This movie was fantastic!
Easily the best movie of the summer no contest at all.
Just when you think the summer movies ran their course one last movie sneaks in and it trounces and embarrases the competition. :)
This movie was fantastic!
Easily the best movie of the summer no contest at all.
Just when you think the summer movies ran their course one last movie sneaks in and it trounces and embarrases the competition. :)
Have to disagree with you. Best movie of the year! Maybe the decade! This one will go down in history along with Star Wars, Bladerunner, and Dark City, it was quite simply a great achivement.
Yes it had a message, but more important it had a damn good story, in fact everytime I thought I knew what the movie was going to do it took a more realistic stance. Not shocking or suprise ending exactly, but you felt that yeah, these characters all have their own selfish agendas so that you were never sure what someone might do.
Another great moment was the mecha battle, F*** the transformers, here was a realistic mecha combat on film, the guys who are making Robotech take note! This is the standared that has to be meet, I doubt if it can be bettered. As a side note it was nice to see a mecha fight were you could actualy see what the heck was happening without getting dizzy or passing out, and hey unlike the transformers not eveything was fast and blurry.
Anyone on wondering if they should spend the money for this movie, do yourself a favor go and see it. This is what a sci-fi movie should be.
TTFN DRE
I'll think this was a good movie when pigs fly.
I'll think this was a good movie when pigs fly.
** spoiler omitted **
LOL, yeah forgot to mention that was in the movie too.
Great film. Saw it on Friday with Erik Frankhouse, his friends Andrew and Zachary, and Brandon Hodge at Gen Con.
It was a good story told richly, delicately, and originally, without clumsy advances in plot or narration. It used non linear storytelling in places... a treatment most alien films never see. The film felt like new ground was being broken.
Did I say delicate? Yeah... head shots right and left. HALO makes sense for this. It was bloody, but fun bloody. I highly recommend it.
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I heard tell this was based on the HALO game. Truth or Truthiness?
The director, Neil Blomkamp, was the guy supposed to direct the Halo movie before it died because MS wanted a bigger cut of the profits than any movie studio was willing to give them. Sort of bitter-sweet, if the Halo movie had gone forward, we wouldn't be getting to see this one.
I heard tell this was based on the HALO game. Truth or Truthiness?
I could see that being the case, but having not played Halo3, I can say it wasn't much like any of the plot from Halo 1 or 2. Funny though, cuz the whole time I was watching it I was itching to play the game and hoping it comes out on the Half-Life 2(L4D, TF2, etc.) game engine.
I enjoyed the movie, but for those who are NOT into 'Sci-Fi', I would say pass on this movie.
How about that Lightning Rifle! Fraaappt! Splat-Poof!
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Saw it midnight showing on Thursday, 8/13.
Saw it Monday, 8/17.
I'm going to buy this movie. Awesomesauce! The effects alone make it worthwhile, then there's the story, the acting, the directing and the writing. Very well-done, very good movie. I highly recommend it.
On another movie note - avoid the Perfect Getaway at all costs. I saw it free.
I want my money back.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012
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I took my son to see it yesterday, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Great movie with a nice opening for a sequel. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but I saw a lot of (good) pieces of Alien Nation and Enemy Mine in the movie.
I can't shake the feeling that a Hollywood version of this movie would have cast Rob Schneider or David Arquette as the lead and made it a broad (read: stupid) comedy.
Best movie of the year! Maybe the decade! This one will go down in history along with Star Wars, Bladerunner, and Dark City, it was quite simply a great achivement.
Not to derail the thread but (and I did enjoy the movie) does Dark City deserve to be counted among such films as Star Wars and Bladerunner?
Best movie of the year! Maybe the decade! This one will go down in history along with Star Wars, Bladerunner, and Dark City, it was quite simply a great achivement.Not to derail the thread but (and I did enjoy the movie) does Dark City deserve to be counted among such films as Star Wars and Bladerunner?
