MovieChat Forums > Phase IV Discussion > Cosmic fluke or aliens? Mirrors?

Cosmic fluke or aliens? Mirrors?

posted 19 years ago by homunculus
12 replies | jump to latest

SPOILERS...

I enjoyed this movie, but two issues aren't clear to me.

1) What caused the rise in the collective IQ of the ants? Was it a random event caused by a planetary alignment? Aliens? If it's aliens, why would they take over the ants, rather than humans directly, if that's what they want?

2) Insects build towers out of dirt, but how could the ants suddenly create a mirror on top of it? Manufacturing mirrors good enough to deflect sunlight is a complex mechanical / chemical process. It seems odd that the ants use such primitive methods as eating their opponents and chewing through wires, but then out of the blue develop the ability to make mirrors.

[–] trypt 19 years ago

1. What caused it is not important as there is no way to restore the world to its previous state.

2. The mirrors are created not by technology, but by chemical excretions from their bodies. The ants do have higher IQ so they did mobilize to create enough of this chemical at the same spot, however they never had the ability to build large complex structures out of complex materials not found in nature.

I haven't seen this flick since I was a kid, but man was it scary back then.. maybe i'll watch it again.

"You have been assimilated, resistance was futile!"

[–] Captain_Iglo 19 years ago

It is still very scary. But it is also beautiful, deep and poetic.They got to release it on dvd!

[–] lonshock 19 years ago

yes. Why isn't this great film on DVD? wish i knew who to ask for it's release.

[–] fhudson 19 years ago

You can find this on Retroflicks (www.retroflicks.com).

I hadn't seen it since I was a kid -- it was fun to watch it again.

[–] marsodyssey2010 18 years ago

I checked, but they don't seem to have it any more.

English Language Anime: Dub it, don't pervert it.

[–] allenalb 19 years ago

if you read the novel, it goes into more detail. it is an alien intelligence. there is a whole chapter in the book about the intelligence finding what they need to on earth.

it's been a REALLY long time since i read it, so i'm fuzzy on the details.

[–] Redwalker 18 years ago

I always assumed that the ants assembled the mirrors out of bits of mica or other shiny minerals they collected from the desert sands.

[–] trickymutha 18 years ago

What was the ending all about? I was left hollow and confused. I saw this movie on KTMA MST3K, and perhaps this was the best way to see it, with unscripted riffing, which added some levity to a period piece film that concluded with a cliche.

[–] latrekker2004 18 years ago

A period piece film?

In the ending, the man and the girl join the ants, or better yet the ants made them join them. I think they will use the girl as a vessel for their queen.

Actually, it was a very interesting film. It was pretty subversive too.

[–] djaxisravenguard 17 years ago

I Agree completely, you don't need a mirror to reflect the sun, linolium, glass, watch backs, coins, anything shiny can reflect. All they had to do was get shards of glass, mica, and quartz and asseble it untill it was angled right. I LOVED how in the close shots of those towers they showed them to be grainy and obviouly made of little pieces.

As to what gave them their intelligence, I feel it was something alien or at least something that hyper elvolved them. The end, as I posted in another topic, is great in my eyes. Leaves you to wonder what's going to hapen next. Is it the ants pulling the strings, something higher, or is it a phenomenom that simply increases the inteligence and thereby it's neither ant nor human in charge but both as a team to spread this gift or curse.

Overall I liked the way it made sure you knew a war was going to come, but didn't tell too much what type or how terrible. Is it going to be peaceful evolution or will man once again cast the first stone and create war?

[–] homunculus 17 years ago

Sorry, folks, I don't buy your mica, quartz examples. Just because something is shiny, it doesn't mean it will reflect sunlight as a coherent, parallel beam of light, the way it's shown in the movie. Only perfectly smooth objects keep reflected sun rays parallel and produce a focused patch of light at the target. Rough objects scatter light, no matter how shiny, because their surface is made of many small, non-aligned facets. Bits of quartz, mica, etc. look shiny, but they don't keep sun rays parallel, unless you melt them and let gravity shape the molten mass into a smooth, flat surface (which is exactly how glass is made).

> linolium, glass, watch backs, coins, anything shiny can reflect

All your examples are man-made objects with a polished surface produced in a mechanical/chemical process. The only naturally occuring phenomenon of this kind I can think of is the surface of a placid body of water.

> shots of those towers they showed them to be grainy

The sides of the towers were shown to be grainy, not the top surface, which is what we're discussing.

[–] raf-33 8 years ago

Manufacturing mirrors good enough to deflect sunlight is a complex mechanical / chemical process.

Nonsense! To get a clear mirror reflection of something you need precision machining, but if you simply want to reflect sunlight you could just pee on the ground...

Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. -Isaac Asimov