"District 9" Best Sci-fi Movie of 09?

Travis wrote in with a story that says much of what my friends have been saying to me all weekend: "Slashdot covered 'District 9' back in July. I was originally excited to see this movie for its exhibition of exoskeleton robot 'mechs' (see images and video at Hizook.com ). After watching the film this opening weekend, I can honestly say that it was an amazing science fiction movie! Everything was spot-on: the plot, the human elements, the alien elements, the technology, and the seamless blend of special effects with real camera capture. This film should vault Neill Blomkamp into sci-fi stardom, on par with George Lucas and the Wachowski Brothers (of Matrix fame). This is certainly a must-see movie — easily the best movie of the year."

Comments

Dire warning

[DoofusOfDeath]

This film should vault Neill Blomkamp into sci-fi stardom, on par with George Lucas and the Wachowski Brothers (of Matrix fame).

Okay, thanks for heads up! I will definitely avoid the sequels!

A lock for "Most Naseauting Cinematography"

[bugeaterr]

It's high time the Academy recognized Joe, the epileptic cameraman, and his trusty pogo stick named "Earthquake".

Seriously dude, it would still have that extra realism if the jerkimeter was at 5 instead of 11.

Re:Let's Not Get Ahead of Ourselves Here

[Ephemeriis]

This film should vault Neill Blomkamp into sci-fi stardom, on par with George Lucas and the Wachowski Brothers (of Matrix fame).

Are you saying that this movie is as good/groundbreaking as Star Wars orThe Matrix? I am somewhat dubious.

Don't get me wrong, it looks a whole lot better than most sci-fi movies. I especially like how the first commercials I saw for it were public service announcements about District 9. Then commercials with non-human sympathizers being arrested. Then later you see a commercial with "glick gluck mcglorlock" (translation: "We just want to go home.") and you kinda realize that there's going to be more depth to the story than Starship Troopers (the movie, not the book). Looks interesting, I'll definitely Netflix it.

It might be the best sci-fi movie of '09 but you've still got...

Are we talking about Science Fiction movies? Or Science Fantasy?

If we're talking about good old-fashioned hard sci-fi, I might suggest that it's the only sci-fi movie of 2009.

Most sci-fi movies these days are nothing more than action movies or horror movies dressed up with aliens and rayguns. District 9 actually uses the premise to tell us something about ourselves. I don't recall the last "sci-fi" movie I watched that did that.

Text-Only Version of Article:

[A. B3ttik]

Quoted directly:

District 9 is liquid cocaine fed intravenously to your veins for two hours. It is a visual 2 1/2 hour orgasm. Watching this movie will be the most important event of your life and by far the most pleasurable. District 9 was better than my wedding, better than watching my first son born, better than the time I had sexual intercourse with an entire college cheerleading squad while high on peyote.

Words cannot express it. It is like viewing the face of God. Forget the trailers, forget any stills you've seen, forget whatever anyone else has told you. Forget religion, forget God, forget science, forget everything you thought you knew. There is only District 9, and it is beautiful.

Neill Blomkamp is brilliance incarnate. He is divine. I am not sure how exactly he created this masterpiece of visual neurological cues which induce pure pleasure, but I now owe him absolutely everything. He has perfected visual neural interface with the genius stroke of a Renaissance Master and the prowess of an angel.

Watch this movie, repeatedly. You will want to take off work for the next week (perhaps longer) just to watch uninterrupted back-to-back showings. I am currently writing this from a netbook that I sneaked into the early matinee showing. I must now continue to watch.

-Travis

I can't be the only one

[ajdowntown]

Warning, might be spoilers:

Let me say that I was highly disappointed with this movie, and surely I can't be the only one. I went to see it last night, and walked away not recommending it to anyone. There were definite plot holes, the hero (Van De Merwe) I had a hard time rooting for instead of rooting that we would just get shot. He was weak and pathetic, and only had courage while in the exo-suit, and even then, he was wishy-washy. His character was sort of like Borat, the sound effects sounded like the Matrix, and I just couldn't believe the government would allow the Nigerians to become so powerful inside the district, especially when they knew how dangerous they were. The father in law was evil for no apparent reason, and his wife suddenly believes Wilkus without explanation why? I don't know, I just don't buy it at all. A lot of the gore was unneeded, and made me turn away from the screen a few times... Did we really need to see him biting off his nails? And yes, I did think the parts where the humans blew up from the alien weapons were cool, but it just begs the question, why weren't the aliens using the weanpos to revolt instead of selling them to the Nigerians?

All in all, I just found the movie to be simply unbelievable (yes, I KNOW it is only sci-fi, but still, c'mon!) that were this situation to occur, I just can't see people acting like that. I'd expect tighter government controls, with more international pressures. If this movie wanted to be about apartheid, which is a good social justice issues movie, it needed a little more believability to it, and a little more on the interactions between humans/aliens when the aliens first arrived.