Yes very much so IMOP. I think Dark City was very ground breaking in Sci-Fi movies, yes this sort of story has been done a lot in novels but not in movies. It has such great concepts and style and looks. A few key points.
1. Well thought out story, that assumed the viewers were smart enough to understand and not be too spoon feed.
2.One of the most unique star ships in all of Sci-Fi.
3. This is personal take, but after seeing that movie it was like, yes that mental power is the way I envison magic working in Mage (OWOD).
I walked out of Dark City thinking this is going to be the biggest hit of the year. Little did I know that 4 or 5 months after Titanic was out that it would remain on top because 13 year old girls wanted to see Leo die again and again. Also I underestamated the generl public, yeah sci-fi guys loved it but too many just 'didn't get it'.
What made me mad was that a few years later the Matrix gets all this praise as being ground breaking and new realms of cutting edge sci-fi and I went to go see it and I said, oh this is just dark city, just altered a bit. But the 13 year old girls wanted to see that guy say 'whoa' and since it was all on the new cutting edge internet (which by that point was in everybodies home and understandable) it didn't have any of the nerd bagage that sci-fi guys carry when the tell everyone 'yeah this was Dark City from a few years ago, and Neromacer from like '83' you tell them 'non-sci-fi' fans who hail the matrix as groundbreaking that and they'll just blankly look at you and say "that's just dumb, internet wasn't aroudn in the 80's, it only came around when I could buy stuff on it and download Porn, and tweek my 500 VBFE."
Sorry, I might be a little bitter on this. Seriously, Dark City IMOP was a major important film. It has a cult following, but I did hope that it would have earned the respect of films such as Bladerunner (wtich also bombed a the theaters) by now. Not saying its everyone cup of tea, but then again neither is Star Wars, but I do feel its a landmark.
TTFN DRE
Dark City was awesome.
As for the Halo movie. The studio refused to let Blokamp direct it because he was an unknown new director. Im almost glad it fell though and didnt happen. We got District 9 instead which I cant image Halo being better.
From what I hear...Now that District 9 is so good the studio offered Blokamp Halo and he turned it down. To late that ship has sailed.
Internet rumor says he may direct World War Z. If that is true my joy shall have no bounds. I love that book.
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District 9 is actually a feature length adaptation of a short that Blomkamp created in 2005 called "Alive in Joberg" (you can find it on YouTube). The short is what brought him to the attention of Peter Jackson, who had been approached by Microsoft to be a producer of a Halo movie. Jackson felt that Blomkamp had the right sensibilities to direct the film and he brought him on to direct the movie, even going to far as to shoot a short test film featuring UNSC soldiers trying to hold a drop point for Master Chiefs arrival (again if you dig around the interwebs, you can find the film).
In order to make the film, Microsoft wanted to partner with a studio - not license the property. Pretty much all of the studios bawked at this and the agreements necessary for the film to go forward never materialized. Jackson is still set as a producer for the film, but Microsoft has shelved any development plans for the movie.
As an aside, there has been a script treatment going around called Halo: Fall of Reach (based on a novelization) that has gained positive attention and is the most likely candidate for development at present, although the script itself came from outside Microsoft.
When Jackson couldn't get Blomkamp going on Halo, he arranged to produce District 9 for him. As Blomkamp's first movie, Jackson told him to enjoy all of the freedom he had, as he may never have as much on a film again.
Creative Director
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District 9 CAN'T have anything to do with Halo. I was enthralled and delighted by everything in District 9, and was struck by the sheer awesomeness of it all, and came out of the experience knowing I'd seen something that I will count as the best of its medium for years to come. Halo did none of that for me. :P
Put another way... District 9 is really really really good.
District 9 CAN'T have anything to do with Halo. I was enthralled and delighted by everything in District 9, and was struck by the sheer awesomeness of it all, and came out of the experience knowing I'd seen something that I will count as the best of its medium for years to come. Halo did none of that for me. :P
Put another way... District 9 is really really really good.
