District 9

[JazFusion]

****WARNING SPOILERS!!!!****

Orlion, yes I remember that they were worker class and not very intelligent. They needed smart leaders to tell them what to do. But wasn't that exactly what they had? The Dad alien, Christopher, was telling them to collect this fluid and he knew what to do with it.

It seemed to me that they were refugees of some sort, or maybe trying to colonize other worlds. Or maybe they were vacationing and hit a flat tire, per se. It was a nit pick of mine too, but I tried thinking of it in terms of reality: would we really know or care to ask?

As far as Christopher, I think it was assumed that he was an engineer/pilot of some sort taking the rest of these prawns elsewhere; home, perhaps. I mean, if any Earth plane with humans were to crash somewhere, would every other person aboard the ship be able to pilot the ship? Much less collect alien materials to make a fluid to pilot the ship to go home?

Nothing in the movie made me think humans would be willing to help, but that's exactly the problem: the humans in the movie didn't behave like real humans. There was zero curiousity or empathy. Wickus was the only human who wasn't despicable.

Wickus, IMHO, was despicable because the only reason he wanted to help Christopher was because he was turning into a prawn himself, and Christopher could save him. If he wouldn't have sprayed himself with the fluid, he would have continued on with rounding up the other prawns to District 10 and killing their babies. And then the part where he knocked Christopher out to pilot the ship was pretty despicable. Christopher was telling him he could save him and turn him back, but Wickus didn't care to wait. It was only until the very end that he did the right thing. And for me, the ends don't justify the means.

I think the rest of the movie portrayed humans accurately. Not as an entire race, but there are certainly many thousands of people out for blood and greed. I don't think it's too far off the mark.

You have a good point about the aliens arriving weakened. I didn't miss that. Perhaps the humans confiscated some of their weapons, but they still had some. And they had no problem fighting the humans. Instead of trading their weapons for cat food, it just seems like they would have done *something* with them that wasn't batshit stupid. This race has enough drive to achieve interstellar travel, it goes to other planets where there are intelligent species, and then trades all its weapons for cat food. I'm sorry, but that's Alf-level motivation. It took me completely out of the movie.

Perhaps they're actually a peaceful race, and don't want any bloodshed. Something occurred to me while I was watching the movie.....the prawns were more "human" than the actual humans in the movie. The movie didn't really show what happened to them when they first landed. Perhaps they fought, but lost all nerve. Their weapons were better, yes, but the humans had far more numbers and the prawns weren't impervious to our weapons. Perhaps they just wanted to be left alone to fix their ship, and save their babies. The part where Wickus killed the babies in that shack really struck a nerve with me. They'd been there for more than 20 years, so I can't imagine how many of the baby prawns were killed or forced to fight like animals. If it were me and I were forced to become a sheep to save my son, I would comply.

And maybe they just didn't want trouble, and just wanted the MNU out of District 9 so they wouldn't discover the ship underground. The movie wasn't perfect in explaining everything, but it implied enough to satisfy me.

Except for hiding the ship underground. I could deal with that if it were explained that maybe there was a cloaking device on it, but it didn't. It was just, "Oops! There's only a HUMONGOUS SHIP THAT DROPPED ONTO THE GROUND, but we don't know where to look for it". I can't imagine the prawns buried that thing faster than a cat on a hot tin roof.

Personally, I think it was one of the best movies I've seen in a while and a definite DVD purchase. And maybe there's a District 10 in the future?

[Rigel]

By the way, it helps to know that the movie is rather analogous to a real forced eviction that occurred in Cape Town, in District 6. See the Wikipedia article here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_Six,_Cape_Town

Also, from the page on District 9:

MNU's eviction and relocation of the aliens is based on District Six, a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town, South Africa. The district was declared a "whites only" area by the apartheid government in 1966 and the population of 60,000 forcibly relocated to Cape Flats, 25 kilometres away during the following years.

Personally, I would have liked to see more time spent on this reference and back story, as it was by far the most compelling part of the movie.

As for the Prawns behaving the way they did... it seemed perfectly reasonable considering the poverty & oppression that had been going on for more than 20 years.

