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I can't believe after 26 posts I am the first person that didn't like this movie. And I am a huge sci-fi fan.

I thought it had huge continuity/believability issues. Star Wars isn't believable, but the story is tight. This one was not tight. The aliens are smart, can leap over buildings, and have highly superior weaponry. Why did they get forced into a camp? When they were trying to set up the story to make the aliens oppressed it seemed like their weapons were useless. When they needed to get that fluid back Wikus and one alien were able to take out 20 commandos in a fortified building and blast their way out. When Wikus was in that big mechanical suit of armor he tells the alien he's done and he can't possibly make it to the ship. Then he gets up and starts running around and shooting rockets again like he is fine. There is more but its hard to write about this stuff quickly. I thought it was a 5/10.

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I can't believe after 26 posts I am the first person that didn't like this movie. And I am a huge sci-fi fan.

I thought it had huge continuity/believability issues. Star Wars isn't believable, but the story is tight. This one was not tight. The aliens are smart, can leap over buildings, and have highly superior weaponry. Why did they get forced into a camp? When they were trying to set up the story to make the aliens oppressed it seemed like their weapons were useless. When they needed to get that fluid back Wikus and one alien were able to take out 20 commandos in a fortified building and blast their way out. When Wikus was in that big mechanical suit of armor he tells the alien he's done and he can't possibly make it to the ship. Then he gets up and starts running around and shooting rockets again like he is fine. There is more but its hard to write about this stuff quickly. I thought it was a 5/10.

All of those aliens besides the main one (his name escapes me right now) were mindless worker drones. Although they had superior weaponry and physical abilities they needed direction and would take it from anyone, hence it was easy to keep them penned. They were happy living in squalor and eating cat food. I also think it was the intention of the director to have us understand that the main alien started out as a drone, but evolved into an intelligent free thinker. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense why he didn't restart the ship 20 years ago while they were all on it. Or he could have been young and born on Earth I guess.

I'm pretty sure that the weapons were only useless in the hands of humans. I think that the prawns could always fire them, they were just too dumb to do it.

The part with the mechanical suit is kind of a weird complaint. It's a pretty stock movie move for a character to dip into their well of reserves and find the strength to make one more heroic move. Since alien weapons were run off biotechnology I think they intended to make the viewer feel that working the suit was really physically taxing. So not only was the suit breaking down but so was Wickus, and then he found that one more ounce of strength to carry on.

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I can't believe after 26 posts I am the first person that didn't like this movie. And I am a huge sci-fi fan.

I thought it had huge continuity/believability issues. Star Wars isn't believable, but the story is tight. This one was not tight. The aliens are smart, can leap over buildings, and have highly superior weaponry. Why did they get forced into a camp? When they were trying to set up the story to make the aliens oppressed it seemed like their weapons were useless. When they needed to get that fluid back Wikus and one alien were able to take out 20 commandos in a fortified building and blast their way out. When Wikus was in that big mechanical suit of armor he tells the alien he's done and he can't possibly make it to the ship. Then he gets up and starts running around and shooting rockets again like he is fine. There is more but its hard to write about this stuff quickly. I thought it was a 5/10.

All of those aliens besides the main one (his name escapes me right now) were mindless worker drones. Although they had superior weaponry and physical abilities they needed direction and would take it from anyone, hence it was easy to keep them penned. They were happy living in squalor and eating cat food. I also think it was the intention of the director to have us understand that the main alien started out as a drone, but evolved into an intelligent free thinker. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense why he didn't restart the ship 20 years ago while they were all on it. Or he could have been young and born on Earth I guess.

I'm pretty sure that the weapons were only useless in the hands of humans. I think that the prawns could always fire them, they were just too dumb to do it.

The part with the mechanical suit is kind of a weird complaint. It's a pretty stock movie move for a character to dip into their well of reserves and find the strength to make one more heroic move. Since alien weapons were run off biotechnology I think they intended to make the viewer feel that working the suit was really physically taxing. So not only was the suit breaking down but so was Wickus, and then he found that one more ounce of strength to carry on.

You can spin it this way if you want, but I think you are writing your own movie rather than commenting on the one that you saw. The stuff about the aliens just being drones and not thinking is unappealing to me. The prawns were supposed to be like people in character. Stick a bunch of ditch diggers and fast food employees into a camp with superior weaponry and they will fight back. You don't need to be a leader to protect yourself.

Your suit comment is very true about that being standard in movies, but I still hated it. It was like watching professional wrestling it was so obvious. That wasn't the only scene that used that same technique, either. Wikus told Chris ever 10 minutes to "think about your boy" and then he picked himself up and did what he needed to do, as if a commando dude shooting at your head wasn't enough to make you run...

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Not to mention the majority of them (at least that the film let us encounter) were drugged up. I imagine cat food to them is equivalent to marijuana to humans -- it's not going to kill you, it's just going to make you not think straight. Ever try getting a few stoners off the couch to do anything? Yeah, multiply that by 2.5 million.

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i thought it was awesome, but it wasn't the best sci-fi movie i've ever seen. there's a lot of hype and buzz surrounding this movie right now and it's definitely influencing some peoples opinions. it had it's flaws, and the entire voodoo/eating limbs to gain power sub-plot was treated stupidly and all those parts felt super melodramatic and silly. i fully support people explosions though.

