Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Toward the end of "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" (20th Century Fox), the residents of a small town, having been menaced for nearly 90 minutes by rapidly breeding, human-impaling aliens, find a nuclear missile coming their way to liven things up. An atomic explosion as plot relief indicates how stale the "Predator/Alien" franchise (two of this combo so far, with another on the way) has become.

Directing brothers Colin and Greg Strause and screenwriter Shane Salerno opt for predictable chaos without irony or a shred of wit, and the Predator, a rogue warrior whose powers include invisibility, is reduced to plodding through a sewer and down hospital hallways. Even the aliens -- those slimy, insectlike creatures who scamper about, use humans as breeding hosts, then pop out of rubbery midsections -- look bored in their sixth outing.

They wouldn't have made it to earth this time around, anyway, except that the critters get loose on a Predator ship that falls from outer space into a Colorado forest. A lone Predator armed with high-powered weapons and lots of bright-blue acid to erase his tracks soon arrives as well; he's sort of an intergalactic Dirty Harry looking for vengeance. He doesn't see his mission as saving people, though, and anytime he encounters earthlings he tends to skin 'em alive.

The only actor of note is Reiko Aylesworth as Kelly, a muscle-shirted homage to Sigourney Weaver's character, Ellen Ripley, in the original "Aliens." She fights the creatures while protecting her daughter, Molly (Ariel Gade), but there's no big smackdown with a toothy queen. Instead, the Predator and a rather large alien face off like a couple of tired professional wrestlers.

The film contains brief partial nudity; rough, crude and profane language, nearly all of it by fighting teenage boys; a very brief attempted seduction by a teenage girl; and aliens, as they always do, popping out of a couple of people and the Predator leaving behind a skinned corpse; but most of the gore consists of syrupy special-effects blood splashing on windows. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops