Aliens Vs. Predator 2 Script and Movie Review

[myk]

Basically it looks like the studio listened to the "WTF! PG-13??" complaints and brought in 2 completely ametur Kevin Smiths wannabes and told them to make an "R" movie, and they've turned out a "Billy & BobbyJoe Vs The Space Aliens" gore flick.

You can say that again:

"One of the "Wow!" moments in the trailer comes when the Wolf quite literally whips out his new weapon. "[When weapons were being designed,] there was this one picture of a Predator with a bullwhip," Greg recalled. "We were like, 'Sh--, this has to be in the movie! This is the coolest thing I've ever seen!'"

[vermillion01]

Looks lijke yopur typical stargate sg-1 woodland set..... with some little hick town. I agree with the colonial marines thing. ( its the only way to be sure)

[Doktor Gonzo]

That's why you set it in a remote colony world that looks just like Earth (either through terraforming or "just because"). Then it's just a matter making a few prop/wardrobe changes. Maybe change the color of the fake blood squirting out of one of the characters in their death scene to white for the big "ZOMG THEY WERE TEH ANDROID!!!!!!11!!one" reveal. You can do all of that without an appreciable effect on the budget.

Unfortunately, execs' brains run on about a decade delay. When the ALIEN franchise was still alive, THE biggest fanboy demand was for "the Aliens to FINALLY reach Earth." We wanted our Earthwar, dammit! Bet you anything some brightboy Fox exec remembers those strident demands and figures that this film, even moreso than AvP1, is "giving the fans exactly what they want"....

[GutsAndCasca]

Y'know - after reading that interview thing on MTV's site, I think this movie's going to be cool. I'm actually almost excited now.

[Warmaker]

Not me. I get no positive vibe off this, no more than the first one did.

It's too bad, but at least I still have Alien & Aliens to make up for Fox's lacking.

[Nied]

sets wouldn't be a problem.. everything's green screened these days. Maybe Jim Cameron won't relinquish intellectual rights to the colonial marines (I'm assuming he'd have some say in this besides Fox)

That occurred to me after typing out my last reply. Cameron was intimately involved in every aspect of desgning the Marines, which might help explain why we don't really see much of them in the rest of the Alien sequels.

[Vermillion21]

You know looking at this trailer I'm struck by how easily they could have put the colonial Marines into it. Just change "isolated town in the middle of nowhere" to "Isolated Colony in the middle of space (one that was terraformed to/coincedentally does look like Earth)" change "US military Rolling in to lock the town down" to "US Colonial Marines dropping in to lock the colony down", and change the "Neeto special effects shot of an F-22 Raptor getting ready to nuke the town from the air" to "Neeto special effects shot of a Sulaco clone getting ready to nuke the colony from orbit (it's the only way to be sure)" and bang you have almost what most people wanted out of an Aliens vs Predator movie. I'm willing to bet that 90% of us would even forgive the whole teen slasher aspect of it if they just set in in space.

This is the movie I want to see too!!!

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

In Eric Cartman's voice :

We want N'yah!

We don't want N'yah!

Its ALIENS ya know. Not Alaskan Barn Night!

Edited September 20, 2007 by Retracting Head Ter Ter

[chrono]

Space sets are expensive. Its probably set in a normal every day middle america town because its cheaper...

Here's why I can't buy that statement.

It takes several million dollars for on-site filming and a metric-poo-ton of scheduling to get everyone there in the first place. Yet on-lot studio filming costs basically the same amount of money and time to do. The FX costs would only be slightly higher because they went with suits and not digital creatures, so few FX materials would need to be built and after they were built it would only be a matter of animating them.

It's just a lack of wanting to follow the established universes. Hell, only Predator was based on Earth and only P2 was based near civilization with the Alien series being nearly completely ship based.

[GutsAndCasca]

I betcha' the NEXT next AVP or Alien movie will have colonial marines.

[vermillion01]

I want to see more of this -

BIG TIME!!!!

"let me introduce you to a close personal friend of mine........"

