Escape to the Movies: District 9
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This movie has some of the most epic weapons. There was a good story behind it but the action sequences sold it for me.
You ever hear of a species callin' itself Homo sapiens sapiensis an' doin' all kindsa damage to pretty much everythin'? Yeah? That species is why.Mr. Doe said:
back to the review:
"Better aliens than Star Trek"?
*shakes head*
Star Trek had aliens?
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Who did what now?Mr. Doe said:
In the book, there was a character called Smeagol, who also called Gollum for the nervous swallowing sound he made. He was on the road to redemption, fighting the taint of the Ring, and loved Frodo as a hero and leige lord. His good progress was spoiled near the end by that irksome gardener chap, Sam, who never trusted him and never gave him a chance and opened his mouth and blew it, then the poor sod lost it and wound up taking a lava bath.
In the film, this character was nowhere to be seen, but a few superficially similar bits of story were acted out by the barber from High Plains Drifter. Having realised just how much putting him in instead sucked, he had a mental breakdown and was seen at one point shouting "Gollum! Gollum!" into a pool of water, apparently hoping the character from the original story would emerge and take over from him. For no adequately explored reason, footage of this incident was included in the cinema release of the movie here.
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Wow. Those guys have some seriously QUIET weapons.DreamingMerc said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-mh70Ol3G4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSTteVgBaVk
Also: what, no damage?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jdnTOQP7sc
Loud loud loud:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoDT1NGjTR8
For bonus points, guess where this Royal Marine caught it (ouch):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buDDqa0Mgr4
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Like we were to dolphins, whales, chimpanzees, gorillas, Africans, the Japanese, the Vietnamese, Australian Aborigines, native Americans et cetera, you mean? They've all been considered and depicted as non-human at one time or another, in some cases because a government wanted a lot of scared and impressionable young men to find it really easy to kill them and, in some cases, take their stuff and/or land.Mr. Doe said:
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One of the prouder achievements of the invasion: with the Iraqi oil supply disrupted, Saudi Arabia was getting a lot more US$ in incoming oil money, which (after the Taliban had taken their cut) allowed a lot of rich Saudis to drive up through Jordan and into Syria to buy sex with teenage (as in 13 years and up) Iraqi girls who'd fled Iraq with their families minus "traditional breadwinners" who'd been killed by one gang of armed thugs or another for whatever reason. Two million refugees in a country with Syria's GDP/C and population makes for easy underage sex for those with fists full of dollars.DreamingMerc said:
SonicKoala: Let me just end a huge part of your problem with this film in one fell swoop; the key and most basic parts of District 9's story is this: The alien's leader/queen/whatever is dead. The aliens in the slums are basically the equivalent of worker drones. Like ants. Without someone/thing to lead them, they're docile and passive. Thus, they're not fighting back. This is explained quite early on in the film and reiterated a few times throughout.
Also, "How can a movie have a message of tolerance and racism at the same time?" - SonicKoala
I'm not sure how you can question these as focal points for a movie, as they've been used in many films before. Showing racism and tolerance. Learning, hatred, understanding, fear, acceptance, it's all a part of it. From Schindler's List to American History X to Gran Torino, just a few, widely spread examples.
The film is ALL about tolerance AND racism. The racism is based all around the almost exact-same scenario of what happened in South Africa. The wiki snippets relevant to this:
"Like "Alive in Joburg", the short film on which the feature film is based, District 9's setting is inspired by historical events that took place in South Africa during the apartheid era, with the film's title particularly referencing District Six. District Six, an inner-city residential area in Cape Town, was declared a "whites only" area by the government in 1966, with 60,000 people forcibly removed and relocated to Cape Flats, 25 km (15 mi) away. The film also refers to contemporary evictions and forced removals to new suburban ghettos in post-apartheid South Africa and the resistance of residents."
"The theme of racism and xenophobia is reflected in the derogatory use of the word prawn to describe the aliens. The term prawn could also refer to the Parktown prawn, a king cricket species considered a plague in South Africa. However, Copley said that this was not the main focus in the work, and that one could even miss it, but it would still work at a subconscious level." - Wikipedia
Next, you say;
"As for this underlying message which undoubtedly is a reference to the days of Apartheid, that's a nice idea and all, but any chance of that concept having any significant thematic impact was lost in the cluster-fuck of a poorly-written script and mediocre acting." - SonicKoala
Pretty much everyone I know who's seen this film picked up on the underlying theme and story. The film holds a lot of weight for anyone who has half a clue about what happened in South Africa, or America or any other part of the world with this kind of racial conflict. And the big difference with this film, is that it's an action film. It's not a deep, philosophical or existential look at race and creed. It's the kind of action film that we've always wished wastes of carbon, like Michael Bay for example, could make.