It is quite good. There are a couple plot holes I'm not entirely happy with, but the movie is made of awesome.
It is quite good. There are a couple plot holes I'm not entirely happy with, but the movie is made of awesome.
Coolness. There was a guy sitting on the plane next to me who said there were plot holes in District 9. I asked him what they were specifically. I tried to fill many of them through my interpretation of the subtext and he mostly agreed with my assessments - guesses that they were.
The only thing that struck me as a convolution was...
Some of the things we discussed on the plane:
I think the father bug was one of the engineer/pilot class... not just another worker prawn. He was likely the last one left, and kept a close network of bugs in the know as lackeys. Boss bug's bodyguard couldn't find the technology they sought in the trash heap, but his own son recognized and acquired it easily, and also showed acumen for technology and engineering that exceeded any other bug's example (despite their great talent for tinkering and weapon making). The boy seems genetically destined to one day become an engineer/pilot bug himself.
The guy hitting boss bug at the end to get into the ship didn't make much sense, but then that guy was clearly going nuts, and people going nuts somtimes take unpredictable and violent courses of action.
They stopped on Earth because they ran out of fuel and food.
Yes, that was the guy there at the end, making the metal rose. Ending on an bittersweet element of nostalgia and pathos was for me masterful. I was hoping they wouldn't feel the need to show the clumsily detached 3 YEARS LATER return scene. It was a tale spun as intimately and gossamer as spider's web, rather than a big superhero summer blockbuster painted in broad, explosive strokes.
The reason the guy didn't get out of the mecha and hand it over to the bug who built it (which would have been reasonable), was that he wasn't operating off reason; rather, full adrenaline and righteous purpose and courage.
Those were the only questions and answers that came to my mind but what were the plot holes were you referring to, Ross?
Regarding one of the plot holes..
Remember that their technology runs on their DNA. A human cannot use one of their guns. Im darn sure a regular human would be unable to fly the ship either if he put his hand in that goop.
So since its all so DNA-based im sure the fule that powers their ships is also chock-full of alien DNA.
This stuff took 20 years to harvest and collect from other peices of technology. Its also powerful enough to power and control the entire giant ship.
So its very powerful and very concentrated. So Im guessing thats why it has such a strong mutagenic reaction if its in contact with any DNA that is not its own.
Thats my theroy anyway. :)
Regarding one of the plot holes..
** spoiler omitted **
That's good, Jason. Thanks. :)
Just saw it and really liked it. Hope this isn't too much of a spoiler, but it had the best trade I've ever seen- 100 cans of cat food for a alien battlemech.
One thing that bugged me
Just saw it and really liked it. Hope this isn't too much of a spoiler, but it had the best trade I've ever seen- 100 cans of cat food for a alien battlemech.
One thing that bugged me
** spoiler omitted **
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2012
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Thanks for the history lesson on District 9. I didn't know much about its development, and, since I don't play Halo, I never picked up on that.
One of the major plot holes I couldn't figure out a plausible explanation for:
It was a good movie in one sense, because my son kept asking me questions about the whys and wherefores of the movie on the way home. It was a lot of fun working out some of the answers with him during the drive.
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One of the major plot holes I couldn't figure out a plausible explanation for:** spoiler omitted **
- What was Charles's plan for the mothership before he found out about the experiments? We know he wanted to get up there. Was he planning to pack up all the prawns and leave? If the ship could do that, he doesn't need to 'go get help' for them: he can just take all of them with him. If it couldn't, was he just planning to flee? If so, why did he bother accumulating enough fuel to either travel 'as fast as possible' or idle around running medical machines to fix up Wickers? He could have just left years ago.
- The command ship was shot down and rescued by that tractor beam. Why didn't Charles just activate that beam after getting enough fuel to activate the command ship? He didn't need to fly.
- How did the prawns get so many weapons (given that they still had enough to sell 20 years later, as their primary means of income)? If they were building them, where did they get raw materials, given their impoverished state? If they came from the mothership, how did they get down from the mothership, given that the prawns had to be ferried down in helicopters?
