District 9

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Omphalos
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District 9

Post by Omphalos »

This looks really different and quite cool. Looks like it touches on all aspects of South African life and ethnicity too.
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Post by SandChigger »

Alien Apartheid?

What is it? An Alien Nation for the double-aughts? ;)
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Post by Omphalos »

SandChigger wrote:What is it? An Alien Nation for the double-aughts? ;)
Exactly what I was thinking. I liked that show.
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Post by Liege-Killer »

Omphalos wrote:
SandChigger wrote:What is it? An Alien Nation for the double-aughts? ;)
Exactly what I was thinking. I liked that show.
Never cared for it myself, and this thing certainly appears to be cast from that mold.
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Post by SandChigger »

I'm not a big fan of James Caan. (I did like that his character's name meant "shithead" or something like that in the alien language.)

I liked the fact that they incorporated clicks in the alien lingo. Bushmen from Space... ;)
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Re: District 9

Post by Omphalos »

Still say that this looks cool.
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Re: District 9

Post by A Thing of Eternity »

(EDITED)
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Re: District 9

Post by GamePlayer »

Just saw the trailer for District 9 before watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine last night. District 9 appears to be shot almost like a documentary and is some kind of alien asylum story. The director is a fellow named Neill Blomkamp, who is some kind of past collaborator with Peter Jackson (according to the IMDB). So naturally, they splashed Jackson's name all over the trailer, much like they do with Spielberg's name whenever his company produces something in which he personally has no direct involvement :roll:

Ahem, digressing...the trailer wasn't bad. It definitely does a good job at grabbing your interest. In fact, the trailer plays like a some kind of documentary on human rights abuses in the middle east, until you get hit with a shot of a giant floating ship hanging over a vista of broken desert.

Trailer is available via streaming on the official website. You can also download the trailer from Apple's website, but apparently they don't offer streaming (kinda strange).
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Re: District 9

Post by SandChigger »

Looks better than I first thought.... :)
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Re: District 9

Post by Liege-Killer »

SandChigger wrote:Looks better than I first thought.... :)
I have to agree.

Looks like what Alien Nation should have been instead of a silly buddy cop show.

What's with the blurred alien face in the trailer though?
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Re: District 9

Post by Omphalos »

Liege-Killer wrote:
SandChigger wrote:Looks better than I first thought.... :)
I have to agree.

Looks like what Alien Nation should have been instead of a silly buddy cop show.

What's with the blurred alien face in the trailer though?
I thought it was the documentary crew doing that because the alien didn't sign a release. Seriously.
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Re: District 9

Post by Robspierre »

Love the trailer, lots of potential.

cross' fingers.

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Re: District 9

Post by SandChigger »

Omphalos wrote:I thought it was the documentary crew doing that because the alien didn't sign a release. Seriously.
:lol:

That or its mouth parts resemble human genitalia. :P
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Re: District 9

Post by GamePlayer »

Always thinking with your hideous, alien proboscis :)
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Re: District 9

Post by Omphalos »

SandChigger wrote:
Omphalos wrote:I thought it was the documentary crew doing that because the alien didn't sign a release. Seriously.
:lol:

That or its mouth parts resemble human genitalia. :P
The dick-faces have invaded, indeed, and they are pumping out shitty Dune prequels.
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Re: District 9

Post by SandChigger »

They ... they ... shit out Dune prequels and ... and ... vomit a form of bile in your face that contains a narcotic that makes you want to devour them! Yeah, that's it! :P

:lol:

Whoops ... they're here. :shock:
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Re: District 9

Post by Omphalos »

Here is a copy of the trailer with unblurred alien faces and subtitles. I think that this looks fantastic.
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Re: District 9

Post by SandChigger »

They're not so bad-looking. I'd hit one. :P

Seriously, though, this looks like it's really going to make Alien Nation look like the crap it was.

Cool. :D
"Chancho...sometimes when you are a man...you wear stretchy pants...in your room...alone."

"Politics is never simple, like the sand chigger of Arrakis, one is rarely truly free of its bite."

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Re: District 9

Post by GamePlayer »

A Thing of Eternity wrote:Anyone else planning on seeing this one? Looks good, I have pretty low expectations for filmed SF though, so anything on a higher level than Terminator or GIJOE pretty much draws me in.
Yes, but this weekend is going to be busy so I might not be able to get to it until Monday. I am really looking forward to this one.
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Re: District 9

Post by Robspierre »

Only 9 tickets sold so far for the midnight show (GI JOe was 100+ and Transformers was 700+), I'm going to be so damn bored .......

