Escape to the Movies: District 9

[DreamingMerc]

Thats not military conflict. All I saw was a military unit fighting poorly armed civilians (paramilitary or not).

The idea that proper military conflict is specifically when two standings army's take up arms is flat. Being that there is NO proper military conflict, there is simply conflict and any artificial distinction serves no purpose on the ground as rounds start flying. As far as I'm concerned there is no difference between engaging mechanized military, para-military or civilians with arms.

Not to mention that the invasion of Iraq is morally dubious at best (you can't claim your looking for WMD's and then when you don't find any say your deposing a dictator.

Of course the "real reason open conflict in Iraq exist is because of NAMBLA, you see places like Thailand where they use to fuck little boys and shit, they're drying up. We're opening up a whole new market of kids," Corporal Josh Ray Person (As recorded during the first week of the invasion of Iraq). Please do note I am not arguing with you on this point as this is in fact an era of greed and profit and so are its wars.

Unfortunately I think you missed the point of my comparrison. The comparison was not that of who you can trust but of the catigory of which each side fits. It is important to understand why an enemy will fight you and bracketing all those people who got killed in those scenes as terrorists is not only inaccurate, but wrong. The people who flew the jet liners into the world trade center are without a doubt terrorists. Those people in the scenes were freedom fighters (civilian combatants). If you understand their side, military force can become unneccessary (as long as both sides are willing to attempt a bypass).

Dude I explained in fair detail whom those forces were in my previous post, Bath party loyalists and Fedayeen para-military forces and then a group of college students turned military contractors from Syria. Again once rounds start flying they're really not a difference between a standing member of the enemy military and a civilian holding a gun for the first time and taking shots at you.

Unfortunately I can not agree with you. Especially since any media wishing to use the US military (historically or otherwise) may not portray them in a negative light. Unless it portrays the retaliation that the marines took upon the rest of the civilian populace in Iraq I don't think both sides are portrayed accurately.

This was one of the objectives of the production and why three of the Recon Marines depicted worked hand and hand to portray the events properly and without bias but as they were. Not only does this series portray open conflict between Iraqi forces but the civilians they killed along the way, and the cost of moving through Iraq with such haste. As the platoon hit Baghdad and had daily encounters with large populations with Iraqi civilians and the conditions the war left them in (No police, armed vigilantes opening fire on what ever the damn well pleased one group would shoot mortars at random in down town baghdad during the night, the large influx of cheap weapons, the overflow of sewage into everything from the streets to their drinking water, unexploded ordnance littered through out the city, and how the platoon would hear all these problems and simple task it down to another unit as they were ordered to remove themselves from the city.) All of which is shown in the films, again the idea wasn't to show a negative or positive light but depict the events that happened with the men themselves as characters.

 

[715]

Looks like Bob here never saw Neill Blomkamp's Halo short which runs on awesome and shits out even more awesome (and was made really just to prove how awesome he can make the movie). The Halo movie can work but it can't be based on the games it has to be based in the EU plus the War lasted like 20 years that's a lot of story there. Making a movie based on one of the books would be great. How about what Master Chief did during the gap between Halo 2 and 3

I'm sorry, what?

.. Did he just say Bad Taste and Dead Alive were NOT bad movies?

Holy mother of god I lol'd.

Dead Alive has a priest that kicked ass for the lord, that along made it good

 

[MarsProbe]

I've been intrigued by this movie for a while now and I agree, I would rather see something like this than a Halo movie.

Just one thing though, did this review really require another reference to the Star Trek movie? We are already quite aware that you didn't like it and I am sure you are aware that a lot of people (myself included) think the opposite. I'm sure this review would have been just as competent on it's own without that reference.

That just irks me slightly, but other than that, good job. Anyway, this is my first seeing some of the other shots from District 9 besides one of the earlier trailers. If I wasn't convinced to see the movie already...!

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

The hell Halo Is a great storyline

Dear Ficord

You are no longer allowed to have an opinion about: Movie/Videogame Plots

Expressing an opinion about the above subjects will result in immediate fine of up to $80

Yours Sincerely

The Department of Not Saying Stupid Things

Dear Blue Guy

Stop being a pompous arse hole.

Oh no, oh no, someone else has an opinion I don't agree with, they must be wrong!

