I agree that the villains were cliched. The Company merc leader was developed well enough. He had a job to do and his disdain for the savages and his loathing of the world were enough. They even gave him a bit of a background. But the corporate manager was about as deep as water on a mirror.
The "plug and play" approach on the creatures was a crude, infantile way of simplifying metaphors of spiritual communion that usually sustain other movies by themselves.
Here I disagree. I liked the idea that it gave them more than a physical link to the creatures.
On another group there was a discussion about whether or not that connection had been bio-engineered.
If you want a Sci-Fi movie that is the complete opposite check out The Road. No where near as fun. Not much in the way of effects. But a whole lot of character development.