True, the cat food thing made me laugh at first, but if you accept that something in it is an addictive drug for the Prawns, the rest of their behavior w.r.t. it makes sense.

[Usivius]

firstly, before I give my thoughts, I will say this about over analyzing and nit-picking about details ... the film-makers deliberately leave a lot of little details unanswered (in the same way SRD does in his writing) because they are not neccessary. It is not important to know the exact hierarchy of the alien society, it is not neccessary to know exactly what the South African government and the MNU did or did not do on the mother ship ... because of the deliberate lack of detain in this regard, there are a million possible answers to any objections someone may have to apparent lack of logic. It's brilliantly made.

** SPOILERS **

I left the theatre and thought about this movie. I mean really thought about it because it gave one a lot to think about. It reminded me of leaving the Matrix for the first time, but this one is more dense.
I loved the anti-hero who redeems himself, I love the twist of being disgusted by the aliens then feeling compassion, I loved the mirror to society aspects. I love the no-name casting ...

Top to bottom this is a brilliantly made movie that will be talked about for decades. And as much as I could take up waaaayyyy to much discussing it, I will break down some wonderful moments:

- The slow merge of documentary style at the beginning to more traditional narrative was smoothly done. Anf for a change, I wasn't AS distracted by the constantly moving camera as in such movies as Borne, Transformers, etc..
- the main actor was really quite wonderful. After all he went through, his transfomation outward and inward, then that brief clip near the end of him before the whole mess reminds you how far the character came.
- the bad guys ... well done, if a little cliche ridden. But they were intentially that way ... it gives the visceral reaction of the huge action sequence near the end some POP! The guy (and the aliens) were treated SO badly, even the most pacafist of us (me) wanted to puch them in the frik'n nose.... zapping them was also good.
- FX were frik'n seamless! A-MAZING. It was not hard to believe everything was actually there.
- loved the open ending but hope to god that they don't make a sequel.
- the scene in MNU after Wickus is captured is gut wrenching and, sadly, likely all to real.

Ah! I could go on forever, but I relaly should do some work here.. LOL

10 out of 10 for me.

[Orlion]

- The slow merge of documentary style at the beginning to more traditional narrative was smoothly done. Anf for a change, I wasn't AS distracted by the constantly moving camera as in such movies as Borne, Transformers, etc...

I barely noticed when this happened! The transitions were just wonderful!

- the bad guys ... well done, if a little cliche ridden. But they were intentially that way ... it gives the visceral reaction of the huge action sequence near the end some POP! The guy (and the aliens) were treated SO badly, even the most pacafist of us (me) wanted to puch them in the frik'n nose.... zapping them was also good.

I'd like to add that even though the bad guys were clearly...well...bad, one was able to also see through the eyes of the normal human citizen, and how the aliens could (and were) a threat to their well being.

- loved the open ending but hope to god that they don't make a sequel.

I couldn't agree more! This movie's so good, I believe that it would be unethical to ruin it with a sequel.

[Kevin164]

I found this movie a nice reminder that talent can produce movies worth watching when focused and not hampered by a Studio. They told a story. They created a believable world and characters to fill it. They had a commentary on the human condition and some of our worst failings without being preachy about it. A alien race didn't invade America for once to be countered and beaten by some plucky scientist and his kids.

The battle armor was cool and inspired me artistically. The battle at the end was emotional instead of cookie-cut. I just all around enjoyed this movie.

[Zarathustra]

I will say this about over analyzing and nit-picking about details ... the film-makers deliberately leave a lot of little details unanswered (in the same way SRD does in his writing) because they are not neccessary. It is not important to know the exact hierarchy of the alien society, it is not neccessary to know exactly what the South African government and the MNU did or did not do on the mother ship ... because of the deliberate lack of detain in this regard, there are a million possible answers to any objections someone may have to apparent lack of logic. It's brilliantly made.

As the chief "nit-picker" here, I just wanted to say that I'm glad my negative comments didn't detract from your enjoyment of the film. I liked many of the same things you did. I thought it was well done, technically speaking (filming, acting, effects, etc.). I liked seeing something different, something from unknown actors and filmmakers. I certainly would like to see more from this director. We have too many sequels and in-bred copycats in this industry. This was definitley somethign fresh, original, and daring. I honestly think it's the best movie I saw this year.

