Well I just watched it again to refresh myself on it and my opinion is that I still didn't like it. I feel that the cliches actually get in the way of the movie, and even if they are meant to be intentional cliches, doesn't mean they should have done them. Basically most of the cliches, are guys fighting over girls, and girls fighting over guys, like we have seen movies so much before. The movie also has the cliche of a woman who's male lover, has gone to war, and she thinks he's dead, but it turns out he's not dead. This has been done so much in war and action movies, that I can't believe they actually used it again.
As far as being a military propaganda satire, I feel if that's the direction they wanted to go, why not increase the military propaganda even more? For example, the movie is about how the government wants to manipulate people into going to war right, but why have it so that the they need to have their cities attacked to go to war? If the movie is about a military propaganda government, why not just have a government that wants to colonize another planet, just for the heck of it. That's what the nazis did, and they didn't need other nations to attack them to go to war.
Or how about this. If the movie wants to have a fascist propaganda point to make, why have it the main character's parents be killed in an attack by 'the enemy' at all? If the movie wants to portray military fascist propaganda, why not just have the main character want to kill all the bugs cause he is a military fascist and believes in it... end of story?
So why not just take the propaganda to a higher level?
Or why not have it so that the bugs decide to surrender but the soldiers are ordered to kill them anyway, even after they surrendered cause those are the military orders. I mean as far as military propaganda goes, it doesn't show any mistreatment of the bugs, as prisoners of war, or anything like that. It throws out all of the military propaganda edge, in favor being an action movie too much of the time, and it concentrates too much on the battles, rather than the propaganda and satire.
I also feel that by making every character a puppet, is also makes the characters less interesting, cause they are all the same, and if they are all the same, they always agreeing with each other and there is no conflict in the situation.
Like in Saving Private Ryan for example, the soldiers were at odds with each other over whether or not they should save private Ryan, as maybe the government has put them on a useless mission where more lives will be lost... where as other characters think it's for the greater good, and they have conflict over this. Even Ryan has conflict as to why he is being rescued and if was the right thing or not.
Having characters have different feelings creates conflict and is good. But the characters in this movie all behave the same, and all believe in the same thing, which doesn't make for any good conflict. The only conflict they do have is over girls and boys, but the propaganda is conflict-less.
And we never learn much about the bug antagonists or what their deal is. At the end of the movie, when the one big bug is captured, they bring in a psychic character to read it's mind, and find out what is going on inside their heads. They other soldiers ask the psychic what's it thinking, and the psychic replies "It's Afraid", and then everyone cheers.
It's Afraid, and that's it?? That's how you are going to end the movie? And yes, I understand how everyone cheering at the bug being afraid is part of the satire, but again, everyone all behaves the same, and there is not conflict as a result.
And I think a much better way to end the movie would be if the main characters were tried for war crimes by the bugs, and sentenced to death. I know it would be the bad guys losing so to speak, but I think with the war crimes trial, it could work within the theme the movie is trying to explore.
So those are my problems with the movie. But again, I feel that they just needed to push the fascist propaganda further, and invade the planet just for the heck of it, without needing the bugs to attack first, and I think I they need to push the fascism propaganda a lot further, for the movie to be more effective.
Last edited by ironpony; 01-04-18 at 04:54 AM.