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Re: District 9

Post by Eyes High »

well I would like to see it, but will have to wait till it comes to the discount theatre in Fayetteville.
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Re: District 9

Post by Omphalos »

I'm thinking of taking tomorrow off to go see this movie.
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Re: District 9

Post by A Thing of Eternity »

It's the opening weekend up here for this one, and as a rule I avoid opening weekends. I'll see it in a week or two.
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Re: District 9

Post by Omphalos »

I took today off. Gonna see a matinee. Its only 11 am now, so Ill see it after noon. Can't wait!
Something is about to happen, Hal. Something wonderful!

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Re: District 9

Post by GamePlayer »

Just saw it. Fucking awesome film. I would say it's the best of the major summer movies, but most of the big movies have sucked so bad, that's not really a compliment. Nonetheless, It was solid. I'll post more in a proper review soon.
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Re: District 9

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Ah! Forgot to post yesterday. I saw this thing too and I loved it. There is an element or two in it that is not depicted in the advertisements, so if you are like me and purposefully did not go out and read about the film prior to release, I won't ruin it for you here. I was not expecting a character driven drama, but that is exactly what it was. The main character, Wikus van der Merwe is a mid-level functionary who is given the job of evicting 1.8 million "prawns," or alien beings from a Soweto style shanty town to a real concentration camp. Wikus becomes involved in a horrible web of deceit that centers around yet one more exploitation of these alien creatures. The buildup of what a prawn is is told by mock interviews with South Africans of various political and ethnic backgrounds, including Wikus. Honestly, some of this stuff was lifted straight out of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The story of reconciliation was Wikus', and it is powerful and convincing. The acting in this film was superb, and I don't think that I have ever seen a film that takes the viewer as deeply into the psyche of an alien mind - and I do not say that merely because the alien's situation is a strikingly close analog of a human situation we all watched unfold in South Africa several years ago. The alien characters here have some real, unique teeth, and I don't mean that as a pun. More, this is exactly the kind of statement about racism, exploitation, post-colonialism . . . whatever else came of Apartheid, that needs to come from South Africa. This film can heal, and I certainly don't say that lightly either. The science left a lot to be desired, but that is not really how I rate SF films. As movie SF goes, this is a winner.
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Re: District 9

Post by Liege-Killer »

You guys still go to theaters? I can't remember the last time I did. Pay three or four times as much as a video rental, to sit there and be subjected to endless commercials beforehand, and then to all the idiots talking during the movie, and if I miss something I can't rewind and re-watch it? Sounds primitive to me. :P
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Re: District 9

Post by Himachil »

Ever since I discovered the local arty cinema lets you take beer into a film... I've been going to the cinema a lot more often. :obscene-drinkingchug:
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Re: District 9

Post by Serkanner »

Himachil wrote:Ever since I discovered the local arty cinema lets you take beer into a film... I've been going to the cinema a lot more often. :obscene-drinkingchug:
Same here and with a few Grolsch in the bag every movie becomes a blockbuster. :mrgreen:
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Re: District 9

Post by Robspierre »

Liege-Killer wrote:You guys still go to theaters? I can't remember the last time I did. Pay three or four times as much as a video rental, to sit there and be subjected to endless commercials beforehand, and then to all the idiots talking during the movie, and if I miss something I can't rewind and re-watch it? Sounds primitive to me. :P

I don't have to pay and I get to watch movies after hours :D

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Re: District 9

Post by GamePlayer »

My review for District 9.

District 9 (2009)

District 9 is a story about alien visitation to Earth. A group of over a million alien beings arrive in a gigantic gravity-defying spacecraft that has met with mechanical failure, necessitating the aliens habitation near their landing site in South Africa. Unprepared and at times unwilling, the humans accommodate the aliens in a segregated area called district 9. Managed by a multinational corporation called MNU, the living conditions in district 9 falter and most of the aliens live in squalor. In an effort to alleviate inter-species tensions and poverty after nearly two decades of makeshift housing of the aliens, recently promoted MNU employee Wikus van der Merwe (played by Sharlto Copley) is given the task of relocating the alien population to a new district 10 located several hundred kilometers away from Johannesburg.

District 9 does not sell itself on the strength of the fictional science, which ranges from plausible to outright fantasy. Rather, the film floats upon the power of the viscerally violent action, the wonderfully performed drama and the intense issue-infused subtext. Or is it subtext at all? Through use of the visually revolting aliens derogatorily referred to as “prawns”, District 9 vividly places at its forefront a story grappling with such issues as racism, war, immigration, integration and poverty. The film’s setting placed in Johannseburg, South Africa provides not only a relevant social geography for the issues explored in the story but also a welcome creative vacation from more conventional North American-centric alien visitations.

