*** Official DISTRICT 9 Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Michael Reuben]

I really hope this discussion doesn't become some sort of "contest" between District 9 and Children of Men, both of which are (IMO) very fine and technically proficient films but so different that a comparison isn't particularly revealing (again, IMO). I don't think of COM as "science fiction", because the technology and the life forms are all recognizable; it's the society that has taken a different direction. District 9 comes straight out of the monster movie/alien invasion genre.

I don't agree with most of the criticisms of District 9 listed above, but these things are a matter of taste. I will say that I loved having [COLOR= #000000]Wikus Van De Merwe as a protagonist, because he's so unlikely: a bureaucrat, really a nobody, certainly the last guy anyone would expect to "go rogue". That's what makes it so interesting when, from his point of view, MNU turns on him -- because, from MNU's point of view, they're just reassigning him to a different use.[/COLOR]

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Just saw this movie and I thought it was fantastic.

I was a bit confused by the end though. How was it that they were never able to just fly their ship off at anytime before? They got the fluid to power the drop ship, but the main ship seemed fully functional and just took off as soon as someone was aboard. Why were they stuck there in the first place? From what the movie itself presented, there was absolutely nothing wrong with their ship.

I did love the flying pig

 

[Phil Florian]

Originally Posted by Jeff Cooper ">[/url]

Just saw this movie and I thought it was fantastic.

I was a bit confused by the end though. How was it that they were never able to just fly their ship off at anytime before? They got the fluid to power the drop ship, but the main ship seemed fully functional and just took off as soon as someone was aboard. Why were they stuck there in the first place? From what the movie itself presented, there was absolutely nothing wrong with their ship.

I did love the flying pig

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Jeff Cooper

Just saw this movie and I thought it was fantastic.

I was a bit confused by the end though. How was it that they were never able to just fly their ship off at anytime before? They got the fluid to power the drop ship, but the main ship seemed fully functional and just took off as soon as someone was aboard.

Early on it was noted that the control mechanism for the ship fell off and was never recovered. This was the mini-ship Christopher had hidden under his shack.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Originally Posted by DaveF

Early on it was noted that the control mechanism for the ship fell off and was never recovered. This was the mini-ship Christopher had hidden under his shack.

Ahhh, I remember that, but thought that it was just one of the 'theories' that the people were throwing about as to what the purpose of the Aliens were.

 

[JonZ]

CGI has finally arrived.
I know its been around awhile, but in the past couple years its REALLY been impressive. I noticed this around the time Hellboy2 came out. Although everyone was in awe of Gollum, I found Gollum, Star wars, alot of CGI to not be so satisfactory. Alot of jerky unnatural movements, contrast problems, etc

But the FX in this movie were flawless. Perfect and flawless. No more fake CGI character interacting with human counterparts,everything blended together perfectly. Its worth seeing this on a big screen simply for the visual spectacle alone. Suprisingly my G/F convinced me to go see this. I thought the first 20 minutes were the best part, but enjoyed the film. Little humor throughout, but biggest laugh from me was the smear campaign picture that was braodcast in the fast food joint. And loved the son.

A real commentary on human nature.Not only in dealing with the alien race, but also watching Wilkus change while trying to survive. The film changed in away I wasnt expecting, but its a solid scifi movie.

Why question would be, why not beam the aliens up after getting the mothership operational again.

 

[DaveF]

That wasn't a "beam up" like in Star Trek. It was a gravity manipulation device. It grabbed everything; hence the rocks going up. And it seemed specific to the control console bringing it directly to its docking location.

It could well be that using that device on living creatures would be impossible, ineffective, and even fatal.

Or it might be just a plot contrivance to get Christopher to leave his people behind.

 

[JonZ]

Or might have worked specifically for the command module since it was able to detach from the mothership.

Was just a thought.

 

[Greg.K]

Originally Posted by JonZ

But the FX in this movie were flawless. Perfect and flawless. No more fake CGI character interacting with human counterparts,everything blended together perfectly. Its worth seeing this on a big screen simply for the visual spectacle alone. Suprisingly my G/F convinced me to go see this. I thought the first 20 minutes were the best part, but enjoyed the film. Little humor throughout, but biggest laugh from me was the smear campaign picture that was braodcast in the fast food joint. And loved the son.

Well I don't think the FX were flawless, some of the shots of the aliens interacting with the environment didn't look quite real. But considering the budget for this movie the effects are darn near miraculous.

I thoroughly enjoyed D9, especially once the expository stuff at the beginning was done and we got to the meat of the story.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Originally Posted by DaveF

It could well be that using that device on living creatures would be impossible, ineffective, and even fatal.