The difference here, is that our lead doesn't genuinely care about the aliens. He's sympathetic to their cause when it helps him. Otherwise, he'd wash his hands of them. He tends to choose them as a lesser evil, because he knows he's going to be/is being considered as one of them. Sure the actor may not be the best ever, but he gives the character a rough, natural edge.
Anyway, the film is far from being bad and is certainly one of the better sci-fi films I've seen in a long time.
Also, "How can a movie have a message of tolerance and racism at the same time?" - SonicKoala
I'm not sure how you can question these as focal points for a movie, as they've been used in many films before. Showing racism and tolerance. Learning, hatred, understanding, fear, acceptance, it's all a part of it. From Schindler's List to American History X to Gran Torino, just a few, widely spread examples.
The film is ALL about tolerance AND racism. The racism is based all around the almost exact-same scenario of what happened in South Africa. The wiki snippets relevant to this:
"Like "Alive in Joburg", the short film on which the feature film is based, District 9's setting is inspired by historical events that took place in South Africa during the apartheid era, with the film's title particularly referencing District Six. District Six, an inner-city residential area in Cape Town, was declared a "whites only" area by the government in 1966, with 60,000 people forcibly removed and relocated to Cape Flats, 25 km (15 mi) away. The film also refers to contemporary evictions and forced removals to new suburban ghettos in post-apartheid South Africa and the resistance of residents."
"The theme of racism and xenophobia is reflected in the derogatory use of the word prawn to describe the aliens. The term prawn could also refer to the Parktown prawn, a king cricket species considered a plague in South Africa. However, Copley said that this was not the main focus in the work, and that one could even miss it, but it would still work at a subconscious level." - Wikipedia
Next, you say;
"As for this underlying message which undoubtedly is a reference to the days of Apartheid, that's a nice idea and all, but any chance of that concept having any significant thematic impact was lost in the cluster-fuck of a poorly-written script and mediocre acting." - SonicKoala
Pretty much everyone I know who's seen this film picked up on the underlying theme and story. The film holds a lot of weight for anyone who has half a clue about what happened in South Africa, or America or any other part of the world with this kind of racial conflict. And the big difference with this film, is that it's an action film. It's not a deep, philosophical or existential look at race and creed. It's the kind of action film that we've always wished wastes of carbon, like Michael Bay for example, could make.
The difference here, is that our lead doesn't genuinely care about the aliens. He's sympathetic to their cause when it helps him. Otherwise, he'd wash his hands of them. He tends to choose them as a lesser evil, because he knows he's going to be/is being considered as one of them. Sure the actor may not be the best ever, but he gives the character a rough, natural edge.
Anyway, the film is far from being bad and is certainly one of the better sci-fi films I've seen in a long time.
Okay, then. We're all entitled to our own opinion. I just wanted to make sure I understood your reasoning.MovieBob said:From where I sit, most works of art/entertainment need to be judged at least in part in regard to the "world" in which they first arrived. For example, it wouldn't really be fair to take "points" away from the painter of Egyptian heiroglyphs because he didn't use as varied a color-palette as a laser-printer can today.MB202 said:
Likewise, IMO the original "Trek" series needs to be judged against other genre-television (or television, period) of the time. In which case it stacks up remarkably well... only certain top-tier episodes of "Twilight Zone" come close or exceed in terms of intelligent-ideas and interesting philosophical/scientific concepts being hashed-out in a narrative form. Now, in hindsight, is the dialogue a bit "arch?" The characters broadly-drawn? Yes. Welcome to television, circa-1966.
The 2009 movie, by contrast, comes off pretty poorly (again, IMO) versus many of it's contemporaries - i.e. other big-scale scifi blockbusters. It's far, FAR below District 9, Dark Knight, Watchmen, Iron Man, the first-two Spider-Mans, Serenity, the first Matrix... hell, it's not even as good as Fifth Element or Event Horizon. It's not even as good at it's own genre as Starship Troopers... and that was a PARODY
Incidentally, I saw four of the original 6 Star Trek movies with the original cast (the good ones). They were all great, especially since we watched them on my dad's new Blu-ray player.
I liked the storyline, but what ruined the movie for me was the MASSIVE amount of F-words, I can understand maybe up to two dozen F-bombs in a movie like this, but 137 F-words (look it up, or count them yourself, it literally is used that much in this movie) is far past necessary and has completely dove into the excessive
other than that, it's a pretty good movie, the story and the general writing is just enough to redeem the EXCESSIVE use of f*** imo
other than that, it's a pretty good movie, the story and the general writing is just enough to redeem the EXCESSIVE use of f*** imo
3 words about this movie, REALLY. FUCKING. GOOD. Although I have to say I wouldn't go as far as to give it a perfect score. 9.7/10 I'd say. No movie I have ever seen has been perfect, not even the godfather.