District 9 director Neill Blomkamp is offering promise with his first full length feature. Shot and staged largely in a documentary-like style, District 9 plays like both a linear drama and a talking-head retrospective of that same story. While the film is interesting and always visually dynamic, the script is lacking in pacing and at times the story drags. The script also relies a bit too much upon convention and the staples of the science fiction genre. Yet District 9 is hard to fault when the conventions are used for such worthwhile subject matter and performed to perfection by an able cast. District 9 lead Sharlto Copley offers a solid portrayal of Wikus van der Merwe, a largely despicable MNU employee complicit in many of the film’s harrowing alien atrocities. That Sharlto’s subsequent plight and tragic choices ultimately allow us to identify with his humanity is doubly impressive praise for Copley given the initial dislike the audience feels for Wikus.

There is plenty in District 9 to please many different audiences, from action junkies and horror aficionados to socially conscious film philes and serious drama fans. Perhaps no more does District 9 service certain audience demographics than when displaying the amazing alien technology. From unusual gravity and lightning weapons to spacecraft and bipedal mecha, the toys of District 9 show heavy technical and stylistic influences from such notable video games as Valve Software’s Half-Life 2. A final nod must also be given to the competency of the special effects, particularly the alien “prawns” which are created via pervasive and near-seamlessly integrated CGI throughout the film.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5. Not as creative or innovative as it might be billed, District 9 is nonetheless stand out science fiction, engaging action adventure, important filmmaking and serious drama that audiences won't want to miss.
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Re: District 9

Post by The Phantom »

hey everyone! after more than a month away, I'm back! (whether it's with a vengence is yet to be seen)

work was crazy busy and now i'm getting back into school mode.

anyways, i'm planning to see this on Friday, and all of your positive comments makes me confident i'm gonna enjoy it.

great to be back!


edit: damn a lot happens in a month... i'm afraid to see my view new posts link at jacurutu! not gonna attempt to check it out tonight tho... already after 11 and i have class in the AM :P )
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Re: District 9

Post by Omphalos »

Hey there. Was wondering where you had gotten off to. Welcome back.
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Re: District 9

Post by SandChigger »

Was still playing last week in the multiplex across the river, at the new cineplex at the old mall, and over in Dayton & Cincy, from what I could tell. ;)


(And there's BB back. Him & Eyes double-teamed me on FB chat last night. :shock: Kinda cool being in real time with everyone else for a change. :P )
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Re: District 9

Post by The Phantom »

SandChigger wrote:Was still playing last week in the multiplex across the river, at the new cineplex at the old mall, and over in Dayton & Cincy, from what I could tell. ;)


(And there's BB back. Him & Eyes double-teamed me on FB chat last night. :shock: Kinda cool being in real time with everyone else for a change. :P )

as solid an argument for a chat function if i ever heard one :P
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Re: District 9

Post by A Thing of Eternity »

Welcome back, I'd been starting to wonder if you'd cut yourself off from our favourite addiction!
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Re: District 9

Post by Omphalos »

Baraka Bryan wrote:
SandChigger wrote:Was still playing last week in the multiplex across the river, at the new cineplex at the old mall, and over in Dayton & Cincy, from what I could tell. ;)


(And there's BB back. Him & Eyes double-teamed me on FB chat last night. :shock: Kinda cool being in real time with everyone else for a change. :P )

as solid an argument for a chat function if i ever heard one :P
Its on the list for Jacurutu.
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Re: District 9

Post by Eyes High »

Omphalos wrote:
Baraka Bryan wrote:
SandChigger wrote:Was still playing last week in the multiplex across the river, at the new cineplex at the old mall, and over in Dayton & Cincy, from what I could tell. ;)


(And there's BB back. Him & Eyes double-teamed me on FB chat last night. :shock: Kinda cool being in real time with everyone else for a change. :P )

as solid an argument for a chat function if i ever heard one :P
Its on the list for Jacurutu.
Can hardly wait.
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Re: District 9

Post by SandChigger »

District 9 was FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!!

