District 9

[Instant K4rma]

The movie was spectacular. I grew attatched to Wikus and his issues. I really enjoyed the idea of trying to help the aliens and having it turn into a racial conflict instead of another attempt to copy Independance Day (Aliens show up, kill people. We fight back, leader of resistance gives emotional, inspiring speech, we win). I thought it was a very original plot, and an extremely well executed story. There was violence when violence was necessary, and there was deep, well written dialogue when story and plot points where necessary.

Great movie, best of the summer. 10/10.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I didn't really know what to expect going into District 9, as I'd only seen the very vague trailer that didn't give anything away and had not read any reviews, so all the action was rather unexpectedly awesome. But District 9 isn't an action movie, and that's why I liked it - it was a fascinating funhouse mirror of a film that used mankind's interaction with the aliens to illustrate our capacity for inhumanity towards our fellow man. The effects were amazing in the way they were understated - you could almost believe they were filming events that were actually happening, and the documentary style was brilliant in that regard.

If I start talking about the mech I'll just never stop, so we'll leave it at exceptionally cool and avoid the wall of undisguised and probably semi-literate glee I would really like to generate.

Go see the movie if you haven't, seriously.

 

[nYuknYuknYuk]

They just wanted to go back home.

Actually I think they just wanted cat food.

Lots and lots of cat food.

Yeah, that was never expanded on, unfortunately. Funny to me, nonetheless.

 

[GrandAm]

Because of the faux doc style and the main character kind of looked and acted like him...It felt like I was watching a really wierd episode of The Office with Steve Correl.

The Mech suit. That was probably the best movie take on the Mech suit concept I have ever seen. It was not indestrucible and actually through combat shut down from damage. The damage was progressive and weapon dependent. Usually when a Mech is use in Movies they take no damage and get shut down for some of the wall reason. Iron man is a good example, his suit ran out of power. In the third Matrix, it was because the drivers bodies are exposed. But the Mech itself never got hurt/shut down.

Being fair, it took some well aimed .50 Cal rounds to take it down, it completely ignored everything else, but still, you're right.

.50 yup. Also the RPG it caught blew apart the arm that caught it. The Dillion mini-gun worked some on it too. When the thing fell over its last time and shut down, it was done in close up. The whole thing was riddled with bullet holes. In its last moments standing it was spewing robot blood. The .50 cal hits were definately the beggining of its end though.

I saw it the second time just yesterday.

Does anybody agree with my statement about it looking like a wierd episode of the Office. Here is a vid for comparison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wf2pP7T0Y

 

[ninja555]

I thought the movie sucked. The plot was so slap-stick it was not a step above Tranformers 2. The main character was dispicable. The attempts to tug on our heart-strings were not either more subtle or more deep than ringing a gong next to our ears.

The whole movie hides in its premise to avoid having to explain itself. If it had been about anything else we'd all tear it down.

District 9 is like Transformers 2 except that movie did not claim to be more than it was.

IF your comparing District 9 to Transformers 2 then you might have to rewatch both of them.
D9 is nothing like T2. Re watch then come back and say that.

 

[Sylocat]

I remember something else that would have been good to see in the documentary approach, and a very good reason the prawns would be met with widespread hostility: religion.

The presence of extraterrestrial life is heretical to many forms of organized religion, who believe that God created Man in His own image. There's nothing in those books about God creating prawns on the seventh day, and knowledge of their existence would cause global theological disillusionment, sending hundreds of millions into a crisis of faith never before imagined. Some might reform their religious texts, be progressive about the whole thing, but by and large, the prawns' arrival is the death of God. No longer is Earth the favored planet, Man the chosen life form. Suddenly we're shown to be inferior to a pack of bipedal roaches. You'd have mass suicides, wars, civil unrest manifesting in hate crime on an unprecedented scale. Millennial cults would spring up like weeds, fearing the appearance of these "demonic-looking" creatures as a sure sign of the end-times.

Now that'd be a documentary.

Honestly, the only religion that would have a problem with it is a very, very strictly fundamentalist view of Christianity. Judaism is largely progressive, rational, and not really concerned with such outside matters, Islam actually believes that Allah created other life forms on other worlds, and Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, and Baha'i are all rather cosmic in their outlook. So it's mostly just American and African Protestant fringe groups that would have problems with the Prawns, but they have a problem with everything. You'd have a few doomsday cults pop up, but that happens with the turn of every century and wouldn't likely be a big deal. Most Christians, especially Catholics, would see the Prawns as a theological question over whether or not they have souls, but it wouldn't cause a religious breakdown. They had these very same debates over Native Americans. In any case, Catholicism, at least, believes that when Man was created in "God's image" that means having Free Will and not an actual copy of God's physical form, which doesn't exist, so the Prawns could easily be said to be created in God's image too. Oh, and they did have civil unrest and hate crimes, and African Tribal Spirituality WAS addressed in the film, but that doesn't count, I guess.

