Neeum Zawan wrote:
> On 08/18/09 09:22, Sabrina Kilian wrote:
>> I thought it was implied that between that detail, and the insectoid
>> appearance of the aliens, that the audience was meant to think of them
>> as having an insect style hierarchy of minds.
> 
>     Except that they're continually referred to as prawns, and I suspect
> prawns don't behave that way (and prawns aren't insects).
> 
>     For that matter, I suspect most insects don't either.
> 
>     And your last statement is getting to why I think it's poor SF. They
> were expecting us to assume something that most mature SF fans wouldn't
> assume. If they'd used literal giant ants, then it's more
> understandable. Even the Arachnids in Starship Troopers made more sense
> (and the movie had more explicit indications of their behavior).
> 
>     Over here, they show an alien creature that looks like a prawn, but
> we're supposed to assume it has a certain behavior that is neither
> human-like or prawn-like.
>

I think the prawn part just skipped by me, because it seemed to be more
of a pejorative name than all the descriptive. Maybe I am just haven't
eaten enough prawns.

>     Put another way, it isn't the *only* thing one could assume. One
> could as justifiably have assumed a totally different behavior, based on
> other cues in the movie.
> 

I didn't say it was well implied. There was one other comment, I think
one of the 'experts' called them workers. It was very vague and I don't
think I can defend it for that.

I went in expecting less of a hard science fiction film, and something
more art house, so I was expecting to work at piecing little clues
together. I asked a friend if he thought the alien speech was based on
any particular African language, or just made up, which garnered a very
odd look as the only response.

Of course, on the art film level, it made a few points that I really
hope were just accidental and resulted from them aiming for something
sci-fi-like. I mean, a movie about apartheid where the victims are
'workers' caste with only one leader left to rescue them?

As just a summer movie, I liked it. It had a nice enough blend of
artsy/sci-fi/action to hit a matinee for. As anything other than that,
eh, I know when the school year starts up again I am going to be hearing
a lot about this movie.

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