LOVED IT. LOVED IT. LOVED IT. :D
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Re: District 9

Post by GamePlayer »

Good to hear it! :)

District 9 is now approaching the $110 million mark domestically (it cost $30 million to make). With all the buzzing word of mouth this thing is getting, it's going to explode on home video :)
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Re: District 9

Post by The Phantom »

still didnt see it... when i went last weekend to see it, it wasnt showing at th edrive-in so me and my (now ex-)gf saw the time travellers wife instead... gag :P
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Re: District 9

Post by Omphalos »

Baraka Bryan wrote:still didnt see it... when i went last weekend to see it, it wasnt showing at th edrive-in so me and my (now ex-)gf saw the time travellers wife instead... gag :P
Ive been meaning to get that book and read it. Think I can do without a dreamy-eyed Eric Bana though.
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Re: District 9

Post by SandChigger »

A friend of mine gave it to me a year or two ago, but I still haven't read it. :oops: (Not big on obvious romances.) Don't plan to see the flick.

(GP, that's another new avatar, right? When choosing it, did you consider Phlebas? :P )

District 9 had run its course at the cinemas at the mall across the river by last weekend, so I called the ones at the older mall to see if they were still showing it there and for how long; since it's showing through tomorrow, I decided to catch it after my eye exam yesterday. It was a 3:50 showing, so there weren't more than ten people there altogether, but as I was getting my ticket, two of the employees standing nearby started talking about how there was still a steady trickle of people coming to see it.

I hope the powers that be pay attention to how well this one is doing. :D
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Re: District 9

Post by The Phantom »

yeah i considered reading the time travellers book... even had it on hold at the library but then didnt bother to go pick it up :P i love time travel novels, but that movie was just painful!
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Re: District 9

Post by Liege-Killer »

I watched this yesterday, and while I thought it was very good in some ways, I can't quite understand the level of praise that has been heaped upon it.

The SFX were great, the acting was great, and the themes of racism, ethnic isolation, poverty, and the power of huge corporations were all powerfully present. I liked the semi-documentary style, and the whole visual look.

But there were several aspects of the movie that I found disappointing. I thought the whole thing was rather naive on a political/military/economic level. OK, so after three months of this ship hovering there with no communication, we go up and cut our way in? And then, for the next 20 years, we just let it sit there undisturbed? No way in hell. That thing would have been picked over, cut apart, studied to the nth degree. It would have been THE focus of the world's scientific community and the world's major governments. There's no way South Africa would have been able to keep that ship all to themselves. The U.S., Europe, China, Japan, etc, would have drowned South Africa in money to buy access to it. Or the U.N. Security Council nations would have used their influence to get access to it. Also, I can't buy the aliens being completely ignored in their slum. They would have attracted attention from all over the world. They'd be constantly surrounded by scientists and adademics of all stripes looking to study them (biologists, linguists, and on and on), even after many years. And sure, there might be millions of people who wouldn't give a rat's ass about them, but also millions of people who would and who would try to help them out. After finally learning we are not alone in the universe, I can't see humanity treating our first alien neighbors that way. I know it's supposed to be a parallel to apartheid, but you really have to force it to make it fit. Yeah, we humans can be real bastards to each other, but I really think the first aliens who show up here, as long as they're not here to make war, are going to be treated with a great deal of awe and respect from most people.

Another weakness was the aliens themselves, and the lack of interest they seemed to show in their own fate, and the absence of any believable motivations. Why would these technologically advanced beings allow their ship to be boarded, and themselves to be herded off and into a squalid camp? Why would they make no real effort to communicate with humanity, to explain their situation, to explain why there were here, to possibly negotiate better treatment in exchange for knowledge? This seemed like a huge hole to me, and there was no attempt to explain it or justify it. These were obviously intelligent beings, but they sure didn't show much intelligence.

By the way, getting sprayed with some fuel for the alien shuttle turns you into an alien? Riiiiiiiiiight.
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Re: District 9

Post by A Thing of Eternity »

Yeah, I agree with every single one of your complaints, there are a few really serious obstacles to the suspension of disbelief in this movie. That said, I really loved it. SF has a long history of "forcing" it to make the plot work, and I don't think that this one especially stands out in any negative way (I can't think of many SF movies that don't have plotholes the size of mountains in them), whereas it does certainly stand a cut above the rest in the ways you mentioned in your first paragraph.

The fuel transformation thing bugged the crap out of me too though!