- If the command ship broke down, how is it that it just happened to land where District 9 was going to be built? If it was flown down (and if so, why?), why bury and hide it?
All of these could have reasonable answers, but I don't know.
I heard rumor on G4 that Speilburg(sp) was/is interested in filming the HALO movie. Thoughts? And on topic, I hope to see District 9 soon. Looks cool, sounds cool, MUST SEE!!! Lol
One of the major plot holes I couldn't figure out a plausible explanation for:** spoiler omitted **** spoiler omitted **
Thanks, that was kinda the angle my son and I settled on.
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** spoiler omitted **
All of these could have reasonable answers, but I don't know.
*The ship fell before district 9 was built, and the mothership is city sized. The community was built where the Prawns began to congregate.
One of the major plot holes I couldn't figure out a plausible explanation for:** spoiler omitted **** spoiler omitted **
9/10
I thought this was a good movie with an intelligent storyline and good dialog, excellent characters. The previews make it looks like an action movie but it's not, it's part documentary and only about 1/3 is action, so it's very different from a movie like Transformers or GI Joe and some might consider the movie slow. It's a bit gritty and some people were turned off by the gore and some vomitting. The special effects were very well done.
Overall, a good movie.
I really liked the movie and thought it was awesome to watch; my only complaint was the level of language present. The f-bomb was dropped somewhere around 130 times. While I can understand being really traumatized by what was happening to that poor guy, at the same time, I really dislike swearing of that magnitude.
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My roommate noticed that the prawns seemed to be color-coded. Christopher and his son were the only two greens prominently displayed, with the ones fighting in the streets and acting the least 'sentient' seemed to be golds and reds.
Perhaps they have a biological caste system, and the reds and golds were not gonna be reprogramming computers for a living...
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Yes!
Who knew the prawns were like dragons?
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Contributor
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Thanks for the history lesson on District 9. I didn't know much about its development, and, since I don't play Halo, I never picked up on that.
One of the major plot holes I couldn't figure out a plausible explanation for:
** spoiler omitted **
It was a good movie in one sense, because my son kept asking me questions about the whys and wherefores of the movie on the way home. It was a lot of fun working out some of the answers with him during the drive.
Regarding one of the plot holes..
** spoiler omitted **
Cat food for thought -
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Contributor
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** spoiler omitted **
All of these could have reasonable answers, but I don't know.
Good questions Ross. Some speculations...
The command ship was shot down and rescued by that tractor beam. Why didn't Charles just activate that beam after getting enough fuel to activate the command ship? He didn't need to fly.
I'm ok with the notion that the amount of fuel needed was the same for both tasks. It's alien tech after all and concepts of relative energy ratios might not apply. For example, it might have been all about the right level of dna flooding the command ship to allow its command/control to function and not about getting energy for thrust. Flying was just faster and, possibly, under different circumstances, more stealthy.
How did the prawns get so many weapons (given that they still had enough to sell 20 years later, as their primary means of income)? If they were building them, where did they get raw materials, given their impoverished state? If they came from the mothership, how did they get down from the mothership, given that the prawns had to be ferried down in helicopters? I'm with you on retrospect. This is a tough one. I never thought they were building them. I figured the prawns just clung to them or hid them when they were all originally shuttled down. I'm just not sure where that mechbot came from! Although, the mechbot did function on its own without a driver, maybe some of the tech brought itself down from the mothership?
If the command ship broke down, how is it that it just happened to land where District 9 was going to be built? If it was flown down (and if so, why?), why bury and hide it? As someone else said, the command module went immediately to ground. District 9 just grew up around it. D9 didn't need to be part of the plan. Keeping the command module (and therefore the mothership) out of human hands was required. District 9 was an accident. This feels to me like light support for my thought that the original plan was to dump a colony of workers and leave. A thought further supported by that ominous end note of how the colony size had doubled.
