by James DePaolo
This is a weird take of Aliens vs Predators by the people who brought you Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police. If you have been into the Funimation stuff in the last few years ( Machine Girl, Mutants Girl Squad, Robo Geisha, Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl and Samurai Princess) then you know what you are getting into with this. The plot is simple enough, you have a group of ninjas who are told by their leader to go into the forest and see what the fiery mass that fell from the sky is. Along the way they discover a little boy who tells them his parents and village is dead. Then before you know it the ninjas are face to face with the Aliens. The swords and throwing stars fail, so they have to figure out a way to destroy the aliens.
There are a few tongue and cheek references to the original Predator. Like the first trap they set up to try and get the Alien. This has the pacing problems Samurai Princess had. It takes about 25 minutes to get this story really going. The fight scenes were fun, cheesy and just plain silly. But, this is what we come to expect with Funimation. The Aliens in themselves looked like play toys like old school 50's reptile monsters. This film does ask you to sustain disbelief, it asks you to get rid of it. There is a part in this film, where the aliens possess a group of ninjas, and the head ninja just starts on this tirade to a female that is pretty bizarre but amusing. Then leads the ninjas in a fuck you chant that is worth the price of a rental.
I think films like this, Robo Geisha, and for that matter Samurai Princess are showing signs of the well starting to run dry in terms of creativity and new and fresh ideas. As a whole, I had a blast with this film. It was funny and after the boring first 25 minutes when I almost just shut it off, it picked up and I really hope most fans are patient. I mean this film drags, and drags..but it does get better and finishes almost solidly. There are some ok fight scenes and the ending gives us hope that maybe if they continue with this that they learn the mistakes of the first one. All in all, I would say if you like the studio and all they are putting out, add this title to your library. If you hated the last few movies, you may hate this as well. I liked it. So I will buy it. Recommended.
There are a few tongue and cheek references to the original Predator. Like the first trap they set up to try and get the Alien. This has the pacing problems Samurai Princess had. It takes about 25 minutes to get this story really going. The fight scenes were fun, cheesy and just plain silly. But, this is what we come to expect with Funimation. The Aliens in themselves looked like play toys like old school 50's reptile monsters. This film does ask you to sustain disbelief, it asks you to get rid of it. There is a part in this film, where the aliens possess a group of ninjas, and the head ninja just starts on this tirade to a female that is pretty bizarre but amusing. Then leads the ninjas in a fuck you chant that is worth the price of a rental.
I think films like this, Robo Geisha, and for that matter Samurai Princess are showing signs of the well starting to run dry in terms of creativity and new and fresh ideas. As a whole, I had a blast with this film. It was funny and after the boring first 25 minutes when I almost just shut it off, it picked up and I really hope most fans are patient. I mean this film drags, and drags..but it does get better and finishes almost solidly. There are some ok fight scenes and the ending gives us hope that maybe if they continue with this that they learn the mistakes of the first one. All in all, I would say if you like the studio and all they are putting out, add this title to your library. If you hated the last few movies, you may hate this as well. I liked it. So I will buy it. Recommended.
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