Mod me up or down, I don't care, it was just that I was expecting so much more, and left feeling like I got a better deal on the popcorn :-/

Re:I can't be the only one

[Kirin Fenrir]

I normally don't do this, as no third-party production needs "defending" from critics, but I would like to point out some glaring flaws in your post.


------- THIS POST CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS -----------

There were definite plot holes, the hero (Van De Merwe) I had a hard time rooting for instead of rooting that we would just get shot. He was weak and pathetic, and only had courage while in the exo-suit, and even then, he was wishy-washy.

A protaganist and a "Hero" are not the same thing. Hollywood forgets this, and in turn, many moviegoers forget this. I'm sorry you had a hard time rooting for an ignorant, racist, cowardly protagonist, but that was the point of the character.

and I just couldn't believe the government would allow the Nigerians to become so powerful inside the district, especially when they knew how dangerous they were.

This is a very Amero-centric point of view. Just because something like this is not plausible in the United States, does not make it far-fetched. The situation with the Nigerian warlord happens all the time in less wealthy or stable countries.

The father in law was evil for no apparent reason, and his wife suddenly believes Wilkus without explanation why?

You complain about the depth of the main character than complain about the one-sidedness of a minor character with minimal screentime? We don't see enough of the father to know much about him, aside from his greed. As for his wife, that's called a romantic subplot...she chose to love her husband regardless of the lies around her.

A lot of the gore was unneeded, and made me turn away from the screen a few times... Did we really need to see him biting off his nails?

Yes, I happen to think we did. The nails being lost did exactly what it was supposed to: sent a shiver up your spine. I prefer a movie that doesn't shy away from the dirty details of it's events. It potrayed the messy and tragic reality of Wilkus's condition.

why weren't the aliens using the weanpos to revolt instead of selling them to the Nigerians?

Explained directly in the plot. Almost all the aliens were worker drones with little free will of their own, bred to follow orders. They were very good at building things, but only rarely did any have the drive and wit to form complex plans (Christopher). I have to question if we watched the same film.

Re:Let's Not Get Ahead of Ourselves Here

[FlyingBishop]

You're wrong. In fact, one of the real strengths of the movie is that both the white people and the black people involved are inherently self-interested and capable of huge atrocities. Even the aliens come off as wretched individuals (though you don't really see them do anything that isn't unjustified.)

It isn't about alien apartheid. It's about South Africa.

Frustrating movie

[huckamania]

The problem with the movie is that the whole premise is flawed. The humans don't act like humans. They have no knowledge of the aliens and don't even seem interested. They shove ET into a ghetto and there are no scholars, philosophers, doctors, scientists or even media trying to gain access to them? No one on the whole globe cares at all, except for an evil haliburton type company. Really? Sitting in the audience I couldn't help but think that someone involved in this glossy, shiny turd would have pointed out that their core audience is going to be made up of people who would be on the first plane to Johannesburg to see an alien.

And that is not a spoiler, that is just the trailers. It felt like it just missed some key plot points. A sequel has the potential to be much better, especially if it explains why the aliens are so ineffectual, another serious gripe.

Re:Frustrating movie

[adisakp]

You could find just as serious or worse flaws in Star Wars or the Matrix. I mean really, the Aliens in Star Wars just acted like humans in latex and makeup.... basically hokey actors in rubber suits. That doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't a great movie and certainly doesn't detract from the fact that it was ground-breaking.

I was criticizing the parent because he was dimissing the movie WITHOUT EVEN HAVING SEEN IT!

As AintItCool.com says All I can really say is this, "Have you seen DISTRICT 9?" Because if you haven't. You can't even enter the conversation yet As far as groundbreaking, I said nothing about the plot. I basically said the camera editing and the alien integration into the movie as a special effect alone are enough to be considered a huge jump forward. When you consider what they did on a $30 Million budget -- then yes, this movie is revolutionary -- it looks better than other movies from earlier this year produced on budgets 10 times greater.

Furthermore, despite some flaws, I found the plot is unique and compelling. So did nearly 90% of the "professional" reviewers out there.

You saw it. You didn't like it. You're entitled to your opinion. But this guy didn't even see the film and he's trashing it.

Re:Wachowski Bros...

[Mathness]

it's now widely known that the first movie's plot was actually stolen from another author, Sophia Stewart

A quick look on the net bears another story, Snopes is a good place to start.

Other than that, you are spot on.

Re:Plot holes big as swiss cheese!

[MarkLR]

IO9 has an interview with Neill Blomkamp giving a lot of the back story explaining #1, #2. See http://io9.com/5331799/district-9s-director-tells-us-all-about-his-alien-back-story