[SPOILERS] District 9 Review Thread

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Weird, I never had a problem noticing the social commentary in this movie. I thought it was done exceptionally well in that, while it was obviously there, it also wasn't the main thrust of the movie. The main thrust was aliens wanting to go home and guy with infection using cool weapons to make people go pop, set to a background of allegorical references to racial segregation, and it was all sorts of awesome. Easily the best movie I've seen in a long time.

Now to wait for Zombieland to come out.

[ray245]

Weird, I never had a problem noticing the social commentary in this movie. I thought it was done exceptionally well in that, while it was obviously there, it also wasn't the main thrust of the movie. The main thrust was aliens wanting to go home and guy with infection using cool weapons to make people go pop, set to a background of allegorical references to racial segregation, and it was all sorts of awesome. Easily the best movie I've seen in a long time.

Now to wait for Zombieland to come out.

Well, given that the first questions critics tend to ask is essentially "Is the movie deep enough for me" as opposed to how much can people enjoy the movie as a whole, some critics would be upset by that fact.

Then there's also another weird criticism coming from some critics, which is the movie must suck simply because the protagonist is not someone who is likeable enough. It almost seems like those people are following a set of checklist to determine if the movie is good or not.

[Bilbo]

Saw the movie yesterday. Pissed me off that part of the movie previews was the power armor catching the RPG out of the sky. Killed what would have been a major fear/shock scene in the movie.

To me th Prawns were not dicks (pretty telling that nowhere in the movie do we ever find out their real names) they were forced into a shanty town, murdered for even the smallest transgression, their you were aborted every time they were found, and fed catfood which was crack to them.

Considering this has been happening for 20 years how do you think the average alien is going to act? Also as the interview pointed out the survivors were part of a hive mind that had the smartest parts killed. The leftover brutes are used to taking orders from those who have no reason to lie to them and this has resulted in some rather brutal treatment by humans.

[ray245]

Did anyone noticed that the people in the leadership position are whites as opposed to blacks?

[Bilbo]

Did anyone noticed that the people in the leadership position are whites as opposed to blacks?

Yes, but at the same time I noticed that Blacks and Whites to a degree were getting along a lot better than they were in Aparteid South Africa. Maybe the idea was that with the aliens around blacks were not seen as quite so inferior.

I found the various statements about the Nigerians very interesting. The voodoe and the eating or relations with a Parwn giving them power. Reminded me a lot of various ideas floating around Africa in some tribal areas about how to cure AIDS.

[The Kernel]

Saw the movie last night and thought it was fantastic...perhaps the best film I've seen in a decade. Some random thoughts on it:

- The setting of Johannesburg was a brilliant touch. Not just because of South Africa's history, but the city itself played such a huge part in the overall feel of this film.

- I think the director made a very wise choice by making the Prawns contemptible enough that most people watching would not easily sympathize with them. Even though we don't want to sympathize with the humans here, this movie is not supposed to be black and white.

- The action scenes were FANTASTICALLY done. I thought all movies lately had abandoned the idea of action scenes you could actually FOLLOW for quick cut away action.

- It's probably obvious, but I'm glad Neill Blomkamp made the choice not spoon feeding us every single fact about the prawns. Some things are best left up to imagination.

- Speaking of Neill Blomkamp...wow I have never seen a more impressive directorial debut in all my years. Bravo. What really makes me sad is that they couldn't get the Halo movie done as I think he would have done a bang up job on it. I'm really looking forward to Blomkamp's next film to make sure he isn't a one trick pony, but given the varying styles we saw in District 9, I think we are looking at one of the world's great upcoming film directors.

[neoolong]

Did anyone noticed that the people in the leadership position are whites as opposed to blacks?

Wasn't the CEO of MNU black, not Wikus' father in law but the guy seen in some of the news footage? Not South African I don't think, but American? He was seen only a couple of times.

[Losonti Tokash]

Did anyone noticed that the people in the leadership position are whites as opposed to blacks?

Well, MNU is an American corporation, so this is to be expected somewhat.

[JointStrikeFighter]

I saw this movie last night and I have to say that try as I might I really can't think of any bad elements of the movie. It was just plain great.

[TithonusSyndrome]

I absolutely loved the fuck out of this movie... a film about alien contact that isn't America-centric, explores the full consequences in society of the alien ghetto, has a believably weak and flawed protagonist, kept me guessing until the end as to how it might conclude and what would happen next, and was filmed in a gripping style that sold me on the documentary angle. Alongside Moon, it appears that this film is poised to make 2009 a stand-out year for smart sci-fi.