 

[Asickorphan]

The movie made me sad But then it got to the action and I was exited again! Those alienn weapons are kick ass!!!!! Great movie by the way!

 

[Avatar Roku]

Because of the faux doc style and the main character kind of looked and acted like him...It felt like I was watching a really wierd episode of The Office with Steve Correl.

The Mech suit. That was probably the best movie take on the Mech suit concept I have ever seen. It was not indestrucible and actually through combat shut down from damage. The damage was progressive and weapon dependent. Usually when a Mech is use in Movies they take no damage and get shut down for some of the wall reason. Iron man is a good example, his suit ran out of power. In the third Matrix, it was because the drivers bodies are exposed. But the Mech itself never got hurt/shut down.

Being fair, it took some well aimed .50 Cal rounds to take it down, it completely ignored everything else, but still, you're right.

.50 yup. Also the RPG it caught blew apart the arm that caught it. The Dillion mini-gun worked some on it too. When the thing fell over its last time and shut down, it was done in close up. The whole thing was riddled with bullet holes. In its last moments standing it was spewing robot blood. The .50 cal hits were definately the beggining of its end though.

I suppose you're right, it's been a while. Speaking of the the Mini-gun, was anyone else's first thought on seeing that "Cry some more!"?

 

[BlackIronGuardian]

I liked the film as a whole.

I FUCKING LOVED the first twenty minutes or so of mocdoc alien refugee interactions with humanity and the interrelations in the ghetto.

I marginally liked the remaining action-sequences.

 

[PirateKing]

I think it's the best movie of the year so far and a real indication of how film making should be done. It only cost 30 million. Only 30 million and they had extremely believable aliens and the best mech suit I've seen outside of Gundam.

 

[Deleric]

Epic in almost everything it did.

Also, that one time where Christopher actually has a subtitle that says "Fuck!" made me laugh.

 

[nYuknYuknYuk]

I think it's the best movie of the year so far and a real indication of how film making should be done. It only cost 30 million. Only 30 million and they had extremely believable aliens and the best mech suit I've seen outside of Gundam.

Right. And Transformers cost 200$ million. 200 fucking million. Think of how much good could have come out of that money, rather than a Transformers movie.

 

[zagazsano]

When I played Left4Dead Versus, and I died, I asked everyone if they have seen any good movies lately...and...up came District 9. My friends say it was terrible, and the character was pretty stupid. Maybe I'll watch it someday, to prove them wrong/right.

 

[Singularly Datarific]

My poor brother saw it with his girlfriend.
Needless to say, it wasn't a good date movie...

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Epic in almost everything it did.

Also, that one time where Christopher actually has a subtitle that says "Fuck!" made me laugh.

You didn't notice that one of the first (maybe even the first) alien translation was "Fuck off"?

 

[Avatar Roku]

Epic in almost everything it did.

Also, that one time where Christopher actually has a subtitle that says "Fuck!" made me laugh.

You didn't notice that one of the first (maybe even the first) alien translation was "Fuck off"?

That's different. That was one of the random Prawns. We're talking about Christopher here.

 

[delet]

I loved the movie. An instant favorite for me, joining Donnie Darko, Pan's Labyrinth, and Cloverfield on my top... 4? I might be missing a movie somewhere in there...

This is the kind of movie I would actually be willing to buy, though. That takes a lot, considering I usually just torrent any movie I wish to see. The graphics were amazing and well realized. Not over done and very realistic, methinks.

The part that sticks out most in my head, though, is when in the Mecha suite, while Wikkus is blasting everyone to pieces, he picks up a dead pig via GRAVITY GUN and throws it at an enemy, breaking said victim through a wall in he process. Truly loved that...

I can't wait for the DVD release so I can watch it again T-T

 

[Stalk3rchief]

I loved this movie!
It showed a brutal side of humanity a lot of people don't believe exists anymore.
The battle scene at the end was fantastic, despite the bittersweet ending.
I'd recommend this to any body!
[Best part was when the mech used the magnet to catch the bullets and fling them back]

 

[Beardon65]

AWESOME... Simply awesome. I expected nothing less, to say the least I'm speechless. But I'm not sure whether or not they should make a sequel ya know... One side is saying it would be awesome but the other half is saying well... what could it be about? any suggestions?

 

[PirateKing]

I think it's the best movie of the year so far and a real indication of how film making should be done. It only cost 30 million. Only 30 million and they had extremely believable aliens and the best mech suit I've seen outside of Gundam.

Right. And Transformers cost 200$ million. 200 fucking million. Think of how much good could have come out of that money, rather than a Transformers movie.

Yeah. Like a good Transformers movie. Though District 9 has proven that you don't need a ridiculous budget and a money hose to make a good film.