Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: District 9 (Highly Recommended) (1 Viewer)

[Douglas Monce]

I haven't seen the film yet but I'm looking forward to it. It also looks like I'll have the chance to work with the Red One on an up coming project. Should be exciting.

Doug

 

[Sam Davatchi]

I also saw this and think it was an excellent movie. However I don't feel like owning this. It's an example of where an excellent movie doesn't necessarily mean a blind buy!

 

[DaveF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyD

Doesn't that review give up the entire movie except the end?


There was 2 things that had me confused.
Did...
His father in-law put him in charge with the intention of causing Wilkus to be infected?

I thought the review gave away a bit much on the story, but different strokes... (And I avoided reviews until after seeing the film, to avoid such spoilers.) But the review makes me want to to rewatch it on my new Blu Ray player

And, to your first question:
The FIL gave Wikus a job (and so, station in life) appropriate for a man marrying his daughter.

 

[Carlo_M]

Wait, if you've already seen it, it's by definition not a blind buy, right? [/url]

I also saw this and think it was an excellent movie. However I don't feel like owning this. It's an example of where an excellent movie doesn't necessarily mean a blind buy!
This was a blind buy for me, and I just watched it last night with my girlfriend and two other friends. We all enjoyed it, and I thought it had a very unique twist on the alien story, not to mention the interesting parallels with real-life situations in that part of the world.

I'm glad I bought it and unlike some others here, this will be a movie I will be re-watching. I thought it was very well done, and while the lead may be considered unlikeable at first, I found his character arc and plight to be very sympathetic and was rooting for him at the end.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Originally Posted by Carlo Medina


I'm glad I bought it and unlike some others here, this will be a movie I will be re-watching. I thought it was very well done, and while the lead may be considered unlikeable at first, I found his character arc and plight to be very sympathetic and was rooting for him at the end.

My reaction was that he is more the typical bureaucrat than personally unlikeable. Perhaps "unsympathetic" describes him better than "unlikeable." I agree with you that he grows on you. On the other hand, an argument can be made that the real protagonist is actually a different character, and I'm sure you know who I'm referring to.

 

[Holer]

I watched it last night and really enjoyed it. Wikus was definitely the protagonist from my point of view - a middling, cowardly beaurocrat who's pomposity and ineptitude got him into the situation he was in, and who's basic human decency was reawakened by the brutal shift in perspective caused by his predicament. The story arc was very much about his character from start to finish. The story of the 'Prawns' was the catalyst for his transformation, both literally and figuratively.

A great movie all around that I think really transcends itself somewhat beyond it's genre trappings and one of the best I've seen in 2009.

 

[Carlo_M]

By the way, I was so impressed with Sharlto Copley's performance that I went on IMDB to look up his next role...which is as Howling Mad Murdock on the upcoming A-Team movie!

Great...now I can't get the A-Team theme song out of my head...

 

[Vincent_P]

While being a well-enough made film, I'm amazed that folks keep saying how "original" DISTRICT 9 is.
The whole transformation plotline seemed to have been lifted almost verbatim from Cronenberg's THE FLY, right down to him losing his fingernails, and much of the rest of the set-up seemed to me to have been lifted from ALIEN NATION. Not only do we have a race of "worker" aliens stranded on Earth, but DISTRICT 9 even offers up its own variation on ALIEN NATION's aliens drinking spoiled milk- the "prawns" unexplained obsession with cat food.
This seemed like a hodge-podge of ideas from other films remade in a faux-documentary style. Again, it's a well-enough made film for the most part, but not even close to being "original" IMO.

Vincent

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Vincent_P

While being a well-enough made film, I'm amazed that folks keep saying how "original" DISTRICT 9 is.
This seemed like a hodge-podge of ideas from other films remade in a faux-documentary style. Again, it's a well-enough made film for the most part, but not even close to being "original" IMO.

My review:

"District 9" is unexpected, original, scary, gory, intense, and riveting. It has the realism and cold desperation of "Children of Men". It's like "Die Hard", "The Fly", and a fictional documentary were smashed together. If you like all of those movies, this is a must see; otherwise stay far away.

It is this exceptional almagamation of other pieces that makes it if not "original" so interesting.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Originally Posted by DaveF




My review:
It is this exceptional almagamation of other pieces that makes it if not "original" so interesting.

All my life I've read review after review of songs, books, movies, paintings in which the artist/author is said to have been influenced by a previous artist/author. Yes District 9 has similarities to other movies. Just how do you create a sci/fi movie, or a romantic comedy, that does not contain elements of something that came before?

Take PJ's The Frighteners. That was a ghost story/comedy/thriller. Gee, Ghostbusters was a comedy/ghost story. Does that mean The Frighteners is derivative of Ghostbusters?

 

[DaveF]

Quote:Originally Posted by Johnny Angell /forum/thread/296204/htf-blu-ray-review-district-9-highly-recommended#post_3643743

 

[David Deeb]

What an excellent, excellent movie.

But have to agree w/ what some others posted: the review gives too much away and glad I didn't read it (and I skip all reviews now for this very reason; not just HTF reviews, but all reviews & for ANY film).

The only things I knew about this movie before watching it: it was sci-fi; Peter Jackson produced it; it got enthusiastic reviews; it was based in South Africa; and that it was about an alien encampment.
That was enough to know, and glad it was all I knew as it was very enjoyable.
Rented this, but will be picking up a copy for sure as this is a keeper BD. Great picture & audio quality.