[SPOILERS] District 9 Review Thread

[Tasoth]

Point conceded. It's really hard to base any kind of judgment considering how the backstory is delivered. And as you pointed out, this is how things have historically gone with Apartheid. The fact that their aliens makes it even easier from someone not raised into that apartheid type of culture fall into the thinking I did.

Although they did descend on the wounded and butcher them rapidly. 'Course that could be from the MNU/Gov't starving them though negligence.

[SylasGaunt]

Foodwise it's basically whatever garbage they scrounge, or whatever low quality meat they can purchase on their salaries (at least for those that are employed) or can get their weapons ripped off for which, given how we saw them being exploted whenever possible.

Looking at the pay discrepancies.. a human seeking a 'Non-Human Technology Engineer' position at MNU gets a starting salary of 2,000,000 Rand a year or higher (a few grand short of a quarter million USD a year if you go with the very shaky assumption that the exchange rate is the same). By contrast under the non-human career you have a position for 'Non-human Engineer' whose job description is listed as being an assistant for a human engineer working on non-human tech. Pay for the Prawn is 110 rand/hour or about $13.50 (using the same assumption from above).. about twice what I used to make working the concession stand at my local theater.

[xerex]

excellent movie !.

easily the best film Ive seen this year. the last 25 mins from when the command pod gets its engine blown off are some of the most emotional cinema ive seen.

I question if there wasnt some way for Chris to get the other prawns on board but seeing as we know nothing of the motherships weapons or transport abilities I'm willling to forget about it.

I also thought it would be really black humour if the aliens were actually being smuggled and and Wikus basically just helped the sole surviving smuggler get out. and Chris has no intention of returning.

[TithonusSyndrome]

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.

That was the leading hypothesis at the time, and probably as good as any, but not set in stone. In actuality anyways, I don't know how kindly the anthropic principle looks on biologically caste-bound species that want to set out into space.

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.

For exclusive rights to handle the first extraterrestrial species in human history, and all the valuable tech that comes with it? How many billions upon billions of dollars ought that cost them, realistically? Does any company have the kind of scratch that could make it worth the SA government's while to exclude all other competitors?

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.

Could you please not refer to the promotional fluff as though it is canon until we know for certain that it is or isn't?

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.

What makes you think that GE or someone couldn't airlift their prawn contractors out?

What nation would want something like that prowling the streets?

What nation has ever proven able to resist the lobbying power of a sufficiently determined arms industry?

By contrast under the non-human career you have a position for 'Non-human Engineer' whose job description is listed as being an assistant for a human engineer working on non-human tech. Pay for the Prawn is 110 rand/hour or about $13.50 (using the same assumption from above).. about twice what I used to make working the concession stand at my local theater.

I recognize the fallibility of the free market as much as the next SDN reg, but anyone ought to be able to see how MNU's offer could be swiftly defeated by a competitor.

[SylasGaunt]

For exclusive rights to handle the first extraterrestrial species in human history, and all the valuable tech that comes with it? How many billions upon billions of dollars ought that cost them, realistically? Does any company have the kind of scratch that could make it worth the SA government's while to exclude all other competitors?

Just from the film we know they're the second largest weapons manufacturer on the planet, that's a lot of scratch. plus the prawns themselves were apparently a big drain financially that the SA government just didn't want to deal with.

Could you please not refer to the promotional fluff as though it is canon until we know for certain that it is or isn't?

We don't have anything saying it isn't canon so why not?

I recognize the fallibility of the free market as much as the next SDN reg, but anyone ought to be able to see how MNU's offer could be swiftly defeated by a competitor.

Yeah but when are they going to get to make it? MNU's been given authority over D9 by the government so it's not just MNU's own clout other companies trying to meddle will have to worry about but also pissing off the government by interfering and trying to smuggle alien stuff out of the specially designed area they set up for it.

[Stark]

Oh lol. No canon statement = all the marketing slush is canon now!

[Tanasinn]

I also thought it would be really black humour if the aliens were actually being smuggled and and Wikus basically just helped the sole surviving smuggler get out. and Chris has no intention of returning.

While that'd be interesting, the interview with the director linked back on page 1 indicates that Christopher had only recently started "waking up," as I recall he likened it to a termite hive trying to correct itself for lack of leadership.

