District 9 - "The Official Movie Thread" In Theaters NOW! Post your reviews here!

I really enjoyed the movie, saw it twice and plan on buying it on BR. It DEFINITELY was not what i expected, but I became more intrigued after watching the 2nd trailer and learning about the whole plot.

After watching the movie, the whole discrimination thing (especially set in South Africa) was definitely apparent.

I do have questions though (which may or may not have been addressed). Feel free to comment as you want. I'll add spoilers around things so people won't have anything ruined. Granted these questions may digging too deep or thinking too hard, but still things to think about.

Weapons
the alien weapons are obviously stronger than human weapons (that lightening gun NEVER gets old).

(1) they're addicted to cat food. Why not use the weapons to obtain it from the Nigerians or population at large? Why trade them stuff (the big mechanical suit) for it?

wouldn't it be easier to just take it?

(2) Why were there no alien vigilantes or militia?

It seems like the aliens initially lived amongst the populous until they were pushed out and district 9 evolved and was established. (Movie says they initially lived directly below the mothership, and then the townspeople wanted them out - the short interviews implied that they interacted routinely with the townspeople) Wouldn't aliens with weapons fight back?

Mech-suit
Is it connected to Wikus' body and such? If it takes damage, does he? or is it a legitimate shell where it protects him?

Ending
My friends and I had a discussion about the end where the prawns attack the colonel. I argue that because they attack and EAT him, it was more of an attack of opportunity rather than to save wikus. They were more accidental heroes (saving wikus from death) sort of like the Tyrannosaurus in Jurassic Park. Both could care less if our main characters survive - they just took advantage of a situation (Jurassic park - raptors unaware - feeds Tyrannosaurus ; D9 - only one, lightly armed guy - free human meat)

They argue that they were trying to save wikus having recognized him as one of their own and what he did for them.

In the end, we compromised and concluded that they really hated that colonel and ate him as a vengeful act (and filling their stomachs). They weren't deliberate or accidental heroes, just vengeance seekers. Saving Wikus is a side bonus. However, their acknowledgment of Wikus as one of their own is questionable.

Feel free to ignore or comment.

I just want one of those posters! :whistle2:D
 
Quoting from supermodestmouse and my response...
the alien weapons are obviously stronger than human weapons (that lightening gun NEVER gets old).

(1) they're addicted to cat food. Why not use the weapons to obtain it from the Nigerians or population at large? Why trade them stuff (the big mechanical suit) for it?

wouldn't it be easier to just take it?
The aliens are supposed to be these fairly unintelligent, unorganized creatures. It would be easier "to just take it," but rational decision making isn't supposed to be part of their mindset. Christopher is of course the exception to this. They were forced into this system and just went along with it without question and just followed through, just doing, not thinking about what they're doing. Doing what the humans tell them does keep them alive at least, for that one day they can go home. Collectively though, survival first.

Weapons(2)
Why were there no alien vigilantes or militia?

It seems like the aliens initially lived amongst the populous until they were pushed out and district 9 evolved and was established. (Movie says they initially lived directly below the mothership, and then the townspeople wanted them out - the short interviews implied that they interacted routinely with the townspeople) Wouldn't aliens with weapons fight back?
Again, unintelligent and unorganized creatures. You're really not supposed to rationalize their actions and the aliens are not supposed to have the thinking of "We do what's best for our race." Even if you want to believe they have some kind of collective rational thinking, they are doing what they can to survive, and if they decide to kill and consequently wage war against humans on the human's home field, 6 billion humans vs 2 million or so? Even if they have superior weaponry, it would be a massacre against the aliens. And that means no going home

Mech-suit
Is it connected to Wikus' body and such? If it takes damage, does he? or is it a legitimate shell where it protects him?
it does seem like a shell, like a tank. Holds him, protects him, and does damage outside.

Ending
My friends and I had a discussion about the end where the prawns attack the colonel. I argue that because they attack and EAT him, it was more of an attack of opportunity rather than to save wikus. They were more accidental heroes (saving wikus from death) sort of like the Tyrannosaurus in Jurassic Park. Both could care less if our main characters survive - they just took advantage of a situation (Jurassic park - raptors unaware - feeds Tyrannosaurus ; D9 - only one, lightly armed guy - free human meat)

They argue that they were trying to save wikus having recognized him as one of their own and what he did for them.

In the end, we compromised and concluded that they really hated that colonel and ate him as a vengeful act (and filling their stomachs). They weren't deliberate or accidental heroes, just vengeance seekers. Saving Wikus is a side bonus. However, their acknowledgment of Wikus as one of their own is questionable.
this scene and its holistic significance I don't think is that important. You can look at it a number of ways, both you and your friend have done so, and either would be an acceptable interpretation.

Personally, I wouldn't go so far with the revenge theory, just because these are supposed to be unintelligent creatures. I wouldn't go so far to say they have the memory to recognize certain human faces or their particular actions, so they don't necessarily seek vengeance. It definitely works for the audience to give the humans a human quality such as revenge though, to give them some emotion for the audience to relate. I don't remember if they ATE the military dude, but it's probably just taking advantage of the situation.

I do tend towards they are protecting their own, since humans don't see Wikus as human, so probably he's more familiar to the aliens than as a human. I don't know if they recognize what Wikus is doing or what he's done, so they don't necessarily show gratitude to Wikus, but at least the aliens do seem recognize guns at least and can sense danger, so my interpretation is the scene showing a protective instinct, protecting and standing up for their fellow kind in the face of danger, and they have been seen to be violent when faced with some kind of threat to themselves or their own kind (I think).