 

[Mischiviktus]

I'm glad it came out before I shipped out for BCT, I found the movie to be awesome. Hell, the main character was how he should of been, very human and sort of anti-hero, but a round character to have a change in heart to where he cares more for the sake of another to put himself in harms way...with a mecha. I mean hell, he caught that bazooka rocket, I couldn't stop laughing in awe over that.

I heard people coming out saying it wasn't good, so I asked them, did they enjoy Transformers 2 or otherwise, and they said hell yes. I know why, their brains were expunged throughout the movie, the concept of thinking brought them mental pain, and they simply shut down until the credits roll, that or the ending was too much for them to handle, and the concept of a concrete ending is all they can understand, and don't want to think on the possibilities of if Christopher returns or what happened/ens with the other guy.

And on the subject of Halo, I don't know. The story's good, but having a movie based on Master Chief, is not. It be more like Transformers that anything, since he rarely speaks and has the personality of a brick, the Human vs Covenant would have to do all the talking and have majority of the plot, while master chief strides in and wastes everything.

Now, only next possible good movie to look forward to is 9.

 

[Nomanslander]

The movie was simply awesome, although there were enough plot holes to drive a convoy of semi trucks through it....still an awesome film...lol

 

[Nerdfury]

This movie was beyond brilliant. A lot of people at work were disappointed, though, because they're the kind of people that dislike having to think or read too much at the cinema.

Definitely not a movie for those that just want an action movie about people killing aliens.

 

[Tolerant Fanboy]

Loved it. Insightful and kickass are always a winning combination, and I simply adored the alien kid. Still, I find myself trying to puzzle out the whole "interspecies prostitution" thing. The mechanics boggle the mind...

Also, the zap-splodey gun was freaking awesome.

 

[Ninjagamer]

Went and saw this today, loved it. It would have been tragic if we got a Halo movie instead of this.

 

[ReNaVisum]

Alright, I made an account JUST to comment in this thread because I couldn't stand it anymore.




***SPOILERS ABOUND IN THIS POST, STEER CLEAR IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS FILM YET***






Here goes:

The main problem I have is with people calling the concept unbelievable. To say that, you must be a stranger to planet earth yourself.

Here's the concept: A minority group of 2.5 million people is up against a majority group of 6 billion. Is it really so difficult to believe, given human history, that we would leave them in a walled off slum for 20+ years? Do you even *know* what human beings have been doing to OTHER human beings for CENTURIES?

I'm not going to get into a political/religious/racial debate here, but the fact is that humans show a depressing trend throughout our history. Discrimination, denial of rights, war, holocaust, segregation, etc for the power and wealth of a select few. And all of those things are done to the members of OUR species. Humans. People. Citizens of Earth. Do you mean to say, that suddenly present day when a giant hunk of metal floats in from space and drops of creatures that look to us like giant INSECTS, we would *not* all flip out, that we would suddenly get our sh*t together, lay out the welcome mat, and offer them the same courtesies, rights, and NECESSITIES that we won't even provide to our own SPECIES? Absurd.

We won't give enough food to the human beings we have here NOW, why would these insect/shrimp people from space be given special treatment? They wouldn't.

As for the idea of why don't they fight back with the kickass alien weapons blah blah etc...

2.5 million. 6 billion. If they basically declared WAR upon the human race they would be ERADICATED in weeks. Even with their technology, the sheer number difference would be enough. Would you screw your chance of ever getting back to your home planet for the sake of killing a couple aliens? (we're aliens to them, of course)

I think the concept is too real for comfort. It says something about us as a species, and I think the film did a perfect job of portraying it to us. I believe the reasons so many questions about why they are here and if they will be back or not go unanswered is because the film is from the human perspective. Given that this actually happened, there would be a million and two theories about the mothership in the sky, but nobody would really know.

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text, but I had to deliver the rant and straighten a few of you out. Thanks for the time. ;D

 

[13lackfriday]

Oh fuck off, I just get back from Australia just to find out everyone's already seen it and are lauding it with praise.
I was hoping your typically sobering review would reassure me in that I wasn't missing anything.
But my hopes were in vain.

JK man, it's fucking heartening that a smalltime, indie director by the name of Blomkamp was able to make it to the bigscreen, with all of his genius and unique style intact.
With all of the summer popcorn action flicks lately, I was beginning to think that the not only "intelligent" but also "exciting" film had become obsolete. Glad to see they haven't completely fallen prey to the merely Michael Bay-nian commercially viable of our day.

