Poll: District 9: Your Thoughts On It?

[Whistler777]

I just got back from seeing it, and I can safely say that it reeks of all things average. Though it was brilliantly put together with amazing special effects, the corniness and unbelievability of the first "documentary" part of the movie in addition to schizophrenic action sequences make it a cross between an edge-of-your-seat experience and a trite snorefest.

7.0/10

Spoiler: Oh noes, spoilers

well since none of this ever actually happened, im a bit curious as to what the documentary parts would have been other than unbelievable. if you were looking for a straight action movie, then i suppose i can see how you might use the word snorefest, but otherwise im going to have to disagree with you there. i thought it was amazing that this movie compelled you even when nothing was blowing up, and even more so that it was its own movie; this isnt a cookie-cutter movie in any genre, and while its not an entirely original idea at least its treading ground that hasnt been explored, tilled, farmed, razed, and salted to death by a million movies before it. the idea of an alien race's first contact with humanity ending with conflict that mirrors real-life xenophobia on earth has been done before in the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and with mostly the same message: human beings are the most savage animals on the planet and are capable of cruelty to one another on a scale which is unimaginable for any other species on the planet. the added element of wikis turning into an alien himself brings in another element of symbolism; he seems incapable of acting humanely to another species until he almost becomes one of them, and even after the transformation is complete he is unwilling to let go of his humanity. overall, if you look past the fact that this is infact a cerebral movie with more to it than gunplay and explosions, you could spend quite a while exploring the symbols and themes of it in much the same way you would a great literary work, and while it is mostly alone in recent movies in this regard i still hold it up as a decidedly positive step for hollywood and wish them to continue in this direction.

Firstly, spoiler your post, so that you don't ruin anything for people who haven't seen the movie yet.

Spoiler

While I agree that its theme hasn't been done to death, that isn't an excuse for it to be so sloppy. In the beginning, the documentary is obviously directed toward the audience, not the people who inhabit the city in which the alien encounter actually occurred. If it had been for them, they wouldn't have needed to explain it from the ground up! You wouldn't make a documentary for an American channel and have to explain to them what 9/11 was.

The thing about the movie supposedly having this "message" is that you can find a message in anything. Seriously, look at all the young kids that find messages in the shitty pop songs they listen to, and you'll see what I mean. Even if the movie really was solely about this message, it was far too focused on blowing shit up and vaporizing countless guards to get the point across to me. A good movie would have fleshed out the message more, rather than just leaving it a subject of debate on internet forums.

 

[Nannernade]

Eh... it really didn't look too interesting to me, I know they didn't give a lot of information about it in the trailers, but if you watch them you know what it's about, aliens land on Earth, Earthlings (Americans) afraid and treat them like dirt, aliens want to leave, americans try to blow them up. But I could be wrong those are just my interpretations.
Not trying to ruin a movie for anyone BTW.

 

[PurpleRain]

Eh... it really didn't look too interesting to me, I know they didn't give a lot of information about it in the trailers, but if you watch them you know what it's about, aliens land on Earth, Earthlings (Americans) afraid and treat them like dirt, aliens want to leave, americans try to blow them up. But I could be wrong those are just my interpretations.
Not trying to ruin a movie for anyone BTW.

The trailers gave nothing away in the least. I was actually turned off the trailers then watched it the first day (as I try to with many movies) and absolutely loved it. You're very wrong with what you have said. The movie is so much deeper and better developed. Go watch it!

 

[manbeartim]

Eh... it really didn't look too interesting to me, I know they didn't give a lot of information about it in the trailers, but if you watch them you know what it's about, aliens land on Earth, Earthlings (Americans) afraid and treat them like dirt, aliens want to leave, americans try to blow them up. But I could be wrong those are just my interpretations.
Not trying to ruin a movie for anyone BTW.

i wont try to fix your america-hate, but i will remind you that the entire movie takes place in africa and all of the characters in the movie are also african. perhaps some fact-checking is in order before you post?

