Customer Reviews

Aliens vs Predator

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Brian Tyler gives us a knock out punch to the head with one of the biggest and most intense science fiction scores ever recorded. The music is at times terrifying suspenseful and at times full of searing action. For anyone that enjoyed the classic Alien and Predator scores, this soundtrack is for you. The orchestral fury of this score is akin to Horner's "Aliens" score while there are shades of Silverstri's "Predator" with the tribal drums. This is a no-brainer purchase for anyone that loves science fiction soundtracks. And this is by far the best of the latter day Alien scores.

A Great score. Many are underwellmed because of its unoriginal sets but i think it only adds to the movie and the Alien and Predator franchise. It has parts from both films and puts them together for one great film soundtrack. The film was a knock-out by itself and this only adds to it.

It's interesting how the careers of Brian Tyler and the late Jerry Goldsmith have dovetailed: Tyler replaced Goldsmith on Timeline in 2003, and is scoring the fourth Rambo movie in a series which Goldsmith made his own. On Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, Tyler is not only following in the footsteps of Goldsmith, but also James Horner, Elliot Goldenthal and Alan Silvestri, each of whom left an indelible musical mark on their respective entries into the franchises. What's most impressive about this score is how Tyler has managed to pay homage to all the composers who preceded him by incorporating some of their compositional stylistics into his own music, while still retaining a great deal of his own voice throughout the score. This tightrope must have been a difficult one to walk, but he has succeeded admirably. The film itself was a critical and commercial disaster: with an unknown cast, debutante directors (Greg Strause and Colin Strause), and hackneyed plot involving aliens and predators descending on small-town America to wreak havoc, really the only thing to concentrate on is the quality of Tyler's music. Tyler doesn't waste any time setting his stall out, going for the jugular from the outset. The opening "Alien vs. Predator - Requiem" is a massive collision of Goldenthal and Gustav Holst, with the famous ostinato overlaid with throbbing, apocalyptic brass. Elsewhere, the creeping, metallic, sub-industrial chords which so typified James Horner's Alien music can be heard in the militaristic beginning to the "Opening Titles", which effortlessly segues into a neat twist the icy isolation of Goldsmith's classic original score. Similarly, the instantly-recognizable percussion elements, chord progressions and rhythmic devices from Alan Silvestri's Predator scores are immediately noticable in cues such as "Skinned and Hanged". The score's many action cues, such as the two "National Guard" tracks, "Power Struggle" and the angry, vicious "Searching the Poolhouse" are wholly exciting. However, by far the most impressive piece on the album is the 7½-minute "Decimation Proclamation", a loud, cacophonous, relentless, utterly thrilling action set piece which is amongst the most impressive single cues of Tyler's entire career. It nods it's head to `Bishop's Countdown' and `Futile Escape', but embraces a broader orchestral palette, resulting in a singularly stunning piece through-composed action music. If one was to make one criticism of the album it's that it lasts too long - even with score as good as this, 77 minutes of relentlessly pounding action music can tax even the most hardy listener. A little bit of judicious pruning could have made a good score better; nevertheless, in purely musical terms, this is a winner.

I think it needs to be said, both for this soundtrack, and for this movie, that it was leaps ahead of its predecessor. Both get a lot of flack for riffing on the movies that spawned them and bringing back similar motifs and moments, but neither seems to get the appreciation for taking the series back to their roots. I was overjoyed sitting in the theater, having just sat through the first Predator again the night before, and hearing loving adaptations of Silvestri and Horner's themes.

The first film was reviled for butchering it's source material, but this one seems to be hated because it stayed too close. What do you people really want? Any movie with the word 'versus' in the title is already advertising itself as action slugfest and hardly a landmark of mood or substance. However, AVPR seemed to be reaching out for both despite being trapped in the wake of its predecessor and movie executives.Brian Tyler scored a rollicking, action packed piece of soundtrack, that while very busy, I found very well composed. It brings a sense of tactile urgency to the action, like two great cataclysms colliding with one another. The score is loud, beastly and fast. It's also very long, which is a good thing in my book, and the tracks are out of order on this CD, which is unfortunate.

Brian Tyler can score my monster on monster action movies any day of the week. I'm eagerly awaiting his score for Rambo. I think this film and its soundtrack will come into its own after a few years pass and the hate dies down. Hell, I've even managed to sit through the first AVP a second time without totally hating it, though I laugh with great abandon throughout. It was on par with, if not more entertaining and brisker, than Predator 2 and far more in line with the tone of both series than Alien Resurrection.

This is perhaps the strongest and boldest music for any of the Alien or Predator movies. The music is incredible. It really grabs you and never lets go. Tyler has created on of the most brilliant action scores I have ever heard. Not to be missed.

Brian Tyler is one of the most talented young composers of our generation. He has succesfully worked his way to the AA list of modern talent, and is composing some of the most technically advanced music of our time. Requiem is noisy, but wonderfully so. Brian doesn't hit you over the head with pounding synths and drum loops, he orchestrates VERY advanced action sequences and blends them with very listenable suspense tracks. If you enjoyed Silvestri's work on "Predator" this soundtrack is sure to please you.

I'll be the first to say that Harald Kloser's score for the original AVP was utterly worthless and he had no business writing the music for that film as much as Paul Anderson had no business directing. The new AVP movie promises to be a very gory, hard R-rated movie and has a new composer with a better track record.

But Bryan Tyler's score is nothing more than blaring brass sections and pounding percussion for near 80 minutes. There's no hint of any new theme or anything resembling melody. It does slightly resemble the sounds that Goldsmith and Horner created for the first two Alien movies but there's none of the mystery of either franchise. How I long for Alan Silvestri to return and show how it's really done.

I am disappointed. Tyler created a wonderful score for Bubba-Ho-Tep but his efforts for AVPR are so simple that anyone could really have come up with it.

It's loud, inarticulate and chaotic. Yes, it does get the blood pumping occasionally but cheesy trance music also achieves the same effect. If you must buy, pick it up cheap. Otherwise, just save your pennies for Silvestri's scores to Predator or Predator 2, both available from Varese Sarabande.