[Vermillion21]

I want to see more of this -

BIG TIME!!!!

"let me introduce you to a close personal friend of mine........"

me too!!!

[Guppy]

just watched the new trailer and I no longer care what anyone says. this is going to (maybe) rock. Maybe delete the teens pashing at the indoor pool. but then again they look so annoying I'll enjoy it even more when they get splattered.

http://www.filmweb.no/trailere/article140727.ece

click on 'stor' or 'fullskreen' (the upper one)

[Kurisama]

O-HO-HO-HO-HOOOOOO!!!!!!

Hot diggiddy dawg! We have a weiner!

This looks SWEEEEET. *Nyah* :-P to all tha haters!

Can't wait!

[Kurisama]

Some new pics up at www.USATODAY.com, found it from a link at www.comingsoon.net.

Kewl.

[myk]

That Pred-Alien looks nasty. Sign me up...

[Kurisama]

I know! Sign me up too!

[Alpha OTS]

Are they showing any pics of any plain Aliens or is the Pred-Alien the only one we're getting?

[Kurisama]

Nope - thats it. But didn't u see the aliens in the 2 trailers?

[Hikuro]

I like the fact that there's gonna be little of no CG thru the film that focuses on the aliens themselves. They said there are 12 alien costumes and that's about it.

[Guest sh002]

looks pretty cool so far.

[konimon]

Too bad we won't be seeing more of M41As(such a legendary rifle) in action, but Alienator looks cool.

[myk]

I'm actually over the pulse rifle and smartgun designs. 20 years ago they were very cool sci-fi pieces, but in the present day I expect to see weaponry that has logic and authenticity to its designs that mimic real equipment. I'd even be glad to see a G36 and an M249 SAW in place of the pulse and smart guns...

[Mr March]

What movie since Aliens has even attempted to build extrapolated future firearms that is anywhere near as stylish and realistic as the weapons for the Cameron film? As far as sci-fi firearms post-Aliens, I've seen either over-the-top sci-fi pulp crap or defacto replicas of modern firearms with new paint jobs and laser pointers attached. As far as I can recall, no one's even made that much of an effort. You may see a few glimpses here and there of some gun that kinda looks alright, like Firefly or Battlestar Galactica (2004). But nothing as interesting or creatively plausible as the weapons from Aliens is coming to my mind (and that includes sound design). Perhaps I've forgotten some examples, especially if they are from lousy films.

Edited October 28, 2007 by Mr March

[vermillion01]

What movie since Aliens has even attempted to build extrapolated future firearms that is anywhere near as stylish and realistic as the weapons for the Cameron film? As far as sci-fi firearms post-Aliens, I've seen either over-the-top sci-fi pulp crap or defacto replicas of modern firearms with new paint jobs and laser pointers attached. As far as I can recall, no one's even made that much of an effort. You may see a few glimpses here and there of some gun that kinda looks alright, like Firefly or Battlestar Galactica (2004). But nothing as interesting or creatively plausible as the weapons from Aliens is coming to my mind (and that includes sound design). Perhaps I've forgotten some examples, especially if they are from lousy films.

I agree wholeheartedly... i dont think we're quite done with the pulse rifle and smartgun.. one outing just wasnt enough.

[GutsAndCasca]

Agreed! No other sci-fi weapons are permanently etched into my brain like the ones from Aliens. I just love them, and I always will. I WANT A NEXTGEN AVP FPS GAME DANGIT!

[VT 1010]

Agreed! No other sci-fi weapons are permanently etched into my brain like the ones from Aliens. I just love them, and I always will. I WANT A NEXTGEN AVP FPS GAME DANGIT!

I don't know about AVP, but Sega is working on a new Aliens FPS. Condemned was pretty good, which is giving me some hope for this game. I think it's supposed to come out sometime in 2009.

