Quote:
Originally Posted by Lateralus
I kind-of liked how the aliens demonstrated human qualities. I mean, they'd been on earth for 20 years. But mainly, the way in which they made the aliens have human-like mannerisms made you relate to them more and feel more sorry for them. I dunno, I liked it. And a lot of aspects of the film I didn't think were funny but instead quite sad because of the social issues they attempted to raise.
I also thought the protagonist was a good/interesting choice for the main character. And it's true that a lot of it felt like I was inside a video game but the action scenes were actually pretty stimulated and I'm normally one to be quite bored by action stuff. I agree about the whole thing with the Nigerians eating the aliens - that was a bit too ridiculous for me. I also think they could have chosen better villains.
But overall I'd have to agree it was a pretty good and entertaining sci-fi; something different from anything I'd seen lately.
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Well I understand that the aliens needed some human qualities so the audience could connect with them, but I felt that there should have been a bit more effort put into making their culture and customs more unique from ours, because I'm pretty sure that if a bunch of aliens made a pit stop here, they wouldn't be
just like us in the way they act. The film would have been a lot more interesting if it actually made a clear distinction between us and the "prawns", as in what makes them different from us and why we can't get along. I think that was a great opportunity that this movie missed, maybe the sequel will pick up on this. I certainly hope so.
Also this was a not so subtle commentary on racism, and I think it would have been more effective if they didn't try to make the aliens the ONLY sympathetic characters in the film (aside from the main character) and all the other humans into comic book archtypes. One could argue that the depiction of south africans as superstitious savages is, I dunno, a little racist.
I do however like how this is a twist on the usual "misunderstood alien/fantastical creatures mistreated by evil, greedy humans" formula (Day the Earth Stood Still, ET, Starman, Enemy Mine and the upcoming Avatar are good examples of this). Unlike other sci fi movies that use this plot device, the aliens were not part of some idealized utopia, they were not cute and cudley and were not to be f*cked with, and they were prone to all the same evils and shortcomings as humankind, that I liked.
So in that sense, the aliens can be sympathetic, but it's still made pretty clear that they can pose a threat to the human race, why did they come here in the first place? And why did they bring so many weapons? So the movie isn't just painting everything in black and white. As in, we're the bad guys and they're the good guys. This message would have been a lot more powerful though if so many of the human characters weren't so cartoonish. Still it IS a sci fi action movie so something like that dosen't really bother me.
I'm just nitpicking really. Jackson has yet to put his name on a less than stellar movie.
And yes guys that includes King Kong, I liked it, sue me.