Even if it's not, the technology was shown as being limited to what is directly underneath the portal and rather slow speedwise. Considering that the South African forces were positively pummeling the mothership with rockets at the time, and Christopher was slowly bleeding to death, it made perfect sense for him to get the heck out of Dodge while he could.

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by JonasF62p

District 9 was a good movie; very entertaining. However, it is neither original nor "new". Let's see, alien race comes to earth and lives among us to one extent or another: Alien Nation" 1988, Human begans to transform: arm first, then he pulls out teeth, then things start growing out of his back: "The Fly", 1958, 1986 & 1989. Hman comes to understand the plight of the alien and is determined to save the alien's son: "Enemy Mine", 1985.

Sorry guys, the story is just a patchwork of previous movie ideas....nothing original. Somewhat good but copy and paste a la Hollywood.

That's exactly what makes it "new": this novel recombination of existing movie DNA. It's Die Hard, The Fly, and Blair Witch Project smashed together in an interesting and surprising way. Moreover, what story is truly new? Alien Nation is tribal conflict set with aliens. Enemy is colonists learning empathy for natives. Etc. It's all about the rearranging, the twists on ancient story formulae, details, modern relevances.

[Moved from Official Review thread - Mod.]

 

[hampsteadbandit]

just got back from seeing D9 in an Odeon theatre here in London, and absolutely loved it

easily the best film I have seen in the theatre so far this year (Star Trek and Taratino's I.B's were also very good), and unless Avatar is really as special as its claimed to be, perhaps D9 will be "film of the year" for me?

D9 was really special for a director's mainstream debut, it felt like watching "The Terminator" all over again...

 

[Dennis Castro]

I loved the film! I really hope they leave the end alone and there is no sequel. I think the ending is much more powerful left to our imaginations as to what happens next.

 

[Dave Low]

JonasF62p

"Human begans to transform: arm first, then he pulls out teeth, then things start growing out of his back: "The Fly", 1958, 1986 & 1989."

Post Count - 1

Giving away a plot element on the first try - Priceless

 

[Michael Reuben]

Originally Posted by Dave Low /forum/thread/291658/official-district-9-discussion-thread/30#post_3604830

 

[johnmartin]

I saw this movie last night. Fantastic movie. I think this movie is the best movie of the year. I would likr to watch this movie again and again.
You must watch it.. Watch Movies Online

 

[Citizen87645]

I actually saw this the weekend it opened, but as we are approaching awards season friends have been asking me what I thought of it.

I think the biggest problem I have with it is explained by the review below. I'm a little surprised others haven't made more of an issue of it, but then we all have different things we'll tolerate.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/14/movie-review-district-9/

This faux-documentary stylistic choice has its advantages - it lends "District 9" a sense of immediacy and helps paper over some of the more glaring plot holes. It also has its limits, one of which is a fixed point of view: We see only what the documentarian sees. The omniscient viewpoint typical of a narrative feature would have permitted Mr. Blomkamp to fully examine the motives of the prawn and MNU when they are outside of Wikus' view.
In order to work around that problem, the convention is simply dropped: About midway through, "District 9" cheats, jumping between a fake documentary and a purely narrative affair in order to fill the gaps in the audience's knowledge.
By sometimes dropping the documentary style, "District 9" avoids the problem of "Cloverfield," "Diary of the Dead" and "The Blair Witch Project," films in which a character has to repeatedly explain why he's still filming something instead of running for his life. But at the same time, Mr. Blomkamp introduces a new problem: He reminds the audience that they are, in fact, watching a fictional narrative and not a documentary.

 

[Hanson]

As blown away as I was by the CGI of the Prawns (for me, an accomplishment almost on the same level as the Na'vi), District 9 sagged at the end, offering multiple endings with repetitive action scenes. But my other issue was with the black goop:

If it was a fuel source, then why would contact with it turn Copley into a Prawn? Why is their spaceship fuel a mutagenic? Furthermore, we see the careful extraction process that results in mere drops of black goop. They are almost near the volume needed to make the trip home but require a bit more. Yet, after Copley gets sprayed with it, there's somehow still enough fuel left to get back to the Prawn planet. Huh?

 

[PIETRO]

To me, this was a great film with layers of metaphor and allegory that clearly allude to socio-political issues in the world, and the issue of ‘humanity.’ I also read into the plot that the aliens were once human as well (the fact that a transformation occurs from exposure to a substance serves as literal and metaphorical. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sequel where it would be revealed that the prawns were once human, and through repeated exposure over time have become prawn…this would also be a great sub-textual metaphor... Chris Johnson returning as a human with a force that is human (pre-exposure) would be immensely ironic!

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I noticed the issues that Hanson brought up, but the film was so well-paced and thrilling that I was able to let 'em go. Easily my favorite film of 2009.


It's like that old George Carlin routine about dentists: "With the gas, you still feel the pain; you just don't give a sh*t."