District 9

[ultraman7k 0]

Anyone else see this movie?

It's kinda shot in a documentary format (at least half of it), and completely filled with unknowns, backed by Peter Jackson, sweet special effects and decent story to boot.

There were points were the movie could have turned into a giant groan fest following cliche action plot points but it does well and manages to stay away from it.

Definitely top 3 movie this summer IMO.

[Rustpot 1]

Definitely top 3 movie this summer IMO.

That's not difficult given this year's crop. It's originality is it's only perk. The last 15 minutes along with the background story (or lack of it) tend to kill it pretty damn dead.

[ultraman7k 0]

what lack of background story? I thought it was set up quite nicely, everything was more or less explained as to why it happened? ...unless you mean the little blurb at the end?

IIRC this was the movie Peter Jackson bankrolled after initial plans for HALO died.

[Rustpot 1]

what lack of background story?

All the viewer is given is "a ship showed up one day, we found aliens and voila!" Then 20 years later the aliens have a Mech, new fuel, the ability to go home, etc etc. All that despite their primitive behavior? The two species can talk fluently but the humans have no idea how to interact with the aliens?

The ending with the main character pulling a 180 and fucking the whole plan, the cat food, the experiments at MNU, taking the ship but not all the aliens, it all felt thrown together to me.

The draw of making a movie from a book, TV show or older movie is that there is an understanding of background. Modern film writers have lost the ability to tell a COMPLETE story within the breadth of a movie. They always leave out glaring details or add in some cliffhanger ending that makes the whole process seem half assed.

The movie is another eye-candy carnival with an attempt at having a fully developed original story, along with creative direction and camera work. In my mind dropping one of those things would have made the movie better somehow. It's like we're asking too much for a movie that gets assloads of promotion to be anything more than 2-3 hours of pictures and explosions.

[Ahriman 1]

Thanks for the spoilers btw <_<

[Ahriman 1]

Thanks for the spoilers btw <_<

[Rustpot 1]

Thanks for the spoilers btw <_<

Thanks for reading someone's thread about reactions of a movie and expecting to get through it unscathed. Did you open it expecting a movie more than a week old to only have comments like "i liked it" or "it was meh"?

[usahockey22 0]

I agree, Rustpot. I think they could have done a much better job developing the story and providing an interesting resolution at the end...instead of a real sci-fi flick, it was just another action movie with aliens thrown in.

[Ahriman 1]

Thanks for the spoilers btw <_<

Thanks for reading someone's thread about reactions of a movie and expecting to get through it unscathed. Did you open it expecting a movie more than a week old to only have comments like "i liked it" or "it was meh"?

Generally yes, people do give a little warning about these sort of things, especially if they are the first person to say something specific about the ending in the thread. So yeah I did, this isn't a spoiler about rosebud, it's a movie thats very recently out still all things considered.

[Rustpot 1]

I think after the OP's second post it was fairly evident to me that something more than vague statements would be made, so I'm sorry if I've given anything away.

But like I stated, the story isn't the strong point of the movie, so you're fine.

[mack 44]

Good movie. Not great, but solid. Looks infinitely better than Avatar, a movie I was excited about till seeing a 20-min preview of it.

[DEATHTRON 19]

I think with the given length of the movie you are somewhat supposed to "connect the dots" with what happened leading up to where the story took off. Realistically the movie would have been too long if they went into detail about the previous 2 decades; So it seems like the solution was drop a few hints here and there to let the viewer figure it out.

I could see this actually happening if this was reality. I also thought character development was well above average, and "Wikum" (or however you spell it) realistically portrayed human instincts in a sense of desperation, the whole survival instinct.

All in all I would say its the best movie Ive seen all year. It was a little bit slower, but picked up and never looked back.

Zach

[Scurvy 3]

I liked the movie as well due to its unique style and consideration of broader human themes/conflicts.

[ultraman7k 0]

and it had to happen in south africa as well.

[Steve_v3 289]

I was really looking forward towards this movie and enjoyed it. It wasn't the same ol' sci fi alien movie and was fairly original. There were a few things I thought they could've changed, but overall very entertaining.

[Fletch 219]

I thought it was brilliant....I loved every minute of it. And Sharlto Copley - HOLY SH*T. What an amazing performance (even more impressive due to the fact that he's not even really an "actor").

[Kezetto 0]

one of the best films ive saw all ready so far up the top with the boy in teh striped pajamas :D

[ktang 34]

I liked it a lot.

***SPOILER***

I would have had Wikus make a deal with the Nigerian gang to break into the MSU building to try to get the liquid.

[saba 0]

Enemy Mine, The Fly and a whole goggle of movies spliced for 2 hours. I was entertained and that is the best I ask for in most scifi these days...ho hum if dumbing it down will get the butts in the seats I guess Spoke and Uhura really can be lovers...anyway

I am curious how this movie is/was received in SA. When I was there in 94 the country was fresh with a new flag and lots of healing to do. The film really split open some old wounds of SA past.

[kakos26 0]

I really liked this movie, thought it was great start to finish. The best is when they come to evict the prawns house and there like "Christopher Johnson" Sign here please LOL funniest part, they chose the most american name for an alien. I thought that was pretty funny, I would also think the main character should have been a more muscular person, atleast that is what I would expect.

[mack 44]

He was an office worker. I think he did great, but it'll be weird seeing him as Howling Mad Murdock in the A-Team movie.

[chippa13 1844]

It was a great choice for the reluctant hero.

[Da Beez 0]

I recently watched this movie and I thought it was enjoyable. Good special effects and a good story IMO.

[chippa13 1844]

I'll admit that I was annoyed with how long they stretched into it with the documentary style before it became more movie-ish.