District 9

[theogt]

Just saw it. The documentary camera style (jerky handheld) reminded me a bit of Cloverfield.

The premise of the movie didn't work for me. I kept thinking that if aliens and their craft were in Johannesburg, there is no way that the South African government would maintain control of the entire operation for over 20 years. There would be a major international presence (e.g., U.N. / U.S. / E.U.).

The South African government didn't maintain control of the entire operation for over 20 years -- and the major international presence was known as MNU ("Multi-National United").

Blomkamp had done this type of documentary/feature long before Cloverfield, so he certainly wasn't taking anything from that movie. Either way there was very little "jerky" cam in District 9 like in Cloverfield.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Zero Club, I agree about your thoughts on the South African Government.

Theo, yes, MNU was in charge of the Aliens but there is no way the International Community puts a "private" company in charge of an operation like that.

But seriously, that is really just being picky if anyone disliked the movie because of that.

The movie was great because it was refreshing, wasn't cliche and just like every great script that has ever been written, it forced you to keep watching.

 

[theogt]

Zero Club, I agree about your thoughts on the South African Government.

Theo, yes, MNU was in charge of the Aliens but there is no way the International Community puts a "private" company in charge of an operation like that.

But seriously, that is really just being picky if anyone disliked the movie because of that.

The movie was great because it was refreshing, wasn't cliche and just like every great script that has ever been written, it forced you to keep watching.

I doubt it would have happened 20 years ago, because large private companies with the resources to provide such a thing didn't exist then. But having a private company in charge of something like that (not that there's anything "like" an alien invasion) would certainly happen in today's world. There are private companies in charge of providing food, supplies and security in all parts of the world. It's much more efficient than having military forces do so.

Either way, not understanding why they'd use a private company is a far cry from not even realizing that the South African government had nothing to do with it and there actually was a large international presence.

 

[ZeroClub]

Of course I realized that there was a private corporation in the movie. Come on.

What I should have typed was something like:

"The premise of the movie didn't work for me. I kept thinking that if aliens and their craft were in Johannesburg, there is no way that the South African government and a private corporation dominated by South Africans would maintain control of the entire operation for over 20 years."

I just didn't buy that the rest of the world would be 1) o.k. with (allow) the aliens being maintained in a Warsaw Ghetto style camp and 2) so hands off, generally.

 

[theogt]

Of course I realized that there was a private corporation in the movie. Come on.

What I should have typed was something like:

"The premise of the movie didn't work for me. I kept thinking that if aliens and their craft were in Johannesburg, there is no way that the South African government and a private corporation dominated by South Africans would maintain control of the entire operation for over 20 years."

I just didn't buy that the rest of the world would be 1) o.k. with (allow) the aliens being maintained in a Warsaw Ghetto style camp and 2) so hands off, generally.

Of course a private company would have a large portion of its employees from the country in which it's located, particularly after having set up operations there for over 20 years. That doesn't mean it's controlled by the South African government. And not everyone that worked for the company was even South African.

The movie states at the beginning something along the lines of "the international community placed MNU in charge." It was multi-national effort that employed a private company. The South African government was not in charge. The international community was very clearly involved.

And as for the slum-style life and conditions, that was the result of the prawns being what they were -- worker bees who lacked intelligence, organization and general cleanliness. They could have put them up in a Four Seasons and it would have turned into a dump in 20 years. That was a central plot point to the entire movie.

 

[TheCount]

I saw the movie and although I liked it, there were TONS of questions left unanswered and I don't think they "fleshed" out Christopher a lot.

I just didn't buy that the rest of the world would be 1) o.k. with (allow) the aliens being maintained in a Warsaw Ghetto style camp and 2) so hands off, generally.

I believe it ended up being more a question of how many of them there were and the fact that humans reaped no benefit from their arrival. They didn't show up and enlightened us to the mysteries of space, or our existence. They showed up unable to provide themselves even basic needs and there were over a million of them.

Where do you send them? If they were running around healing people with glowing index fingers, that's one thing, but they really had nothing going for them or perhaps the humans saw them as having nothing going for them because they didn't come bearing gifts.

 

[MrMom]

Absolutely fantastic movie. Like nothing I've ever seen before, that's for sure. I've been intrigued by this guy for a while and then that Halo thing came out and it was obvious he was going to take something to the next level.

Hopefully he becomes as prolific as he is original.

I have to echo your sentiments. Great film. Best sci fi film of the decade, IMO. I really enjoyed Sunshine, Serenity and Children of Men but for my money this tops them all.

 

[ZeroClub]

I saw the movie and although I liked it, there were TONS of questions left unanswered and I don't think they "fleshed" out Christopher a lot.



I believe it ended up being more a question of how many of them there were and the fact that humans reaped no benefit from their arrival. They didn't show up and enlightened us to the mysteries of space, or our existence. They showed up unable to provide themselves even basic needs and there were over a million of them.

Where do you send them? If they were running around healing people with glowing index fingers, that's one thing, but they really had nothing going for them or perhaps the humans saw them as having nothing going for them because they didn't come bearing gifts.

Right, and the movie showed South African tiring of the burden. A man-on-the-street news soundbite or two showed South Africans saying they were tired of their government spending money to support aliens rather than humans. And that's one aspect of the movie that I think is silly. When aliens arrive in South Africa, it isn't a South African problem. It is a world problem. South Africa would be no more than a junior partner in the world response.

My main problem with the movie is that it assumes the world has somehow grown so blasé about that huge alien spacecraft parked just above the Earth that the world is fine with having a private corporation dominated by South Africans deal with the situation. IMO, that's absurd. The U.S. would have seized much more control over the situation than was shown in the movie. A large portion of Johannesburg would have become a military controlled zone dominated by the U.S. military.

