Great movie.  Not really what I was expecting, but not entirely 
different, either.

There were some slow parts in it, where I felt they were dragging things 
out, but overall it was quite riveting.

...Chambers

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Yes. I liked it a lot, but the people I went with thought it was bad.

 - Slime
 [ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]

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On 08/16/09 22:35, Chambers wrote:
> Great movie.  Not really what I was expecting, but not entirely
> different, either.
>
> There were some slow parts in it, where I felt they were dragging things
> out, but overall it was quite riveting.

	HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

	In terms of action, pretty good. As a movie in general, fairly good. As 
a sci-fi plot, merely OK.

	If you're into scifi, then you'll realize it may be somewhat pointless 
to make the aliens just like humans. They should have shown at _least_ 
one character trait difference...

	Perhaps I missed it, but why didn't the aliens use the weapons before 
handing/selling them to the Nigerians? I think there were quite a few 
mini plot holes like this - although that may have been intentional.

-- 
When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane

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Neeum Zawan wrote:
>     HERE BE SPOILERS!!!
> 
>     In terms of action, pretty good. As a movie in general, fairly good. 
> As a sci-fi plot, merely OK.

That's funny, because my reaction was so different :)  As an action 
movie, it was only OK.  As a movie in general, it was great.  As a 
sci-fi movie, it was pretty good.

YMMV :)

>     Perhaps I missed it, but why didn't the aliens use the weapons 
> before handing/selling them to the Nigerians? I think there were quite a 
> few mini plot holes like this - although that may have been intentional.

Because the aliens that were found on the ship were the worker class, 
who had been bred (and trained) to just take orders.  Sure, some of them 
would fight, but most of the time you could get them to back down by 
just being confident and acting like you were in command.

It was implied that Christopher was a survivor of the ruling class.  He 
certainly showed more intelligence, as well as knowledge about their 
technology (not to mention a real concern for their condition).

BTW, don't you live in SA?  I read about the forced eviction of District 
6, and how the movie was supposed to be a reference to that.  Any 
thoughts or comments about it?

...Chambers

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On 08/17/09 08:43, Chambers wrote:
> That's funny, because my reaction was so different :) As an action
> movie, it was only OK. As a movie in general, it was great. As a sci-fi
> movie, it was pretty good.

	Well, I'm comparing it not to other sci-fi movies, but to sci-fi 
fiction in general (mostly novels).

	I couldn't sympathize with the aliens until they showed Christopher's 
character in detail. Up to that point, it wasn't clear that the humans 
were simply being nasty - it may well have been that the aliens psyche 
was dangerous to humans, and they needed to be cordoned off.

	After all, giving human rights to aliens is a bit silly to assume, 
don't you think?

	But then they showed that the aliens were more or less like humans, 
except for the appearance. From a sci-fi perspective, that's not all 
that great. They should have put in some fairly explicit character 
traits of the aliens (not necessarily negative ones) to differentiate 
their behavior from humans.

> Because the aliens that were found on the ship were the worker class,
> who had been bred (and trained) to just take orders. Sure, some of them
> would fight, but most of the time you could get them to back down by
> just being confident and acting like you were in command.

	I must have missed all the indications of this. Did they point out 
different classes among the aliens?

> BTW, don't you live in SA? I read about the forced eviction of District
> 6, and how the movie was supposed to be a reference to that. Any
> thoughts or comments about it?

	I don't live there, and haven't heard of District 6, but yes, it was 
patterned after events in Apartheid South Africa.

-- 
When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane

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Neeum Zawan wrote:
>     After all, giving human rights to aliens is a bit silly to assume, 
> don't you think?

True, it's a rather silly assumption ;)

>> Because the aliens that were found on the ship were the worker class,
>> who had been bred (and trained) to just take orders. Sure, some of them
>> would fight, but most of the time you could get them to back down by
>> just being confident and acting like you were in command.
> 
>     I must have missed all the indications of this. Did they point out 
> different classes among the aliens?

No, just the workers (and Christopher).  It's assumed that there are 
other classes, but they never go into it.  Nor do they spend any time on 
where all the other leaders are (dead? missing? hiding like Christopher?).

...Chambers

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On 08/17/09 21:01, Chambers wrote:
> Neeum Zawan wrote:
>> After all, giving human rights to aliens is a bit silly to assume,
>> don't you think?
>
> True, it's a rather silly assumption ;)

	Well, I didn't know if they wanted us to make that assumption or not. 
My guess would be "No" (it would be fairly poor SF otherwise).

>> I must have missed all the indications of this. Did they point out
>> different classes among the aliens?
>
> No, just the workers (and Christopher). It's assumed that there are

	Did they even do this? Beyond merely showing that Christopher seems 
smarter?

> other classes, but they never go into it. Nor do they spend any time on
> where all the other leaders are (dead? missing? hiding like Christopher?).

	Apparently, the whole story had been developed by the authors, but they 
intentionally left it out of the film. I agree that a lot of them can be 
left out, but I think they cut a bit too much.

-- 
Why a man would want a wife is a big mystery to some people.  Why a man
would want *two* wives is a bigamystery.

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Neeum Zawan wrote:
> On 08/17/09 21:01, Chambers wrote:
>> Neeum Zawan wrote:

>>> I must have missed all the indications of this. Did they point out
>>> different classes among the aliens?
>>
>> No, just the workers (and Christopher). It's assumed that there are
> 
>     Did they even do this? Beyond merely showing that Christopher seems
> smarter?
> 

They mention that the aliens seemed to be unable to act without
commands, like they were a hive that lost it's commander or something.
The documentary people thought it may have been because of the loss of
some module of the ship.

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.

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On 08/18/09 09:22, Sabrina Kilian wrote:
> They mention that the aliens seemed to be unable to act without
> commands, like they were a hive that lost it's commander or something.
> The documentary people thought it may have been because of the loss of
> some module of the ship.

	OK. Must have missed that.

> 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.

	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.

-- 
As long as I can remember, I've had amnesia.

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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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