>>212867554 (OP)Its praised because it has a good and unique story, with amazing practical effects and cgi.
Aliens are stranded on earth because their mothership malfunctioned, they are pretty dumb and have lost their leader, they are not here for an invasion of earth and the ship is over Johannesburg and not some american city all of which is very refreshing when it comes to scifi story telling.
The main character who is an average corporate jackey who thinks he is doing something "good" and at his work, is also just a tool for the real projects, harvesting the advanced alien technology of course.
When he fucks up with some alien biotech that slowly turns him into "one of them", and becomes a possible billion dollar advancement in technology, he realizes how replaceable he is even though his father-in-law is one of the head guys of the company, they are gonna harvest him like a fucking lab-rat. He tries to get the help from a "smart alien" who has been trying to escape and get help, while he slowly physically turns into a "prawn" he ironically becomes more and more human.
The effects, the alien technology, especially the weapons feel truly organic and powerful and the semi documentary filming also adds to the movie as you follow the main characters journey.
Yes, it is obvious that the movie being set in South africa is portraying apartheid and segregation and so forth but I like it for the scifi movie it is, its my favorite.