The Hive

R1 DVD

Genius Entertainment 2008

A fascinating genre within Science Fiction has been the exploration of man versus animals and insects. The fear of atomic war and radiation triggered the first wave of such films in the Fifties and the sheer diversity of these films can be bewildering. From giant ants to Godzilla, mutant creatures to gorillas gone wild, they have all become part of the history of the genre. With the development in ecological awareness and man’s destructive effect on the environment new variations developed as benign species “fought back” or worse, scientific solutions turned against man and created hybrids. Genius Entertainment has created a series exploring these movies called Maneater. This is the ninth in the series.

They are interesting explorations of various themes within the genre made on limited budgets with varying degrees of success. The Hive has an intriguing premise and an excellent plot though it is let down somewhat by CGI which was obviously made on a budget. Being fair, this is one of the major problems with Science Fiction, how can you make a film which has some 200,000,000 flesh eating ants without very costly special effects? If you overlook it’s limitations in this department however, the Hive is excellent entertainment.

Horace Lennart runs Thorax Industries, a high tech solution to insect extermination problems. This is not a small scale business; it works with countries around the world dealing with plague level ant and insect infestations. For a number of years they have battled against animals in an unnamed pacific country using a special formula Lennart has developed as well as fire throwers and plasma guns. However, each time the ants return they seem more organized and more aggressive, as the film opens they eat a woman and her child ! The ants are not only destroying towns but consuming their occupants.

As the Thorax team sets out to destroy the new infestation they find it is the biggest so far and that the ants seem to be developing signs of intelligence. They have strategies for attack and seem to be prepared for the methods Thorax have used in the past. Lennart calls in an old girlfriend entomologist Claire Dubois who has a theory about ant intelligence which has been ridiculed by the scientific community but now it seems rather pertinent. But what is the catalyst for the massive increase in their intelligence, is the formula Lennart using really benign or is there something else manipulating the ants.

The Hive is an intriguing and entertaining tale; it has some fascinating ideas and lots of “ant huntin” action scenes. It is fair to say some of the ways the ants develop including creating an artificial ant computer and a giant ant from millions of worker ants stretches credibility to breaking point. The ending which includes a flying saucer seems to come out of the blue without much justification.

However, that is what Science Fiction is for, to explore new territories, and for all its limitations in terms of CGI and obscure plot turns, it is damn good entertainment and a lot of fun. In many ways it is one of those films which is some damn bad that it ends up being rather good.

This review will appear in Volume 2:1 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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