District 9 - Review, Discuss, Commentary ***SPOILERS*** possible

So then I've waiting for ages for this movie - I think it was here i first heard of this movie when it was first mentioned, so take that time + what it took for the UK release.

So after that wait, was it worth it. HELL YEAH.

So its not life changing (its a summer movie - but its not that mindless), sure its head and shoulders above everything else i've seen lately. It might not be up there with the 'classics' of sci fi right now but I think in time I'm sure it will become revered in its own right and people stop arguing about South Africa and apartheid and except its about cross cultural integration what ever the place, time, race and/or ethnicity is.

But is anyone else getting a sense of deja vu to after the first matrix movie and before the second. Coz at i'm feeling i want more but my experiences make me wary what ever comes next will only disappoint me.

Another side point, the effects/budgest, I think it just shows that if your doing a heavy effects laidened movie, get someone with the expereance with wielding such things instead of hiring it out to some second team of experts, coz looking at what is in other movies and what they get for 2/3 times the money and don't look this good - coz they are robbing your budget I fear.

 

I fianlly saw this movie with a couple of friends the other night. We all thought it was unusual, not quite like anything we had seen. Imagine a big release in a the US set in South Africa of all places. I really liked the lead actor, and the SF elements were all well integrated. My only real gripe is that the movie was somewhat heavy handed, especially in the beginning.

This was a really good year for SF movies.

Best of the 2000s:

1. Star Trek(2009)
2. Minority Report(2003)
3. Matrix Revolution(2003)
4. Matrix Reloaded(2003)
5. Dark Knight(2008)
6. Iron Man(2008)
7. Day the Earth Stood Still(2008)
8. I, Robot(2004)
9. District 9(2009)
10. Sunshine(2007)
11. Moon(2009)
12. X-Men 3(2006)
13. V for Vendetta(2006)
14. X-2(2003)
15. War of the Worlds(2005)

 

someone's gonna have a pretty cool costume this Halloween

 

I finally saw it... Excellent!

 

I just saw it today. The ending was a bit of a letdown. What happened to the aliens? They get shipped off to an another district while the guy and his son fly off. We didn't get to see the Aliens get rescued out of the hell hole they live in.

 

There saving that for District 10

 

Finally saw it. I was quite pleased, for most of the reasons other have already mentioned:

Spoiler: SPOILAGE

1) the characterization of Wikus (not a square jawed saint, not an irredeemable monster, and certainly not a genius, just a sort of lost jackass, who only does the right thing after he's exhausted every other alternative.

2) the unvarnished alien-ness of the "prawns," and the way they made Christopher sympathetic without using a celebrity voice over ("Why sure I speak English!") or other such nonsense.

3) The brutal assessment of humanity and the film's anti-corporate message. If it had been made in the U.S., they would have whitewashed those elements right out of it.

4) A battlesuit. Done right. Finally. (Apologies to Iron Man.)

My only caveats:

5) the action sequences in the last half did go on a bit long, it would have been nice to catch our breath a little bit.

6) Not explaining the alien psyches is fine, but the whole question of why the others didn't ever use their weapons to say, defend themselves, could have used some more explanation.

Exactly. Wide open for a sequel. I dug the ending, because in my nightmares human beings are actually this stupid:

Spoiler: SPOILAGE

Hey, one of those aliens we have been treating like shit has flown back to his home planet, and might return with lots of help. What should we do? I know, let's keep treating all the remaining aliens like shit!

 

Well, Nigerian officials have moved to ban the film from their country, as per this article. I'm only surprised that it took this long.

 

What, they get mad over the portrayal of Nigerians but don't care that nearly all the white guys in the movie were all sociopathic maniacs?

 

Wikus wasn't unsympathetic. His wife wasn't, either. On the other hand, all of the Nigerians are savage maniacs slobbering over human and alien flesh for the mystical powers it will give them. I can see the negative reaction among Nigerians.

 

Not exactly as if banned in Nigeria is equatable to banned in Japan or another market of high return. *shrug*
Black Market Pirated bootlegs for this film just went up in Nigeria.

 

And if that happens...well, that won't help the stereotype, now will it.

 

Don't roll your eyes at me, roll 'em at Nigeria. Just stating a very plausible scenario.

 

Yes, I know because I saw District 9, next time I meet a Nigerian, my first reaction will be "You mean you're not all cannibalistic psychopaths!?! The movie lied?"

 

The Onion has a humorous man-on-the-street write-up for the controversy here.

My favorite 'quote' is the last one though...

 

I'd characterize the controversy as more complex than that, but that 'quote' hits the nail on the head when it comes to Nigerian politics. God I love the Onion.

 

I finally saw it last week and thought it was awesome. A pretty unique setting for an idea that reminded me totally of Alien Nation but instead of accepting the Newcomers as humanity did and them being assimilated into our culture, this bunch of humans put them into ghettoes. I liked Winkus and felt sorry for him at the end of the movie which I thought would happen. The more I saw of this movie the more I wanted to see the cancelled Halo movie...when Christorpher's son was inside the command module and manipulating the consoles I half expected to see Cortona (or an AI equivilant) pop up! I want to see Neil direct the Halo movie still. He proved he can do it after watching District 9 for me. I liked the entire film...the chase scenes were the best. I also thought that the MNU military man who was after Winkus could play a really awesome Slade Wilson in a Teen Titans or Justice League movie as Deathstroke.

 

The Nigerian thing doesn't surprise me at all. It crossed my mind that Nigerians would find their rather negative depiction in this film as pretty offensive, but then being cast as cannibalistic bad guys is going to rankle anyone, especially as there isn't even a token good guy Nigerian to contrast the image.

More generally, between this and Charlie Jade I'm of a mind that South Africa is a really, really great setting for science fiction. Also, it goes almost without saying that this was a very good movie.

District 9 is not my favourite movie of the year - that's still Moon - and I might have liked it more if it was a talkier, more fake-documentary picture... but then again it might have been a drier and ultimately more boring film that way. Very probably so, anyway, not to speak ill or downplay this film at all - really, really loved it. I'd hestitate to use the word 'classic', but I think it's secured it's place in the sci-fi canon regardless of whatever the hell I say.

 

I know I am waaay behind the times but I just saw it today.

I am sick of humans being the bad guys.

That said Christopher, the alien and his son said they would be back in 3 years to save their people and fix the transforming human. They said they were going "home to get help." I assume that is to their homeworld to get the Army to either just save their kin or kick humanity into the trash heap of history.

Decent flick, but I still like sci-fi were humans are good and not weaponizing evil corporations and heat-filled monsters.

 

Dude, look at the facts. In every conflict known throughout history, humans have always been the bad guys.