I assumed he left his fellow prawn behind for a few reasons - he doesn't seem to really be royalty enough to heard the driveless prawn masses (he only had his kid and that one poor schmuck helping him on his search for fuel), and the alien ship itself was not equipped for hauling the prawn back home on a year and a half journey (remember that when they cracked the can open, they were all starving). Combine those things with the fact that Chris was certainly cognizant of the fact that he wouldn't be allowed to patiently wait for everyone to get on board and pack bag lunches, and he didn't really have a choice but to go get help while he had the chance.

It certainly isn't a matter of drones being considered non-persons; Chris nearly gets himself killed over the medical experiments being performed on his kind.

[neoolong]

Doesn't Christopher say he's been collecting the fluid for 20 years? That doesn't seem like he only suddenly woke up.

[Bilbo]

Doesn't Christopher say he's been collecting the fluid for 20 years? That doesn't seem like he only suddenly woke up.

Yes he does say that the work took 20 years. He says it to a fellow Prawn and to Wikus. At no point though does he say that he has been doing the work over this 20 years. Maybe there have been other Prawns who have "evolved" to fill the leadership role and MNU has been capturing and killing them in attempts to get the ship and or weapons working. Christopher is just the most recent evolved Prawn and has not been noticed yet.

[Stark]

Stop saying evolved.

[Guardsman Bass]

Didn't Christopher say that it took him twenty years to collect all the fluid? I thought he referred to himself, but maybe it was just a "it took twenty years to collect the fluid" bit.

*Sigh* It would have just been so much easier if Blomkampf had just said that the human hypothesis - that the entire leadership caste was dead for reasons unknown, and only drones incapable of even feeding themselves without orders left behind - wasn't entirely correct, since one member of the leadership-engineering-whatever caste survived and hid himself (Christopher). As is, now we've got the weird "telekinetic hive re-orienting itself" bit.

[Vympel]

Awesome movie. I have no idea why anyone's speculating about what was going on with the prawns, it doesn't matter at all to the plot.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

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.

I was going with the 'worker caste' theory. All the weapons they had were the equivalent of light, anti-personnel weapons used mainly for security, even the mecha was likely just a converted construction tool. Keep in mind that we only saw it operated by a rather sick, mostly insane (at the time) human who had no idea what he was doing with it. We have no idea of its capabilities under the control of a competent operator. From what we've seen the Prawns were strong enough to dismember humans with ease, and Wikus and others were able to lift the Prawn weapons without too much difficulty, so presumably these would be the lightest weapons they had, relatively speaking.

[TheMuffinKing]

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.

I was going with the 'worker caste' theory. All the weapons they had were the equivalent of light, anti-personnel weapons used mainly for security, even the mecha was likely just a converted construction tool. Keep in mind that we only saw it operated by a rather sick, mostly insane (at the time) human who had no idea what he was doing with it. We have no idea of its capabilities under the control of a competent operator. From what we've seen the Prawns were strong enough to dismember humans with ease, and Wikus and others were able to lift the Prawn weapons without too much difficulty, so presumably these would be the lightest weapons they had, relatively speaking.

I got the impression that most of the weapons were small arms for security details and that the blue wavy blasting gun might have been a mining tool. I think Damien's analysis is a good idea, especially considering what we don't know of the aliens.

[Tanasinn]

I don't see any reason to assume that the prawn gear was makeshift conversions. That prawn battle armor took a lot of damage, put a lot of killing out, and demonstrated significant agility...with a crazed first-day rookie at the controls; it even did a lot of killing entirely on its own. Not exactly an alien technical. That lightning gun made people explode like water balloons, if that's their low-level gear, I'd hate to see the mean stuff.

[Zor]

For those who have not seen it, D-9 is basically a full length of version of the short Alive in Joburg.

Zor

[xammer99]

The Prawns were breeding at an astounding rate. At the end, there were something like 2 million of'em in the new place, but at the start 1.5mil. So in 1-2 years, they cranked out .5mil prawns.

That would produce one hell of a survival instinct reaction. A physically aggressive species combined with superior technology and that breeds that fast? Hell, I think it'd be an under reaction to just burn the nests, I'm more surprised they didn't just exterminate them.

[Guardsman Bass]

The Prawns were breeding at an astounding rate. At the end, there were something like 2 million of'em in the new place, but at the start 1.5mil. So in 1-2 years, they cranked out .5mil prawns.

That would produce one hell of a survival instinct reaction. A physically aggressive species combined with superior technology and that breeds that fast? Hell, I think it'd be an under reaction to just burn the nests, I'm more surprised they didn't just exterminate them.

