Review Summary

The second “Aliens vs. Predator” film is, like its predecessor, one very dark movie. Not psychologically dark; dark dark, as in, not very generously lighted. The first film took place largely underground, in Antarctica. The new one, which opened Tuesday, first finds itself in the sewers of a Colorado town, where the title, um, characters are doing battle. And then, after the intergalactic struggle moves to the local power plant, the electricity for the whole region is knocked out. Bring your night-vision goggles to this one. You might wonder if the shadowiness is a subtle admission of shame: “We don’t want anyone looking too closely at this thing.” But “Requiem,” as the new film is subtitled, has nothing to be ashamed of. It may not be classic sci-fi like the original “Alien,” which it has in its DNA, but it’s a perfectly respectable next step in the series. — Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times