In other news, I don't get the Halo hate.
Maybe the game didn't have the most brillaint plot, as I'm so often told, but after seeing what Neill can do in District 9 (not to mention the Halo 3 live-action spots), wouldn't you want him to have every output to show his talent?

 

[Arbitrary Cidin]

I get it, you think you're Yahtzee?

 

[Daedalus1942]

Sold! Checking movie times!
Seriously, I've been wanting to see this since I saw the first teasers.
And when I saw the trailer where the robot/mech catches the missile in midair, combined with what looked like (Based on the trailer) a pretty bitchen story, I was totally hooked.
And now that Mr. Bob (Who I don't always agree with, but lately have been more agreeable with) has said it's awesome, I'm dragging my wife to see it ASAP.

In fact, it plays tonight at 7:30.
I know what I'll be doing with my birthday money.

That wasn't a teaser for it, that was a short film by Neill Blomkamp that was the genesis for what became District 9. In the film, those tubes from the sky don't exist and Viccus isn't one of the soldiers, he's an office worker.

 

[No Tomorrow]

DUDE why are u rippin on Halo so much? its a decent game with a good in-depth storyline. Not to menchen a HUGE fanbase.

 

[clawmachinelegend]

District 9 by all means wasn't a bad movie I enjoyed it but I think that alot of things were missing to praise it as the greatest movie of all time. First off I think that hiring mercenaries to help peacefully move aliens to district 10 would never happen no matter what country harbored them I mean come on and how shocked they were when they found out that they were fucking insane and evil was funny. there is a reason that they are mercenaries and not in any of the armies around the world. Also I am American and I don't agree with us poking our nose in to other countries business but these are aliens and there is no way that we or any other country on the globe would not have a say on how these aliens are treated.

But I did enjoy the movie but I agree with who ever said the Hurt Locker is the best movie this summer so far I will second it until next week because Quentin tarantino is a god

EDIT: those were only the two things that bothered me the most there are a few more knit picking things but i don't like walls of texts so i only wanted to touch on those two

 

[Chrissyluky]

it was intense, tons of action suspense and everything a good movie needs. YOU MUST WATCH THIS MOVIE its the movie of the year.

 

[DreamingMerc]

First off I think that hiring mercenaries to help peacefully move aliens to district 10 would never happen no matter what country harbored them I mean come on and how shocked they were when they found out that they were fucking insane and evil was funny.

You do know private military contractors have been deployed in fully armed posture stateside right, it was in New Orleans after Katrina fucked it up. Black Water USA was given the contract, they were brought in to patrol, establish a law enforcement type presence and prevent lawlessness.

Contractors are not these evil greedy men, a solid majority of them are ex-military or ex-law enforcement. Most of whom are former special forces or SWAT with numerous years of experience. And given that they are paid shit,they often look for proper finance elsewhere and given their skill trade very few career options value them. Most operate in a very professional manor and pride themselves in earning their pay. Yes there are bad seeds and less then desirable men whom for one reason or another are placed in a high stress environment but they get their shit together fairly quickly or re-routed aka deported from the operations area and most of the time are removed from the country of operations and their contracts are terminated.

Men like the central antagonist or as I call him Cpt. Fuckhead would never be place in tactical command, sub-human morons like him are swept out of the private because of their up most incompetence and amateur manors. And he was the most capable man depicted, the rest are not even worth mentioning.

This is more of an example of retarded men (like I don't know Tim Spicer) whom are given large contract in delicate operations and have know idea how to manage them and in so fucking them up. Such a contract given to a proper European or American company and you would more then likely get much better results and a guaranteed much more profession team of contractors.

 

[Spider Expert]

I'm sorry, what?

.. Did he just say Bad Taste and Dead Alive were NOT bad movies?

Holy mother of god I lol'd.

I fucking loved Bad Taste!

But that's because I'm a New Zealander

-Joe

I am too that doesn't change the fact that it was hilariously bad

It was ment to be hilariously bad though, I mean come on, it was a shit production per se but the acting was hilarious, there is not a lot like it out there, Coromandel types in a nutshell though aye

-Joe

Fun fact: The aliens were done in Peter Jacksons Moms oven

 

[mptothedc]

I agree with you 100%. This movie was AT LEAST a 9 out of 10.