Yeah, but keep in mind that even though they had the ship there, there was presumably the possibility that some other Prawns might show up at some point looking for them. What exactly are you going to tell a race with uber-weaponry and the like when they find out that you offed all the survivors?

That goes before Christopher leaves, but is especially the case after he goes (as the one guy interviewed said, they have no idea if or when he'll come back, possibly at the head of either a rescue force or a military force bent on war, or both, or something else.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

I don't see any reason to assume that the prawn gear was makeshift conversions. That prawn battle armor took a lot of damage, put a lot of killing out, and demonstrated significant agility...with a crazed first-day rookie at the controls; it even did a lot of killing entirely on its own. Not exactly an alien technical. That lightning gun made people explode like water balloons, if that's their low-level gear, I'd hate to see the mean stuff.

Look at it this way: They have the ability to travel interstellar distances and construct a city-sized ship that can remain hovering stationary on autopilot for over two decades with little harmful effect on the local geography. I'd assume their actual dedicated military equipment is similarly advanced enough that a few anti-tank rounds and missiles wouldn't do nearly the damage they did to the mobile armour. Yeah, it was fast and took a lot of damage, but considering the other capabilities shown by their technology, it *should* have taken a lot more damage unless it wasn't exactly built for military purposes.

The Prawns were breeding at an astounding rate. At the end, there were something like 2 million of'em in the new place, but at the start 1.5mil. So in 1-2 years, they cranked out .5mil prawns.

In the beginning of the movie, it's given that they had gone from 1 million to 1.5 million in about twenty years... in a poorly maintained, crime-ridden ghetto. It's reasonable to assume that there was a lot of unauthorized breeding going on, and their full numbers were only accounted for when the forcible shift to the new location allowed a proper census to be taken.

[The Kernel]

I don't see any reason to assume that the prawn gear was makeshift conversions. That prawn battle armor took a lot of damage, put a lot of killing out, and demonstrated significant agility...with a crazed first-day rookie at the controls; it even did a lot of killing entirely on its own. Not exactly an alien technical. That lightning gun made people explode like water balloons, if that's their low-level gear, I'd hate to see the mean stuff.

I agree, that mecha suit was CLEARLY designed for exactly what they used it for: anti-personal and light anti-material work. No converted piece of construction equipment would be so purpose built for killing.

[The Kernel]

Look at it this way: They have the ability to travel interstellar distances and construct a city-sized ship that can remain hovering stationary on autopilot for over two decades with little harmful effect on the local geography. I'd assume their actual dedicated military equipment is similarly advanced enough that a few anti-tank rounds and missiles wouldn't do nearly the damage they did to the mobile armour. Yeah, it was fast and took a lot of damage, but considering the other capabilities shown by their technology, it *should* have taken a lot more damage unless it wasn't exactly built for military purposes.

Except that a single AA missile handily crippled their command ship with a single hit and 20mm anti-material rounds did a nice job of fucking up their battle mech. Yes the Prawn CLEARLY have some great tech, but the materials they use for construction aren't much different from what we've seen on Earth and their weaponry, while formidable, is within the same realm as ours. The only reason MNU was getting their ass kicked is because they were clearly a police force and didn't have any serious anti-material weapons to fight the mecha with.

As far as the ship hovering and FTL, those are things we simply have to accept as being (for all intents and purposes) magictek. Hovering a ship that size above the ground that close would kill anyone standing under it and might even level buildings depending on the mass of the craft. You might as well assume that the Prawn have some kind of magic anti-grav tech and leave it at that.

[Neko_Oni]

Perhaps it could simply be that the power armour is not supposed to rely on it's armour for defense, but more on the gravity/magitech bullet catcher. Since Wikus didn't seem to use it at all, pehaps with a skilled pilot it becomes the primary defense for the suit.

[Guardsman Bass]

Did it ever actually say that the Prawn mother-ship had FTL? Christopher seemed to imply that by promising to come back in three years and fix Wikus, but it wasn't actually said, as far as I know.

[Bounty]

Did it ever actually say that the Prawn mother-ship had FTL? Christopher seemed to imply that by promising to come back in three years and fix Wikus, but it wasn't actually said, as far as I know.

It's heavily implied from the starmaps Christopher browses through at the end.

[[R_H]]

Why didn't the MNU scientists try disassembling the Prawn weapons? I can't remember if it was implied they had tryed to do so, or had done so.