District 9

[roguerouge]

My fantasy football team name: Johannesburg Prawns!

[Emperor7]

Daigle wrote:

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.

Sounds like bug love.

[The Jade]

Daigle wrote:

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.

Thanks, Adam. I enjoyed that.

[Zuxius]

The only thing that irks me about District 9 is how it went from documentary style to omniscent viewer. Somewhere in that film the documentary side of it went by the wayside. It was a clever transition, but one everyone should think about. When did you learn that you watched a make believe documentary turn into an action film?

[Kirth Gersen]

Saw the preview on Saturday, and immediately turned to my wife and said, "For the love of God, please don't make me see that!" She smiled and said it looked "cute."

[d13]

I enjoyed this movie a lot. I was totally engaged by the story and wasn't too bothered by the plot holes discussed above. Some things may have given me pause, but I was impressed by far too many elements in this movie to let those niggling details get to me.

I thought the screenwriters did a fine job treading the line on this film. They gave us a parable about the horrors of refugee society, without trying too stridently to make it about one specific group or one specific conflict. It takes balls to make the specifically ambiguous choice. When it doesn't work, no one knows what the hell they are watching, when it works well (as it does in District 9) the audience can see numerous possibilities.

I loved the messy arc of the main character. I am not going to bother with spoilers here, but I applaud the screenwriters again for giving us a character who makes a true journey through his experiences in the film. He is a changed man by the end. And his journey isn't pretty. In fact, some times his choices are infuriating. But in reality, changing the person you are rarely makes a clean break. In most movies, it is typically a pretty smooth transition. Not so in District 9. In my book, that is a strength and not a weakness of the movie.

And the special effects kicked ass. District 9 gave us quality over quantity. I totally agree with the above poster who compared the mech battling in this movie against the fighting robots in Tranformers. Slowing it down a bit actually gives us more of a chance to enjoy the action.

It also greatly depressed me. But that is for another post. . .

I highly recommend this film.

[Zombieneighbours]

The Jade wrote:

Ross Byers wrote:

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...

** spoiler omitted **...

Hey....the fuel thing is kind of interesting. If i had to explain it, i would say that A, it isn't rocket fuel per say, but the fuel for the computational equipment, rather than a propelant. The stuff is a biological interface between the aliens and their tech, so i would say that it isn't entirely unreasonable that it might have properties along the lines of gene therapy. So yeah, i think it is more of an interface fluid than a 'fuel' per say.

[Andrew Turner]

Alive in Joberg

This is the short from which the movie is based.

[DrGames]

yellowdingo wrote:

There is nothing like putting illegal aliens in a Ghetto and subjecting them to interrogation...

August Release

It was a very well done, creative, and technically excellent movie -- doesn't it bother anyone that

Movie plot spoiler:

the aliens are coming back in three years to kick the human race's collective butt? Essentially the humans are looking forward to extermination in less than a hand-full of years.

That part got glossed over, and it is a very disturbing ending when you think about it.

In service,

Rich

Go to www.drgames.org - the Original Dr. Games Site.

[DrGames]

Studpuffin wrote:

Jason Grubiak wrote:

Regarding one of the plot holes..

** spoiler omitted **

A couple of questions got asked.

The first was why there were only drones on the ship?

Movie plot spoiler:

The movie never explained it, but in the featurettes and director's commentary they said that a virus went through wiping out the upper echelons of the Prawn society. We know that one mid-level technician survived though.

The second was where was Chris planning on heading at the end?

Movie plot spoiler:

Originally Chris did tell his son that they were heading to the new settlement, but, after Chris and W. broke into the MNU lab, retrieved the black "magic" liquid, and Chris saw the dissected Prawn, Chris decided to go back to the homeworld to bring an armada back to kick the humans collective butt. Chris tells his son that they were going home at the end.

In service,

Rich

Go to www.drgames.org -- The Original Dr. Games site.

[Vissigoth]

I just saw this movie on DVD. It was excellent. Did anyone else notice that the big sniper rifle toward the end was the same one from the Halo short but with a different scope. I'm a huge Halo nerd and the profiles of the weapons from the game are burned into my retinas. You can get a better look at it in the special features.