Even though the aliens have been mistreated, any outright action against the humans would ultimately be an act of war, which is why they haven't done anything like it collectively before this scene. Also it might go towards the unorganized aspect of their nature. Perhaps they were just lucky being in the middle of all the chaos to receive one meal from the colonel's flesh and get away with it
 
uh btw, how where the Prawns weapons and mech able to get down to the surface without MNU noticing it? I am assuming based on the helicopters descending in the beginning that they were all being transported via MNU. Then bam, you got Alien weapons on the surface, the Nigerians with them and heck they have the mech..but still I don't remember seeing the aliens using transports to ferry the them down. I am also assuming that MNU has other alien tech other than weapons to use. That can't be the only mech on that ship. The Nigerians were stupid to trade with the aliens since the weapons didn't work with human DNA. They could have been smart about it and offered to "HIRE" the aliens as bodygaurds. Like pay them 10 catfood cans a week to protect the boss.
Speaking of the boss...when Wikus is brought to him and in that pit, just before he is rolled out, you can hear the boss saying something to someone "you are useless...." followed by a woman screaming/crying... uh what was that about? some strange off camera sex/rape scene?
 
I enjoyed this movie very much.
Quite a depressing flick though.
A friend of mine said he liked the movie because he honestly had no idea where it was going to go, like a roller coaster. and he watches a lot of movies so thats sayign something.
 
I enjoyed the movie. I felt it was a bit slow in starting, but when they finally got to District 9 for me it started picking up. This may seem a bit random, but I think my favorite part was when
right before the battle involving the mech suit whrn the Nigerian gang boss was telling Victer he was going to eat his arm
 
I saw this last night. Excllent movie.

The beginning felt a little too heavy-handed, but I guess sometimes people need to be beaten over the head with the message.

I also find it kinda of funny/hypocritical that
a lot of the people in South Africa have such strong feelings against the prawns and their plight despite the fact that their history of apartheid hadn't ended not 20 years ago.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']uh btw, how where the Prawns weapons and mech able to get down to the surface without MNU noticing it? I am assuming based on the helicopters descending in the beginning that they were all being transported via MNU. Then bam, you got Alien weapons on the surface, the Nigerians with them and heck they have the mech..but still I don't remember seeing the aliens using transports to ferry the them down. I am also assuming that MNU has other alien tech other than weapons to use. That can't be the only mech on that ship. The Nigerians were stupid to trade with the aliens since the weapons didn't work with human DNA.[/QUOTE]

For point 1 about the weapons getting down there , the impression I got was that the aliens had constructed them down on the surface , using the scrap and garbage that was available to them. Otherwise , how come the weapons wouldn't turn up all at once , instead of here and there , also the MNU would have confiscated them all at once in that case , instead of as they found them.

As for point 2 about the Nigerians , don't you remember (with the 3 times that you've seen the movie) that the boss was ingesting bits of alien meat , in hopes of becoming enough like them to use the weapons. They obviously didn't really grasp the concept of the weapons being tied to DNA.
 
I saw this last night with a group of friends, and despite going into it with the lowest expectations between the four of us, I loved it the most. They found it to be boring and lacking action, but I loved it due to the action that was there and for the bits of character study thrown in. The evolution of Wikas from the start of the film to the end was great - he started as someone in way over his head for his job, but later manned up. The ending was a bit of a downer, but not too much of one -
it set up a sequel nicely with Wikas as a prawn, and his wife still loving him, so if Christopher does come back (or if he can't, maybe his son will) and can then be changed into his human form. Then the question could be - does he even want to be changed back after the three years has passed?
 
[quote name='JaytheGamefan']I saw this last night with a group of friends, and despite going into it with the lowest expectations between the four of us, I loved it the most. They found it to be boring and lacking action, but I loved it due to the action that was there and for the bits of character study thrown in. The evolution of Wikas from the start of the film to the end was great - he started as someone in way over his head for his job, but later manned up. The ending was a bit of a downer, but not too much of one -
it set up a sequel nicely with Wikas as a prawn, and his wife still loving him, so if Christopher does come back (or if he can't, maybe his son will) and can then be changed into his human form. Then the question could be - does he even want to be changed back after the three years has passed?
[/QUOTE]

I hadn't even thought of that as a possible sequal plot. I thought it'd be like
furutama where zoidberg's race comes back and annihilates the doop :p
This one would actually be a lot deeper!
 
I really enjoyed this movie, it was really good. A couple of the alien guns reminded me of a couple guns from Red Faction: Guerrilla.
 
I saw this movie Friday night with a few other people. First of all we got to the theater later than we were planning so we ended up sitting in the very top row. We were sitting right next to a couple who were annoying as fuck and wouldn't shut up for 20 seconds. Apparently people think that when they are sitting in the top row of the theater that other people can't hear them talk. Also when the movie got louder, they would just talk louder. #-o

But on topic, as some others have said this movie was a little different than I was expecting. I really enjoyed this movie though. The effects in this movie are very impressive considering the modest budget. I haven't decided yet if I would want a sequel made or not. It obviously could set up for a sequel. Overall though I thought this was a very unique and refreshing Sci-Fi movie. This is probably my 2nd favorite movie of the summer behind The Hurt Locker.
 
I was re-watching Trailer 2 on quicktime trailers site and I noticed a scene where Wilkus is strapped down to a table while something is injected into his body and he screams. From the looks of it it might be some sort of alien troop transport and he was in the middle of getting fixed. So I think there is a possiblity that the ending we saw was a diffrent one than what we got. Perhaps it Wilkus was suppose to be changed back.
 
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