One thing that didn't seem to make sense to me, however; why didn't some of the aliens emigrate? With weapons and technology like theirs any number of corporations are bound to want to court them, and if certain countries had anti-nonhuman immigration laws then those same corporations could doubtless lobby in their favor. If the South African government did not want prawns walking outside of District 9, then I'm sure transportation could be arranged. Did the prawns really think that leaving D9 wasn't worth the price of helping humans?

[Tasoth]

Just got back from it. I liked it alot. Somethings though:

-The ending is funny in an ironic way. All that cheering and they have no clue what Chris promised.

-Wikus was a great choice. When he finally decides to 'cowboy up', it has a much greater impact than if he just went badass from the start.

-I really wanted Wikus to just hop in the power armor from the get-go and just stalk out to do battle.

My brother and I both want a sequel.

[TithonusSyndrome]

Fuck, double post.

[The Kernel]

One thing that didn't seem to make sense to me, however; why didn't some of the aliens emigrate? With weapons and technology like theirs any number of corporations are bound to want to court them, and if certain countries had anti-nonhuman immigration laws then those same corporations could doubtless lobby in their favor. If the South African government did not want prawns walking outside of District 9, then I'm sure transportation could be arranged. Did the prawns really think that leaving D9 wasn't worth the price of helping humans?

The Prawn weapons were certainly interesting, but certainly not worth the trouble to arm Prawn soldiers with them given the control difficulties. Very few of the Prawns seemed much better than animals--how would it be worth it for a government to train and arm them just for a handful of these soldiers?

Furthermore, the Prawn weaponry seemed pretty good but not good enough really. Sure the Mecha was pretty cool and SEEMED invincible, but they never really used the right kind of weapons on it to begin with (mostly small arms and anti-personal weapons). You'll notice that the most damage was inflicted by the 20mm rifle and by a good old fashioned ramming by a light truck which suggests that some standard anti-tank weapons should have taken care of it without issue. The Mecha's benefit seemed mostly to be based around its agility and ability to spray anti-personal fire accurately and efficiently.

[TithonusSyndrome]

I didn't mean as soldiers, of course that would be ill-fated; I meant to help reverse-engineer their tech. What prawn would choose District 9 over a house and salary in America or Europe courtesy of an eager arms developer?

[SylasGaunt]

One thing that didn't seem to make sense to me, however; why didn't some of the aliens emigrate? With weapons and technology like theirs any number of corporations are bound to want to court them, and if certain countries had anti-nonhuman immigration laws then those same corporations could doubtless lobby in their favor. If the South African government did not want prawns walking outside of District 9, then I'm sure transportation could be arranged. Did the prawns really think that leaving D9 wasn't worth the price of helping humans?

What makes you think they'd be allowed to leave though? Sure other corporations are going to want access to this stuff but apparently MNU's pretty jealous of their stranglehold on all D9 related interests.. plus there a massive corporation to begin with. The impression I get from things like Christopher's blog and the film itself is that anytime one of them dares to leave D9 there's a big hulabaloo and things get ugly.

[Majin Gojira]

Furthermore, the Prawn weaponry seemed pretty good but not good enough really. Sure the Mecha was pretty cool and SEEMED invincible, but they never really used the right kind of weapons on it to begin with (mostly small arms and anti-personal weapons). You'll notice that the most damage was inflicted by the 20mm rifle and by a good old fashioned ramming by a light truck which suggests that some standard anti-tank weapons should have taken care of it without issue. The Mecha's benefit seemed mostly to be based around its agility and ability to spray anti-personal fire accurately and efficiently.

Indeed, though I think part of it had to do with it having an operator that did not know or fully understand the capabilities of the machine she had beyond "Fire!" and "Move"

The Bullet Grabbing thing only appeared to function while the AI of the machines was in control, for instance.

That said, other evidence points to their materials technology being about our level.

And their weapons largely bypassed or ignored infantry armor, so that's another plus for the researchers.

[TithonusSyndrome]

What makes you think they'd be allowed to leave though? Sure other corporations are going to want access to this stuff but apparently MNU's pretty jealous of their stranglehold on all D9 related interests.

MNU wasn't there from the start, though. If someone like General Electric or Boeing or whoever got wind of those weapons back in the 80's, I would think they would act a lot faster to scoop up prawn techies than MNU ever did and arrange to take them off the hands of the South African government with all the muscle that a military-industrial lobby in South African government is able to muster.

[neoolong]

Wouldn't there have been competitive bids to determine who would be the ones to do that? MNU won.