 

[crooked_ferret]

Yes, on many levels this movie is what sci fi should be, it's not just a bunch of crazy action, which I often look at as a desperation move on the part of producers to try and hide the fact there is absolutely no story involved. Story is the reason that BSG worked so well. Anyhow, for those of you just looking for a fast paced mindless shoot'em up, this movie will be a huge disappointment. However, if you are actually interested in story and plot development as well as intrigue you will enjoy this movie. I enjoyed it more than GI Joe, that's for sure, I actually almost walked out of GI Joe at one point...

 

[Squedee]

Its a great movie.id recommend it

 

[Fulax]

I saw it yesterday (totally legally, of course) and it was incredible. Best film of the year so far. I usually hate sci-fi films but the whole thing just felt so believable. The story, the acting, the drama, the action...everything worked so well.

Must see movie.

 

[SlightDelirium]

totally made me lose faith in humanity, other than that, I found it entertaining.

 

[Julianking93]

It was fucking awesome.

 

[Nannernade]

Eh... it really didn't look too interesting to me, I know they didn't give a lot of information about it in the trailers, but if you watch them you know what it's about, aliens land on Earth, Earthlings (Americans) afraid and treat them like dirt, aliens want to leave, americans try to blow them up. But I could be wrong those are just my interpretations.
Not trying to ruin a movie for anyone BTW.

i wont try to fix your america-hate, but i will remind you that the entire movie takes place in africa and all of the characters in the movie are also african. perhaps some fact-checking is in order before you post?

OK... first of all I don't hate america... so please don't judge when you don't even know me, and second ok... sorry but in my post I clearly stated and I quote... "I could be wrong those are just my interpretations." Meaning that those were just what I thought when I saw the trailers for the movie on TV, please learn to read my post before you begin to spew all those misjudgementing comments, thank you.

 

[Snowalker]

Looks pretty good, to be honest.

 

[MonkeyJoe92]

Its fucking awesome. Go see it now.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

It was actually a great film. I would recommend to anyone: Go see this movie. Of course, I went to see this with my dad and while I loved it, my dad walked out of it about halfway through. I really thought that it was an enjoyable movie with over the top violence and a good story that will keep you entertained.

 

[TriggerUnhappy]

Saw it today and I fucking loved it, was one of the greatest movies I've seen in a long time, and anybody that likes sci-fi should check it out. Also

It was actually a great film. I would recommend to anyone: Go see this movie. Of course, I went to see this with my dad and while I loved it, my dad walked out of it about halfway through. I really thought that it was an enjoyable movie with over the top violence and a good story that will keep you entertained.

That's weird, I loved the movie but my dad found it boring too, stating it didn't have enough action. Could've smacked him for it.

 

[Tri Force95]

I thought it was awesome.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

That's weird, I loved the movie but my dad found it boring too, stating it didn't have enough action. Could've smacked him for it.

So what part didn't have enough action? The part where the robot shot the lightning grenade into that dudes head, or where they dismembered that guy?

 

[TriggerUnhappy]

That's weird, I loved the movie but my dad found it boring too, stating it didn't have enough action. Could've smacked him for it.

So what part didn't have enough action? The part where the robot shot the lightning grenade into that dudes head, or where they dismembered that guy?

I don't have a damn clue, like I said I could've smacked him when I heard that. And it's not like he has to have action, he loves movies like the Godfather and all, so I just don't get it.

 

[manbeartim]

I just got back from seeing it, and I can safely say that it reeks of all things average. Though it was brilliantly put together with amazing special effects, the corniness and unbelievability of the first "documentary" part of the movie in addition to schizophrenic action sequences make it a cross between an edge-of-your-seat experience and a trite snorefest.

