AVPR: Aliens VS Predator Requiem

In AVPR: Aliens VS Predator Requiem an extraterrestrial craft crashlands in the Colorado wilderness, and a human-destroying alien emerges. Killing everyone or thing in its path, the alien soon begins to produce countless offspring, turning the town of Gunnison into a blood bath. The only hope for mankind is a malevolent creature from outer space whose mission is to destroy the aliens that have invaded Earth. (Stacey Pendry)

Special features on Disc One of this two-disc set include two feature commentary tracks—one by Directors Colin & Greg Strause and Producer John Davis, and the second with creature designers Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis; an added-footage marker; the following featurettes: AVP-R: Preparing For War: Development & Production (16 minutes), AVP-R: Fight To The Finish: Post Production (12 minutes), AVP-R: The Nightmare Returns: Creating The Aliens (eight minutes), AVP-R: Crossbreed: Creating The Predalien (eight minutes), and AVP-R: Building The Predator Homeworld (seven minutes); seven different still galleries; two theatrical trailers; and previews. Disc Two contains a digital copy of the film. Blu-ray™ exclusive special features include an option to access the Weyland-Yutani Archives with your Bonus View-enabled (Profile 1.1) player, the D-BOX® Motion Code™, and additional Blu-ray previews.

While black levels in the anamorphically enhanced 2.36:1 DVD are not exactly inky, they are deep and unwavering, which is key for a movie with so many dark scenes. In fact, the entire presentation has a dimly lit appearance, even in outdoor scenes. Shadow delineation is somewhat lacking, with many details in the darkness obscured and crushed. Colors are undersaturated, but they match the storytelling nicely, and contrast is overdone. Resolution is generally good, and compression artifacts aren't overly problematic. The H.264 AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc shows very solid black levels and good shadow delineation, giving the many dark interior scenes a pleasing sense of dimensionality. Resolution is quite good as well. The colors are still somewhat undersaturated, and the color palette is dominated with warm hues, but the picture is impressive. (Danny Richelieu)

The Dolby® Digital and DTS® Digital Surround™ 5.1-channel encodings are fantastic, with superb fidelity and an extremely lively mix. Each of the available channels are used well throughout the presentation, although there are moments when the surround channels' levels are mixed too low to be effective. Still, many scenes are fully engaging, with fantastic phantom imaging around the room that really enlivens the listening space. Deep bass is presented quite often, with the LFE channel doing the majority of the heavy lifting. Still, sub-30 Hz information is quite frequently delivered using the full-range channels at relatively high levels, so care should be taken so as to not damage your system. Dialogue sounds natural for the most part, but it can occasionally sound forward and thin. The DTS encoding provides a noticeable increase in overall fluidity and fidelity, with tighter bass and better-sounding dynamics. The Blu-ray Disc's DTS-HD Master Audio™ encoding is superb, with fantastic dynamics and impressive fidelity. Deep bass is delivered well using each of the available channels, really infusing the room with a solid low-end foundation. Phantom imaging is superb as well. This is an exciting soundtrack. (Danny Richelieu)