The art direction is amszing in this film. I remember watching a BTS clip and showing the reams of paper worth of concept art drawings they made to flesh out the world.

And as you said, when it's not punching down, the humor is so fresh, I think even more now compared to movies today, as we live in the hangover of nearly 20 years of irony-poisoned, dumbly self-aware, Whedon-esque quips.

BTW, when you mention anti-indigenous sentiment, is that referring to the alien mercenaries that Zorg hires to kill the bronze aliens and get the stones? I have to admit I haven't watched it in forever, so I'm drawing a blank on what you see in the film as indigenous-coded characters.

[–] Frank@hexbear.net 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, they're described as freedom fighters whose people were wiped out by the earth government and they want revenge. They're working for Zorg to purchase weapons. For the most part it's played for laughs and they're used as punching bags without being afforded any dignity.

Which, like, they're pretty cool. Good creature design, they've got personality, their shape shifting ability is neat.

[–] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 3 points 5 days ago

I guess that their backstory is presented so superficially that I was having a hard time even remembering it other than "mercenaries with a sense of honor who function as a foil to Zorg's capitalist nihilism"