However, it is deeply flawed. It is not merely nit-picking to say that the core aspects of this story didn't make sense. It's not only that they left details out, but also that the details they included were contrived and implausible. And it's more than a problem of internal consistency of minor details, which I could overlook; it's that the main ideas which form the foundation of the story didn't make sense. As a story (not a movie), I thought it was a failure. But a thought-provoking failure nonetheless.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

I'm not trying to hate. Please, like Malik, if you liked the film, great! But I have to agree with Malik's previous post. And I'd like to add to it.

How is this film, in any way thought provoking?

Darfur, Palestine, Rwanda, Bosnia, South Africa for how long, British colonial history - whether in today's headlines, recent history, or even further back, the concepts in this film are a constant in our world that, if one watches the news, reads newspapers or websites, or even speaks to other human beings, you would be aware of - these human issues are always out there. One doesn't even need to mention other films. And as far as the scifi concepts, they've all been done before in some form, and far better. The only thing going for the film, though not completely seamless, is the integration of CG into the shots - the bugs (at times) looked nearly real.

If anything, D9 might be remembered most as the film that helped bring audience's expectations of Avatar so high that Cameron would follow the most successfull film of all-time with the greatest bomb. Thank you WETA! (personally, I think Avatar will break even and be a good film, once people deal with the CG looking like...CG) Also, D9's success will deffinetly help open doors to new filmmakers and original films, breathing some life into Mallywood (every film you go to, there's always the same stories, every mall you go to, there's always the same shops).

[Zarathustra]

I'm not trying to hate. Please, like Malik, if you liked the film, great! But I have to agree with Malik's previous post. And I'd like to add to it.

How is this film, in any way thought provoking?

I'm trying not to hate, too! I thought I've been pretty harsh about this film. I thought the least I could do was try to find some positive things to say about it, since others here, whom I respect, loved it.

Hmmm . . . thought provoking. Well, I've certainly posted a lot about it. If it didn't have so much potential, I don't think I'd spend so much time worrying about its flaws. I wanted this movie to work for me. Perhaps it's not extremely thought-provoking in a social or moral sense. But in terms of art, the genre itself, it does excite me that people are trying a daring approach.

I've mentioned this before, but I think it's fascinating to examine how the extraordinary becomes mundane. Heidegger had a lot to say about this, in an existential sense. Examining how this can happen simultaneously opens our eyes, refocuses our attention back to the transcendental within the ordinary. While I think the movie presented this in an implausible manner--or perhaps just didn't make it explicit enough--I do think it was an element of the movie.

[Rigel]

If anything, D9 might be remembered most as the film that helped bring audience's expectations of Avatar so high that Cameron would follow the most successfull film of all-time with the greatest bomb.

? Sorry, I don't get the reference.

The most successful film of all time was Gone with the Wind.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

Titanic: $1.8 bills vs. GwtW: $1.4 bills
Gone with the Wind's total gross, adjusted for inflation, including rereleases, still doesn't even equal Titanic's worldwide gross without inflation adjustment, nor even RotK, Caribbean 2 or DK.
Your argument could be that Gone with the Wind was a bigger success domestically after inflation adjustment...or you could argue that Gone with the Wind sold far more tickets, i.e. more people have seen it domestically (US).
I'm not hating on GwtW, nor Star Wars or ET, it's just that today's cinema is an international affair. But for it's time, Gone with the Wind was a once in a lifetime event...whereas now there are thousands of films one can choose from...which may make Titanic's numbers all the more staggering.

[Zarathustra]

. . . today's cinema is an international affair. But for it's time, Gone with the Wind was a once in a lifetime event...whereas now there are thousands of films one can choose from...which may make Titanic's numbers all the more staggering.

Wow, good point. I never thought of it that way.

We saw Titanic 5 or 6 times, btw. I'm not ashamed to admit it. Ki loved it, and I tagged along. It was an amazing spectacle.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

Yeah...I know what you mean - I went the first time for me, the second because she wanted to see it again and I didn't mind because other than a couple small issues it's really good.

