AVP2 Requiem - DVD

I remember seeing the first Alien movie on VHS and being scared out of my wits.  I then recall seeing Aliens at the cinemas and being even more scared by the nasty Xenomorphs.  Then along came a little movie that I also saw on VHS starring Arnold Schwarzenegger about a different alien, Predator, directed by John McTiernan who would go on to direct one of my all time favourite films, Die Hard.  Just as gory as Alien, it also produced a sequel, this time with no Arnie, but there was this blink and you miss it shot of an Alien head as a trophy in the Predator's ship at the end of the second film.  Say what?  They are in the same fictional universe?!  How cool is that?!  Soon after I tracked down some comic books of Aliens Vs Predators.
Imagine my surprise when they finally released an AVP film, which was panned by the critics, but I actually didn't mind it.  This then brings us to yet another sequel, this time AVP2.
I really like it when a story at least tries to follow on from the previous story and this movie starts with the end of the first AVP movie with the triumphant Predators leaving Earth after the events of he first film.  However, at the end of the first movie, an Alien burst from the chest of a fallen Predator.  The outcome of this was that all the Predators were killed and the ship crashes back to Earth releasing the newly birthed Aliens which quickly go on a rampage.  Even a little kid is shockingly easy prey.
A Predator responds to an emergency beacon and leaves their home planet to find out what happened to his fellow Predators.  He quickly goes about dispatching the Aliens and dissolving all trace.  However, the battle soon explodes into a populated town where the body count quickly escalates.  How will our human heroes survive?  And will the army come to save them?
The movie was directed by The Brothers Strause who are special effects wizards and went on to direct another Sci-Fi film, Skyline.  AVP2: Requiem has no big stars in it which does it no favours but the brothers did not have a huge budget to work with and had to put as much into the special effects as they could.  This unfortunately clearly shows in the sub-par acting.  The actors are from television, including Steven Pasquale from Rescue Me and Reiko Aylesworth from 24.  John Ortiz looks like his stint on the movie hasn't hurt him as he has gone on to star in some bigger films like American Gangster and Public Enemies.
The 'Definitive Edition' 2 Disc DVD has got some pretty good making off documentaries and featurettes and a couple of commentaries which I have yet to listen to.
Like the first AVP film, Requiem was panned by almost everyone who has seen it and I am sure by plenty who haven't.  I actually didn't mind it.  It was better than I was expecting and another decent addition to the cinematic saga of the Aliens and the Predators.  While I concede it would have been heaps better, it is certainly not as bad as what people were making it out to be.  I give it 6/10.