leaves the nest. All their acting is fine, but someone needs to write a better script.

The Freditor