[TithonusSyndrome]

No sooner than 2010? Is the South African government really that incorruptible that it held out for so long, while simultaneously being the product of a public who at best manage to barely tolerate the prawns?

[Gil Hamilton]

One thing that didn't seem to make sense to me, however; why didn't some of the aliens emigrate? With weapons and technology like theirs any number of corporations are bound to want to court them, and if certain countries had anti-nonhuman immigration laws then those same corporations could doubtless lobby in their favor. If the South African government did not want prawns walking outside of District 9, then I'm sure transportation could be arranged. Did the prawns really think that leaving D9 wasn't worth the price of helping humans?

It probably never occured to the Prawns to do so. They were worker drones who lost their leadership and are used to being told what to do. They were probably told to stay and grub in their third world ghetto where the MNU could keep track of them. They were under MNUs thumb after all and Evil Corp wanted to control any technology that came from the Prawns. MNU wasn't even concerned about legality, given that they freely experimented on Prawns and were going to illegally resettle them in a concentration camp on the assumption that the Prawns would just do whatever they were told.

[TithonusSyndrome]

The "worker drone" interpretation isn't canon at this point, it's just Word of God. Valuable insight, sure, but not definitive as of right now.

It's not as if the prawns need to figure out for themselves that there are nation-states separate from the one they're in right now and that they would be better treated in them, because presumably GE and co. would start soliciting in District 9 for tech guys at one point or another. I don't doubt that in the event that such an avenue of inquiry fails they wouldn't hesitate to coerce what they wanted out of the prawns, but from the get-go, why not just stick with what they already know works for human talent they want to court? MNU would be bound to get some, sure, but not all of them before the bidding is over.

[Gil Hamilton]

The sociologist at the beginning hinted at the "worker drone" thing strongly, that they had lost their elite and had become aimless. This was highlighted by the fact that they had basically found the Prawn population starving when they cut open the ship; the Prawns could barely take care of themselves without leadership.

[SylasGaunt]

MNU wasn't there from the start, though. If someone like General Electric or Boeing or whoever got wind of those weapons back in the 80's, I would think they would act a lot faster to scoop up prawn techies than MNU ever did and arrange to take them off the hands of the South African government with all the muscle that a military-industrial lobby in South African government is able to muster.

MNU wasn't true but the South African Government was in control then. I get the feeling that they probably did try and MNU beat them to the punch or threw down more money. They're supposed to be one of those corporations that's got their fingers in everything, and MNU is, as of the time of the film, the second largest weapon manufacturer in the world.

Of course we know MNU didn't scoop up all the alien toys.. according to Christopher's blog one of those lightning guns showed up on E-bay so a few leaked out.

[Tasoth]

One thing that didn't seem to make sense to me, however; why didn't some of the aliens emigrate? With weapons and technology like theirs any number of corporations are bound to want to court them, and if certain countries had anti-nonhuman immigration laws then those same corporations could doubtless lobby in their favor. If the South African government did not want prawns walking outside of District 9, then I'm sure transportation could be arranged. Did the prawns really think that leaving D9 wasn't worth the price of helping humans?

TThere's also the fact that when the aliens were outside the district, they'd simply gank humans for whatever they had on them that they liked. And kill them in the process. They only thing they really got is when threats of force where used against them, and at that point they got hostile. What nation would want something like that prowling the streets?

[Gil Hamilton]

There's also the fact that when the aliens were outside the district, they'd simply gank humans for whatever they had on them that they liked. And kill them in the process. They only thing they really got is when threats of force where used against them, and at that point they got hostile. What nation would want something like that prowling the streets?

Firstly, do we know that? We heard that from a person being interviewed, someone who was guaranteed to be biased against them.

Secondly, that may not be inherent to Prawns, but due to the fact that they were in slums. Slums ALWAYS generate crime and ghetto inhabitants murdering people for their Nikes isn't exactly a rare occurence (this happens in any crime ridden area). The movie is set in Johannesburg, for pete's sake, where you are five times as more likely to be murdered on the streets in their inner city than the worst parts of New York City. People were doing that to each other there before the Prawns showed up; the ship landing just added a million more terminally poor people to what was already a dangerous area.

The fun irony is that your statement that Prawns weren't the sort of people you wanted running around was exactly the same reason that the South Africans originally used to segregate blacks into slums when Apartheid happened. They said black people were perpetual criminals who couldn't function in society either, so they must be segregated from Whites and relocated. That thing where MNU agents were going door to door in slums convincing Prawns to inadvertantly sign relocation papers wasn't something the writers of the movie invented, you know.