Charles and Wicker formed a warrior's bond at the end, but that doesn't mean Charles' intentions for earth were always good. Even if his kid was cute. In fact I think he manipulated Wicker's emotions, deliberately, more than once and deftly dodged some questions.
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My thoughts;
Spoiler:The command ship was shot down and rescued by that tractor beam. Why didn't Charles just activate that beam after getting enough fuel to activate the command ship? He didn't need to fly.Something was said about flying up *fast* (presumably to avoid being shot down en route), and the tractor beam was anything but fast (and, indeed, he nearly did get RPG'd down).
If the command ship broke down, how is it that it just happened to land where District 9 was going to be built? If it was flown down (and if so, why?), why bury and hide it?
District 9 was, I believe, an actual slum that predated the arrival of the prawn. They just moved the original inhabitants out and replaced them with the new folks in town. It was shown flying straight down from the mothership in the news footage, and it appears that the prawn were resettled pretty much in the shadow of their mothership.
On that note, the idea that the human authorities *have videotape of the damn thing coming down* and somehow 'never found it, after all these years' is about four settings on the dial past ludicrous speed...
I got nothing on the other stuff. How did the prawn smuggle all of those weapons down? The command module was tiny and cramped on the inside, so it's not like Christopher could have smuggled that mech down in the command module.
And we still have no idea what Christopher's plan was. He made it clear to his son that he wasn't going to their home-world, but some other planet entirely for some reason that wasn't made clear. Perhaps the ship that came to Earth was only one of two (or more) ships fleeing their home-world, and he's headed to one of the other colonies, in the hopes that they've been spectacularly more successful in the last 20 years and can help him rescue the prawn refugees on Earth?
Cue sequel, Christopher shows up with *two* of the alien motherships, crewed by colonists who landed on a much more hospitable world and begins evacuating his people from Earth. Cue much drama, as a bearded white-robed Christopher tells the UN Secretary-General to 'let my people go' or he'll unleash all sorts of plagues...
My thoughts;
To comment on one of your answers, Set:
And we still have no idea what Christopher's plan was. He made it clear to his son that he wasn't going to their home-world, but some other planet entirely for some reason that wasn't made clear. Perhaps the ship that came to Earth was only one of two (or more) ships fleeing their home-world, and he's headed to one of the other colonies, in the hopes that they've been spectacularly more successful in the last 20 years and can help him rescue the prawn refugees on Earth?
Unless there is another point where Christopher tells his son that they won't be going to their home world, I think that the new home Christopher is referring to is actually the new camp the Prawns are being moved to. He even points out the row of tents in the pamphlet and tells his son this one of those tents could be their new home. He'd finally resigned himself to losing the fuel forever and not being able to leave Earth like he'd planned.
There may be another point in the movie where they have a discussion about where they were going, but that's the only one that I could remember when reading your comments. I've definitely missed some things that posts here have cleared up for me though, so maybe this is just something else.
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Director of Narrative
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Man, I’ve been waiting to be able to post in this thread for a while! I rarely go to movies in the theater, so I didn’t expect to see this before it hit DVD, but today was slow at work, so the boss and I split early and went to catch an early showing. I was blessed by being one of the six people in the awesomely silent theater.
I very thoroughly enjoyed this film. I loved how the story was told, and especially how the outcome was not immediately transparent 20 minutes into the thing. I also have to give props to the whoever edited the footage for the trailer I saw. They way it was put together it really doesn’t give anything away or make you feel like you already saw the best parts in two minutes (particularly the usage of clips that were not in the final film). I enjoyed that the aliens felt real to me. They weren’t some singular personality, but also were foreign enough to not be too humanized. I mean, c’mon, larval cockfights?! How bizarre was that? It also could have just been highlighting the desperation that community was going through, but damn.
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Director of Narrative
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Oh, and I just saw this. It's the original short film the feature was based on, at least that's what I read when directed to the video. It might add some context to some of the plot hole questions above.