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You can spin it this way if you want, but I think you are writing your own movie rather than commenting on the one that you saw. The stuff about the aliens just being drones and not thinking is unappealing to me. The prawns were supposed to be like people in character. Stick a bunch of ditch diggers and fast food employees into a camp with superior weaponry and they will fight back. You don't need to be a leader to protect yourself.

the aliens being drones may be unappealing to you, but it was explained that way in the movie so i dont think you can call it a plot hole (or however you worded it, i dont feel like going back and looking). also like scott said, they were drugged up. they said in the movie the cat food was like cat nip to them. also keep in the mind that when they found them they were extremely malnourished. i think when you are in that state it is very easy to accept whatever is handed to you. they also could have just been so stupid that they saw what was given to them as being amazing

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All of those aliens besides the main one (his name escapes me right now) were mindless worker drones. Although they had superior weaponry and physical abilities they needed direction and would take it from anyone, hence it was easy to keep them penned. They were happy living in squalor and eating cat food. I also think it was the intention of the director to have us understand that the main alien started out as a drone, but evolved into an intelligent free thinker. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense why he didn't restart the ship 20 years ago while they were all on it. Or he could have been young and born on Earth I guess.

I'm pretty sure that the weapons were only useless in the hands of humans. I think that the prawns could always fire them, they were just too dumb to do it.

The part with the mechanical suit is kind of a weird complaint. It's a pretty stock movie move for a character to dip into their well of reserves and find the strength to make one more heroic move. Since alien weapons were run off biotechnology I think they intended to make the viewer feel that working the suit was really physically taxing. So not only was the suit breaking down but so was Wickus, and then he found that one more ounce of strength to carry on.

You can spin it this way if you want, but I think you are writing your own movie rather than commenting on the one that you saw. The stuff about the aliens just being drones and not thinking is unappealing to me. The prawns were supposed to be like people in character. Stick a bunch of ditch diggers and fast food employees into a camp with superior weaponry and they will fight back. You don't need to be a leader to protect yourself.

Your suit comment is very true about that being standard in movies, but I still hated it. It was like watching professional wrestling it was so obvious. That wasn't the only scene that used that same technique, either. Wikus told Chris ever 10 minutes to "think about your boy" and then he picked himself up and did what he needed to do, as if a commando dude shooting at your head wasn't enough to make you run...

You're judging the Prawns as if they were human. Look how different animals behave compared to humans, now imagine a race from another planet.

I loved the movie btw.

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The guy who wrote the movie based it off his experiences with the apartheid while growing up in South Africa. The cat food vendors were meant to satirize the guys who would go into the tenements and sell junk food. They also filmed on location. Every single shack was filmed the way they found it, minus the one with the space ship underneath. That was not a Hollywood set, those are actual living conditions for humans.

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Saw this last night and was blown away. Not at all what I was expecting when I walked into the theater (and I'd been avoiding this thread until AFTER I saw it for fear of spoilers).

Also super impressed by Sharlto Copley who played Wickus. Apparently he'd never acted before or had any intention of persuing an acting career. The director discovered him while filming the short film this movie was based on.

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Saw this last night and was blown away. Not at all what I was expecting when I walked into the theater (and I'd been avoiding this thread until AFTER I saw it for fear of spoilers).

Also super impressed by Sharlto Copley who played Wickus. Apparently he'd never acted before or had any intention of persuing an acting career. The director discovered him while filming the short film this movie was based on.

There's a nice write up about him and that story in Entertainment Weekly.

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i liked the movie. the ending was okay. i mean, they could make a sequel (and probably will), given what the ending gave us, or they could leave it as is. i'd rather they don't make a sequel, because this almost seems like a story too good to mess up by extending it any further.

visually, this movie was perfect for what it was.

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Really, really dug this movie. Sorry, it totally makes sense that 1.8 million aliens would be oppressed by an estimated 44 million South Africans. It happens all the time. Even with superior weaponry, you put a disorganized mass against a well organized military unit and they'll lose. It's the same reason that in every dictatorship or aristocracy a select few rule over the masses. There's a lot of examples in history and explanations in the movie but that's all there.

I thought the voodoo thing was well done too. It happens all over the world where people eat shit off of rare or endangered animals because it gives them a boner (or is supposed to), I can absolutely see a guy eat an alien arm because they figure it would give them power. Additionally, it highlights that while people viewed the aliens as stupid and backwards, many of their same people were doing things that were more ignorant and backwards. Really smart, really well done.

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sorry, i'm with thebiglebowski. i didn't like it. granted, i'm not a sci fi fan but i thought i'd give this one a chance. sure, the alien kid was awesome. i liked that it was set in south africa for a change of scenery. the blowing up people to next to nothing was cool. but that's about it.

the transformation of wikus from an almost comical character in the beginning to a desperate and sad but then partly heroic character didn't flow well, and the amount of times he said "fuck" or "fucking" just made me want to laugh at him. it wasn't believable.

cutting to and from the interviews with the "experts" was almost like one of those mock tv interview shows making fun of some outrageous issue and i didn't think it fit the rest of the movie well at all. just gave the whole film a kind of comical and mocking tone.

and i'm also with robotnerd regarding the whole voodoo thing - it just wasn't believable. then the ending just left too many things unanswered

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Loved it. The CGI was really well done (although we're probably a few years away from seamless creature interaction at this point).

I was really skeptical going in because the whole apartheid analogy seemed like it was too forced and blatant, but I really thought it was fantastically done both thematically and visually.

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cutting to and from the interviews with the "experts" was almost like one of those mock tv interview shows making fun of some outrageous issue and i didn't think it fit the rest of the movie well at all. just gave the whole film a kind of comical and mocking tone.

those interviews were used to give the events context. if those weren't in there, we wouldnt know what the situation was as the film started. sure, they could've star wars'd or blade runner'd it and actually put text describing..THIS is what happened before what you are about to see. or they could have had shown a ten minute scene with a bunch of old government guys sitting around "evaluating" the situation. but it didn't and i thought it was an interesting choice. it also goes with the idea that big events in the movie are intercut with "news" footage and the event actually "happening" in front of us (if that makes sense).

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