If there were ever a time that calls for the primary involvement of a military super power, well, the alien spacecraft hovering just above Earth scenerio would seem to rank fairly high on the list.

So, basically, I couldn't buy into one of the assumptions of the movie.

There were aspects of the movie that I liked. There was a very generous supply of several excellent special effects, for example. The gross-out gore was especially well done.

 

[theogt]

Right, and the movie showed South African tiring of the burden. A man-on-the-street news soundbite or two showed South Africans saying they were tired of their government spending money to support aliens rather than humans. And that's one aspect of the movie that I think is silly. When aliens arrive in South Africa, it isn't a South African problem. It is a world problem. South Africa would be no more than a junior partner in the world response.

My main problem with the movie is that it assumes the world has somehow grown so blasé about that huge alien spacecraft parked just above the Earth that the world is fine with having a private corporation dominated by South Africans deal with the situation. IMO, that's absurd. The U.S. would have seized much more control over the situation than was shown in the movie. A large portion of Johannesburg would have become a military controlled zone dominated by the U.S. military.

If there were ever a time that calls for the primary involvement of a military super power, well, the alien spacecraft hovering just above Earth scenerio would seem to rank fairly high on the list.

So, basically, I couldn't buy into one of the assumptions of the movie.

There were aspects of the movie that I liked. There was a very generous supply of several excellent special effects, for example. The gross-out gore was especially well done.

There's no reason to buy into the assumption that South African was bearing the financial burden, because they weren't. You just misunderstood what was happening in the movie.

Multi-National United. Multi. Many. Not one.

 

[Alumni2k11]

I saw it this weekend, it wont bad. If they make a second part I'll definitely go see it.

 

[TheCount]

Right, and the movie showed South African tiring of the burden. A man-on-the-street news soundbite or two showed South Africans saying they were tired of their government spending money to support aliens rather than humans. And that's one aspect of the movie that I think is silly. When aliens arrive in South Africa, it isn't a South African problem. It is a world problem. South Africa would be no more than a junior partner in the world response.

My main problem with the movie is that it assumes the world has somehow grown so blasé about that huge alien spacecraft parked just above the Earth that the world is fine with having a private corporation dominated by South Africans deal with the situation. IMO, that's absurd. The U.S. would have seized much more control over the situation than was shown in the movie. A large portion of Johannesburg would have become a military controlled zone dominated by the U.S. military.

If there were ever a time that calls for the primary involvement of a military super power, well, the alien spacecraft hovering just above Earth scenerio would seem to rank fairly high on the list.

So, basically, I couldn't buy into one of the assumptions of the movie.

There were aspects of the movie that I liked. There was a very generous supply of several excellent special effects, for example. The gross-out gore was especially well done.

I don't think there was really a ton of military presence in general. The humans certainly didn't seem scared of them when they were running around demanding signatures and the aliens seemed terrified as soon as even one helicopter of troops showed up. Doesn't seem like the sort of thing where you need thousands of heavily armed troops to control them.

 

[DallasDomination]

Just saw the movie!... It was a strange movie but it was entertaining to say the least. Some of the plot was a little twisted and not really intense but It still managed to keep me watching.


I liked the robot at the end..He was just blowing **** up:starspin

 

[DallasDomination]

My only problem with the movies was that most of the Aliens where no smarter then a 7 year old yet they managed to have such high tech machines and weapons. Then you have the main Alien that has 10Xs more intelligence. Where they the slaves of their species? I didnt really understand, what where they doing?.

 

[Mash]

They were selling their arms for cat food.......and really all they had to do is use it and take the cat food.

One human and a alien caused havoc when they used those weapons...

I enjoyed the movie and maybe I missed something about the history of these aliens but their weapons were still being sold for cat food....20 yrs later.

Im sure some of these aliens were dumb but with over a million of them.....only one was smart enough to collect the liquid to fuel the ship?

It was a unique movie.....and well done for the budget they spent.....but its not a great movie IMHO

 

[theogt]

My only problem with the movies was that most of the Aliens where no smarter then a 7 year old yet they managed to have such high tech machines and weapons. Then you have the main Alien that has 10Xs more intelligence. Where they the slaves of their species? I didnt really understand, what where they doing?.

They were selling their arms for cat food.......and really all they had to do is use it and take the cat food.

One human and a alien caused havoc when they used those weapons...

I enjoyed the movie and maybe I missed something about the history of these aliens but their weapons were still being sold for cat food....20 yrs later.

Im sure some of these aliens were dumb but with over a million of them.....only one was smart enough to collect the liquid to fuel the ship?

It was a unique movie.....and well done for the budget they spent.....but its not a great movie IMHO

I'm pretty sure it explained this in the movie multiple times -- these aliens were the "worker bees." They couldn't think for themselves.

The one alien that was smart was obviously NOT a worker bee. His role wasn't explained, but it seems pretty clear he was some sort of ship pilot or the like.

 

[Mash]

I guess I just cant get my head around of the questions that I have.

1 smart and over a million dumb alien worker bees? Selling arms even after 20 yrs living in the slums? When the humans invaded the ship....how do the aliens hide those weapons? Its not like they ever got to the ship again and got their weapons so they could sell them.

Also....if they were worker bees? and supposely under the command of the smart alien.....(someone had to be in charge) why did it take 20 yrs to gather the liguid? Couldnt this smart alien get these dumb worker bees to help him?

I liked this movie.....I really did...but because of so many questions I guess...I dont think its great

oh well....