Distric 9 is ok.
It's definitely not the best movie of the summer.
The main character is a prick.
And if you can't buy a storyline about a humanitarian-refugee-alien-crisis, then the movie is absolutely retarded. If you can be moved by the humanitarian crisis involving fictional aliens, then you'll like it. I did.
If you're like my girlfriend, and you say, "They're fucking aliens. Who cares?" then you'll fall asleep right before they break into MNU. Like she did.
I also have no idea where Movie Bob is getting this "Action Packed" B.S. from. You have to wait for over half the movie before any of the so-called action begins.
7/10 at best.
3/10 if you're not a nerd.
It's definitely not the best movie of the summer.
The main character is a prick.
And if you can't buy a storyline about a humanitarian-refugee-alien-crisis, then the movie is absolutely retarded. If you can be moved by the humanitarian crisis involving fictional aliens, then you'll like it. I did.
If you're like my girlfriend, and you say, "They're fucking aliens. Who cares?" then you'll fall asleep right before they break into MNU. Like she did.
I also have no idea where Movie Bob is getting this "Action Packed" B.S. from. You have to wait for over half the movie before any of the so-called action begins.
7/10 at best.
3/10 if you're not a nerd.
Oh my gosh, that movie is awesome. Normally I would wait until it's on DVD to see these kinds of movies, basically because I feel they won't be that good. But this time my brother asked if I would like to see it in the theatre and well after the movie I was dumbfounded by how impressed I was with the movie.
I had no idea really how to describe how impressed I was except by saying "YES! The story didn't get lost in all the gore and action, now that's a good movie!" Oh course that doesn't really tell people much, but this guy made my feelings for the movie perfectly clear. Good job!
Also some people may not feel it is a 10/10, mainly because everyone has different tastes. I would rate it in one of my favourite top 5 movies of the summer, and maybe give it a 8 or 9 out of 10, just cause I cringed a few times during the gross parts of the movie, though the movie may not have meant as much to me if they didn't include those parts.
I had no idea really how to describe how impressed I was except by saying "YES! The story didn't get lost in all the gore and action, now that's a good movie!" Oh course that doesn't really tell people much, but this guy made my feelings for the movie perfectly clear. Good job!
Also some people may not feel it is a 10/10, mainly because everyone has different tastes. I would rate it in one of my favourite top 5 movies of the summer, and maybe give it a 8 or 9 out of 10, just cause I cringed a few times during the gross parts of the movie, though the movie may not have meant as much to me if they didn't include those parts.
I watched the movie at the cinema. This is definantely worth a look in my book. It managed to touch me emotionally in such a way that when the ruthless action-scenes takes place my heart was beating greater then it usually does in these kinds of films, simply beacuse I could sympathize and care about the characters. Most movies these days are way too rushed. It feels as if they are desperate with showing the action before younger audience members fall asleep. District 9 takes its time to introduce the characters and giving a solid background which you can understand without difficulty.
As I've stated previously there should be more movies like this one exploring new, refreshing ground. I hope others will follow this movie's example.
As I've stated previously there should be more movies like this one exploring new, refreshing ground. I hope others will follow this movie's example.
I'm sorry, MovieBob, I disagree. The action was pretty good, but the story was embarrassingly short on imagination. Monolithic corporation and PMCs as bad guys? Check. Anthropomorphic aliens? Check. Weapons and technology which look suspiciously un-alien? Check. Check. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TranslatorMicrobes] The only point I'm willing to advance them is the vaguely imaginative weapon effects and the ham-fisted commentary on apartheid.
Great review- The movie was great. Probably in my top ten movies of all time. although a Halo movie still could've been pretty cool.
I wouldn't call the aliens antropomorphic. I mean, they have the same number of limbs and eyes as humans, and they're bipedal more often than not, but that's about it. They're a whole lot LESS human-looking than the vast majority of aliens in visual sci fi.
Also, I find it hilarious that alien technology made from scavenged scrap on EARTH might just look a bit like human tech. Let me rephrase that. I find it hilarious that anyone would find that odd.
Also, I find it hilarious that alien technology made from scavenged scrap on EARTH might just look a bit like human tech. Let me rephrase that. I find it hilarious that anyone would find that odd.
The Halo movie wasn't going to be based on the games as much as it was the fiction behind them (most of which is omitted in the games to make room for shooty-bangey ridiculously-awesome fun (yes, I went there)).
If you've read any of the novels, you know there is a truly great story within the Halo universe, even if it is never shown in any of the games.
If you've read any of the novels, you know there is a truly great story within the Halo universe, even if it is never shown in any of the games.