[Montresor]

But for it's time, Gone with the Wind was a once in a lifetime event...whereas now there are thousands of films one can choose from...which may make Titanic's numbers all the more staggering.

This is not so strictly true. In the early twentieth century, the volume of films in the cinemas was much higher than today. The reason for this was because almost everything filmed had a theatrical (and theatrical only) release. What we now consider straight-to-dvd, or B-grade films had cinematic releases in yester-year. Actually securing a cinema release these days is exceptionally difficult, with most films being released outside of cinema. Therefore, the cinema-goer around the time of Gone With the Wind (execrable film, btw) was accustomed to a far greater choice than we have for big-screen viewing. Add to this fact that it was common practice for cinemas to sell just one ticket for attendance (meaning you could stay in the film and watch it two or three times in a row if you want - and many did), we can begin to see just how big a success the early blockbusters were.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

Care to expand on your critique of AFI's 4th greatest film of all-time? (I actually haven't watched it, nor any films pre '60 except Wizard of Oz and Roshomon/Seven Samurai).

[Montresor]

Care to expand on your critique of AFI's 4th greatest film of all-time? (I actually haven't watched it, nor any films pre '60 except Wizard of Oz and Roshomon/Seven Samurai).

You mean Gone With the Wind?

A mixture of maudlin sentimentality, patronising benevolent racism, and classist romanticisation. It presents an America that never was in a heavy-handed fashion and contributed to the continued marginalisation of very real social issues from the Civil War, and in the Deep South. It's hardly surprising that this was one of Joeseph Goebbels favourite American movies.

Technically it is very impressive in parts, though the running time outstays its welcome significantly, and much of the characterisation is simply vapid.

[Cameraman Jenn]

I loved it! I have no complaints whatsoever.

[lucimay]

malik! dude??? you saw titanic 5 or 6 times???

hereafter i will be discounting your and ki's opinions on film if you don't mind!!









(just kidding!!)


but really... i loved this movie (district 9) in the same way i loved Primer, for many of the same reasons. and also, i think malik, that you may be one of those critics who has a hard time suspending your disbelief due to the fact that you are, in fact, a writer. you're looking at the film from the viewpoint of how YOU might have done it i think. (i could be wrong)
and maybe you WOULD have made a better film had you made it.
who's to say.
my ONLY problem with the film plot-wise was...well...why did they park there in the first place? that was not explained to my satisfaction.
did they run out of gas or what? (jenn says cat food)
i may have missed this in the early exposition. i'll have to see it again.
this time, malik, i promise to watch with a more critical eye.

[Zarathustra]

Luci, you're absolutely right. I can't just read or watch a story without thinking about its construction, the same way I can't drink a beer without thinking about whether it has enough hops, or too much crystal malt, or how I could brew it better. For me, it's part of the fun. I don't just get off on being critical. I like to ponder it as a craft. It's the same way I treat my own stories (and beer).

Before I started thinking about this movie, I enjoyed my time in the theater watching it. So I like to think I can do both (just watch, and then later dissect).

Ki was a Titanic buff long before the movie came out. So watching the movie for her was more than Leo infatuation--it was a 3 hour journey through historical, architectural, and societal details which delighted her to see presented more or less correctly on the screen. Cameron really did his homework for that movie.

[lucimay]

well i'm the same way malik. i like to ponder things for their craft as well.

regarding this particular film, i was immediately sucked into the story. also i had to concentrate for the first 20 minutes or longer on the accent.
i could barely understand what a couple of people were saying at first.
also, wikas totally took me by surprise. i was immediately fascinated by him and was totally focused on him as a character. the thing just sucked me in on several different levels. and i let it.
rather than step back and watch with a critical eye i allowed myself to just watch the movie.
and throughly enjoyed it.

i will watch it again.

but look, did you have this same response to Mad Max the first time you saw it? were you able to see the flaws immediately?
not me. i loved it. and continue to love it.
i will probably always like this film too.
it just does something (i'm unable to describe) that many other films
i've seen of late do not do.

[jacob Raver, sinTempter]

Wait...how can you criticize Malik with Titanic, but say you really like D9? Titanic is a farrrrrr superior film, IMO. Just sayin'