7.0/10

Spoiler: Oh noes, spoilers

well since none of this ever actually happened, im a bit curious as to what the documentary parts would have been other than unbelievable. if you were looking for a straight action movie, then i suppose i can see how you might use the word snorefest, but otherwise im going to have to disagree with you there. i thought it was amazing that this movie compelled you even when nothing was blowing up, and even more so that it was its own movie; this isnt a cookie-cutter movie in any genre, and while its not an entirely original idea at least its treading ground that hasnt been explored, tilled, farmed, razed, and salted to death by a million movies before it. the idea of an alien race's first contact with humanity ending with conflict that mirrors real-life xenophobia on earth has been done before in the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and with mostly the same message: human beings are the most savage animals on the planet and are capable of cruelty to one another on a scale which is unimaginable for any other species on the planet. the added element of wikis turning into an alien himself brings in another element of symbolism; he seems incapable of acting humanely to another species until he almost becomes one of them, and even after the transformation is complete he is unwilling to let go of his humanity. overall, if you look past the fact that this is infact a cerebral movie with more to it than gunplay and explosions, you could spend quite a while exploring the symbols and themes of it in much the same way you would a great literary work, and while it is mostly alone in recent movies in this regard i still hold it up as a decidedly positive step for hollywood and wish them to continue in this direction.

Firstly, spoiler your post, so that you don't ruin anything for people who haven't seen the movie yet.

Spoiler

While I agree that its theme hasn't been done to death, that isn't an excuse for it to be so sloppy. In the beginning, the documentary is obviously directed toward the audience, not the people who inhabit the city in which the alien encounter actually occurred. If it had been for them, they wouldn't have needed to explain it from the ground up! You wouldn't make a documentary for an American channel and have to explain to them what 9/11 was.

The thing about the movie supposedly having this "message" is that you can find a message in anything. Seriously, look at all the young kids that find messages in the shitty pop songs they listen to, and you'll see what I mean. Even if the movie really was solely about this message, it was far too focused on blowing shit up and vaporizing countless guards to get the point across to me. A good movie would have fleshed out the message more, rather than just leaving it a subject of debate on internet forums.

im not too sure about the first point; i've seen plenty of world war 2 documentaries that explain in great detail how the whole affair got started and how it played out, but now that you mention it i would have to agree in general about the sloppiness.
as for the second...i think we're just talking past each other here. as i understand it, the point of a message in a movie IS to give people something to discuss later. i compared the movie's message content to works of literature, which may have been a mistake. a movie must necessarily be shorter and less involved than a book simply out of the limits of the media; the average person who goes to see this movie only has so much patience to sit and watch it in one sitting, so there is only so much room to fit everything in. in order to flesh out the theme more, the action would need to be scaled down. since movies are a money-making venture and the majority of people watching it just want something explodey and shootey, that would be an unwise move. besides that, i felt that the message made itself pretty well apparent throughout the movie. its a theme in a sense of anything mentioned explicitly in the movie itself, but more of a subtext that continues in the same vein throughout the movie.

 

[manbeartim]

Eh... it really didn't look too interesting to me, I know they didn't give a lot of information about it in the trailers, but if you watch them you know what it's about, aliens land on Earth, Earthlings (Americans) afraid and treat them like dirt, aliens want to leave, americans try to blow them up. But I could be wrong those are just my interpretations.
Not trying to ruin a movie for anyone BTW.

i wont try to fix your america-hate, but i will remind you that the entire movie takes place in africa and all of the characters in the movie are also african. perhaps some fact-checking is in order before you post?

OK... first of all I don't hate america... so please don't judge when you don't even know me, and second ok... sorry but in my post I clearly stated and I quote... "I could be wrong those are just my interpretations." Meaning that those were just what I thought when I saw the trailers for the movie on TV, please learn to read my post before you begin to spew all those misjudgementing comments, thank you.

fair enough, i apologize for the america-hater comment. but c'mon, the trailer even says its in johannesburg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6PDlMggROA&NR=1 since you said that you based your statements off of the trailers and then made that remark about the "americans blow them up", what was i supposed to think?