[myk]

What movie since Aliens has even attempted to build extrapolated future firearms that is anywhere near as stylish and realistic as the weapons for the Cameron film? As far as sci-fi firearms post-Aliens, I've seen either over-the-top sci-fi pulp crap or defacto replicas of modern firearms with new paint jobs and laser pointers attached. As far as I can recall, no one's even made that much of an effort. You may see a few glimpses here and there of some gun that kinda looks alright, like Firefly or Battlestar Galactica (2004).

Well I don't see the Aliens designs as being realistic at all. Stylish and dream worthy definitely, but not realistic. A machine gun that you carry at your hip, and can't even assume a prone firing position with like the Smartgun? Unless they were forced to, no soldier would ever fire a machine gun from a standing position. The pulse rifle, that doesn't even have sights for a soldier to aim with, or even rails or a means to add on attachments? It doesn't take a gun-freak to see that those designs would never become a reality.

I know I'm just nit-picking an insignificant detail here, but there's no reason why the new BSG's example can't be followed: the use of weapons like the G36 and SA-80 that are real firearms yet look exotic enough to be sci-fi...

Edited October 28, 2007 by myk

[Kurisama]

Here's a question;

I never got how in Aliens, when the marines had to surrender their ammo - why does the smart gun have what looks like a cylinder with a big headphone plug on the end for ammo? How does that work?

[Mr March]

Then with all due respect, you're not seeing very well myk. You'll want to pay attention to this post Kurisama because it answers your question.

The Smartgun is designed to be utilized as mobile machine gun support. That's the whole point. It's also the whole reason why one would design such a weapon in the first place; to do something BETTER than a current weapon with a plausible method, not to build a laser gun just because it looks sci-fi-ish. The Smart Gun is not aimed like a traditional rifle, it's aimed with infrared. That's why the Xenomorph's lack of an infrared signature was so devastating. It's also why the gun is called a "SMART" gun and why removing the DV9 battery that powers the sight-to-gun link leaves the gun aimless <--- That's for you Kuri

The Smart Gun:

"Lightweight, rugged and reliable, the Smart Gun is carried into battle on a self-aiming stabilized mount - so negating the need to position or set up the gun for full automatic fire - and is linked to an infrared target tracking system for accurate aiming."

As for the Pulse Rifle:

"Sighting is made down a groove in the carrying handle, with an adjustable tangent leaf backsight positioned in the rear slot."

So yes, these little babies win big points in the realism debate and deservedly sit at the top of the food chain in realistically created sci-fi firearms for a very good reason. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we must all bow down to these arms for their winning personalities. Being the best creative firearms in sci-fi for the last 20 years is both good and bad. Good because it shows that a little thought goes a long way and bad because no one has even bothered to follow the same creative thinking that made these guns a reality in the first place. That they haven't been trumped in 20 years is not a good thing; it's a big ugly mark against sci-fi design for the past two decades. Mores the pity.

Edited October 29, 2007 by Mr March

[vermillion01]

dammit March.. you beat me to it! the Aliens technical manual is a great read.. you do really appreciate how much thought they put into their 'toys'. The tech. behind the smartgun was awsome.

[Mr March]

The Aliens: Colonial Marines Technical Manual is indeed a fine read, especially since it's the only fictional technical manual I've ever read that was written, formatted and researched like a real analytical dossier. I can't think of another work that is it's equal, with the exception of Saxton's Star Wars Technical Commentaries.

Actually, while the tech manual is indispensable, most of the details about the Aliens firearms are in the movie. Hicks shows Ripley how to aim the Pulse Rifle with the slot sight, infrared for aiming is mentioned several times by several characters and the Smart Gun is shown being disarmed when Vasquez removes the battery. The detail and thinking that went into Aliens is part of what made the film so damn good

[Kurisama]

Thanks Mr March - you're the best!

[wolfx]

Where exactly is the magazine clip for the smartgun stored? It doesn't seem like there is a removable ammo box anywhere.

[bsu legato]

Where exactly is the magazine clip for the smartgun stored? It doesn't seem like there is a removable ammo box anywhere.

They used the typical MG-34/MG-42 ammo basket, big enough for one 50-round belt.

Edited October 29, 2007 by bsu legato