I do apparently give filmed SF waaaaaaaaay too much leeway as far as overlooking flaws though, as has been made apparent in a couple threads about Avatar!
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Re: District 9

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A Thing of Eternity wrote:I do apparently give filmed SF waaaaaaaaay too much leeway as far as overlooking flaws though, as has been made apparent in a couple threads about Avatar!
I think that you have to do with with SF film. Otherwise nothing will ever measure up. Its just a consequence of the business practices we have surrounding film production. Film makers never have enough time to do things properly. It took me a long time to realize this, but if you are going to criticize SF films constructively you have to have a different set of criteria then what you apply to written SF.
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Re: District 9

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Liege-Killer wrote:Another weakness was the aliens themselves, and the lack of interest they seemed to show in their own fate, and the absence of any believable motivations. Why would these technologically advanced beings allow their ship to be boarded, and themselves to be herded off and into a squalid camp? Why would they make no real effort to communicate with humanity, to explain their situation, to explain why there were here, to possibly negotiate better treatment in exchange for knowledge? This seemed like a huge hole to me, and there was no attempt to explain it or justify it. These were obviously intelligent beings, but they sure didn't show much intelligence.
Heh. Purposeless refugees from an abused underclass, washed up in a wreck of a ship on the shores of a foreign beach with different masters who speak an alien language, subjected to an economic system that they know nothing about, and addicted to substances they have never encountered. Now where have I heard of this before? Oh yea! Every race of slave/chattel/fodder that has ever walked under the sun.
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Re: District 9

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Wasn't it hinted that the Prawns were more of a hive mind and without their leadership they were basically semi-sentient? Most of their tech was bio-tech so it didn't surprise me (that much) that the 'fuel' had mutagenic properties.
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Re: District 9

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Ampoliros wrote:Wasn't it hinted that the Prawns were more of a hive mind and without their leadership they were basically semi-sentient? Most of their tech was bio-tech so it didn't surprise me (that much) that the 'fuel' had mutagenic properties.
I remember it being theorized by some sociologist character that they might have been drone workers of some sort. Certianly members of an underclass.
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Re: District 9

Post by Liege-Killer »

I just don't buy the image of the aliens as a helpless underclass, bewildered and subjected to forces beyond their control. Nor do I buy the mindless drone and/or hive mind theory. The main alien character (what did they call him, Christopher?) certainly acted in a determined and individualistic manner when the situation required it, even to the point of taking up weapons and invading the MNU labs. And let's not forget the nifty computer setup he had in his shack. That shows technical expertise and the willingness to use it, even knowing it's against the rules. And the aliens showed some behavioral sophistication and understanding of deception; witness Christopher telling his comrade to be polite to the guys at the door so they wouldn't suspect anything. Also, when the eviction notices were being served, there were several scenes of aliens attacking the MNU personnel. They didn't seem like a cowed and dispirited slave class then, did they? So why didn't they show a little of that passion when they were being pulled out of their mothership? Why didn't they use some of their intelligence, determination, and technical sophistication in the very beginning, to start off their relationship with humanity on a better footing? I think it would have been a better movie if there had been a little more consistency in this regard. Or maybe I'm just being too nitpicky.
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Re: District 9

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Christopher obviously was part of a leadership caste/breed/what have you.

The others were so unintelligent and submissive they traded weapons for their addiction, probably because they didn't have the permission or intelligence to use the weapons to get what they wanted. Drones don't have much if any independence, so seeing them get pushed around and only responding with very basic emotion fits.

As for the ship itself, I imagine that most of the tech on board would only respond to prawn use, and without a coherent leadership they wouldn't be able to do much. Christopher was probably a low ranking 'officer' and didn't have command authority over the drones but did know enough to operate the ship.

As for sovereignty, I imagine the MNU was the result of basically the UN agreeing everyone contributes resources and all the top minds get to play with the stuff, and South Africa has a controlling majority.
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Re: District 9

Post by Omphalos »

District 9 is not without its problems. I completely agree with L-K that it is a real stretch for alien fuel to change humans. I also wonder how exactly a few ounces could power an entire ship, especially one that big. Also, Christopher was careful to point out that they needed exactly the amount of fuel that they extracted from the dump, but Wikus sprayed some out onto himself. Why did the remaining amount suffice?

But I gotta say, despite its small problems, District 9 is hands down the best SF artifact we have had in I don't know how long. Personally I can think of few that are as good, and nothing better.
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Re: District 9

Post by Eyes High »

Finally got to see this one...jeesh I get so far behind y'all.

The main turn off for me was all the cursing. I know people curse in real life, hell I slip up and say a few once in a while, but I felt it went way over board in this one.

I actually got bored with the movie. The alien kid was the best IMO.
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Re: District 9

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He was a cutie, eh? :)
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Re: District 9

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Eyes High wrote:hell
I'm adding that to my file. :twisted:
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Re: District 9

Post by Eyes High »

Nekhrun wrote:
Eyes High wrote:hell
I'm adding that to my file. :twisted:

:doh: :whistle: :lol:
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