District 9
Aug. 18th, 2009 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marcus_sez_voteAfter the hell of dealing with automated phone company menus PLUS the "disconnection office" that tries to do everything in their power including use of delays, bargaining, etc. to prevent one from actually completing what you're trying to do, I decided to catch a flick during the day. District 9 happened to be playing nearby and with a matinee showing too! Overall I liked it...though AGAIN parents brought children to this film. What is wrong with people??? This RATED R movie has more swear words per scene than Deadwood, bodies being blown apart, and extremely inappropriate/disturbing situations.
This movie was hard to watch. In terms of its visual style (colors, camera work) and bare knuckle approach it reminded me a lot of Children of Men. There are scenes in both of those movies where it is hard to keep watching because of the casual and extremely bloody violence plus lack of morals exhibited by many characters.
The main human character is totally appalling. He is transformed by his experience literally and figuratively, but it is hard to actually feel sympathy with him. Sure you feel something because of the emotional and physical pain he goes through, not to mention the fact that he has his old organization AND Nigerian cannibal gangsters after him, but he is still a seriously messed up asshole. He is as bad as the people vivisecting the aliens when he orders eggs that he discovers to be torched. I guess it does make it more realistic that he is so very selfish in many ways, but it stretched believability for me at some points.
The MNU in terms of style (shape of their helmets, white vehicles, etc.) is very clearly a stand in for U. N. forces who go into slum areas across the world. There is an underlying criticism of government/corporations and what they are capable of doing. Of course this is highly relevant for South Africa considering its history.
There were some plot holes in terms of the weaponry and the "fuel" that is part catalyst to transform Wikas and also lets the drop ship activate. Their weaponry is so advanced I don't see how they don't dictate terms to humanity. Most of the aliens seem to be worker drones, designated in part I think by coloration, but at least SOME of them have to be smart enough to use their advanced weaponry. Also since they're willing to trade their weaponry to get food, why not hire themselves out as mercenaries? I suppose they might be worried about the rest of humanity coming down hard, but it still seemed odd. At least one of the aliens, plus his son, are capable of using their technology competently. Maybe just the green ones are able to...also maybe the yellow ones like Christopher's friend who helped at the lab. Also I don't get why fuel would transform the human, but whatever.
One amazing scene involved a battle suit. If any of you ever played Warhammer 40,000, I can only describe it as a Dreadnaught wading through squads of Imperial Guard with all the disturbing grandeur and bloody destruction that entails. It was intense.
I was fine with the end, though it does leave a lot of things hanging. Why were they sent to Earth in the first place? Were they criminals? Refugees? Disease victims? What will happen when Christopher returns? What is going to happen with the growing alien settlement? They really didn't pull any punches with Wikas...which I liked. There are a lot of unanswered questions, but that's what special edition DVDs are for or sequels.
Be well.
This movie was hard to watch. In terms of its visual style (colors, camera work) and bare knuckle approach it reminded me a lot of Children of Men. There are scenes in both of those movies where it is hard to keep watching because of the casual and extremely bloody violence plus lack of morals exhibited by many characters.
The main human character is totally appalling. He is transformed by his experience literally and figuratively, but it is hard to actually feel sympathy with him. Sure you feel something because of the emotional and physical pain he goes through, not to mention the fact that he has his old organization AND Nigerian cannibal gangsters after him, but he is still a seriously messed up asshole. He is as bad as the people vivisecting the aliens when he orders eggs that he discovers to be torched. I guess it does make it more realistic that he is so very selfish in many ways, but it stretched believability for me at some points.
The MNU in terms of style (shape of their helmets, white vehicles, etc.) is very clearly a stand in for U. N. forces who go into slum areas across the world. There is an underlying criticism of government/corporations and what they are capable of doing. Of course this is highly relevant for South Africa considering its history.
There were some plot holes in terms of the weaponry and the "fuel" that is part catalyst to transform Wikas and also lets the drop ship activate. Their weaponry is so advanced I don't see how they don't dictate terms to humanity. Most of the aliens seem to be worker drones, designated in part I think by coloration, but at least SOME of them have to be smart enough to use their advanced weaponry. Also since they're willing to trade their weaponry to get food, why not hire themselves out as mercenaries? I suppose they might be worried about the rest of humanity coming down hard, but it still seemed odd. At least one of the aliens, plus his son, are capable of using their technology competently. Maybe just the green ones are able to...also maybe the yellow ones like Christopher's friend who helped at the lab. Also I don't get why fuel would transform the human, but whatever.
One amazing scene involved a battle suit. If any of you ever played Warhammer 40,000, I can only describe it as a Dreadnaught wading through squads of Imperial Guard with all the disturbing grandeur and bloody destruction that entails. It was intense.
I was fine with the end, though it does leave a lot of things hanging. Why were they sent to Earth in the first place? Were they criminals? Refugees? Disease victims? What will happen when Christopher returns? What is going to happen with the growing alien settlement? They really didn't pull any punches with Wikas...which I liked. There are a lot of unanswered questions, but that's what special edition DVDs are for or sequels.
Be well.
