District 9

[Cerrax]

Just came back from seeing it. In a word, INTENSE.

I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It was quite a bit to be exposed to in such a short amount of time. I had this same sort of reaction after seeing Man On Fire (which I absolutely love) so my prediction is that I will also love District 9.

Anyway, it certainly kept my attention (which is more than I can say for every other movie this summer). I guess I will have more to say once I fully absorb the movie and all.

[HoboKa]

so it's not a flop like the new Terminator movie, right?

[Alexis]

Just came back from seeing it. In a word, INTENSE.

I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It was quite a bit to be exposed to in such a short amount of time. I had this same sort of reaction after seeing Man On Fire (which I absolutely love) so my prediction is that I will also love District 9.

Anyway, it certainly kept my attention. I guess I will have more to say once I fully absorb the movie and all.

Maaaaaaaaan. You beat me to it. I was gonna make a thread.

Anyways, I just got back from seeing it with Cerrax and friends, and yeah. Intense pretty much sums it up. I can't sleep because I'm still trying to process things. It was a lot to take in at once.

Spoilers:

Although, I have to admit, when the robot thing gathers up all the bullets in a little ball and shoots them back at the guys, that's awesome. And when he catches the rocket. And when the aliens tear apart the guy at the end. And the metal flower at the end is cute. Oh, and the alien kid was awesome..."he likes you."

I'll probably be able to say a little more later when it's not 3 AM and I'm a little less sleep deprived.

[friendlyHunter]

It was quite a bit to be exposed to in such a short amount of time.

So, the opposite of LoTR and King Kong?

[Edit]

Hold on, according to IMDB Peter Jackson's the Producer, and not the director or writer

[Edit]

Actually I'm going to get out of this thread right now to avoid any possible spoilers.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Everybody who loves this movie has to check out the shitstorm caused by a well known Black, racist movie reviewer who has SMASHED this film in his review. It's one of the few bad reviews you can find in Rottentomatoes. You can't miss it. Hilarious.

Anyway, I really hope the Blomkampp changes his mind and collaborates with Spielberg and Peter Jackson for that fabled Halo movie now more than ever. He showed he can do the aliens mixing up with humans many times now.

[Strike911]

Avoided spoilers... me and my buddies are going tomorrow morning to see this. So... like... 7 hours or so.

I am VERY psyched for this movie.

[The Joker]

I friggin dug this movie! Also, the political commentary is just... wow. The film works on so many levels, & it has some of the best sci fi guns I've seen in a while. I even think they had a gravity gun.

[SynthesizedStampede]

God dammit you guys are making me want to see this movie so bad now >_<. I like being overfed in a small amount of time when it comes to movies for some reason. And uh gravity gun? I'm recommending this movie for me and my girlfriend to watch this Sat. as we speak.

[RedFusion]

The movie was awesome.

And I wholeheartedly agree with OP that the film was intense - that's exactly how I felt. It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time - I really had no idea what to expect throughout the film - and I expected the worse, every time, which was an awesome feeling.

SPOILERS TIME:

Anyone else suspect there might be a sequel? Whilst a sequel would suck, I have a feeling that, if D9 is popular enough, then D10 would seem more like a logical step for them.

Because, of course:

1. Spaceship leaves, and the guy at the end offers three options(?), with the last one being: the aliens come back to revenge his fellow species who had been experimented on.

2. Christopher? (well, the red alien with the son) stated in the film, that he would return to earth, in 3 years time, twice.

3. Wikus is left alive at the film, where he's seem to be fully transformed into the alien species, tending to the metallic rose.... (thinking about it now makes it seem so sad...)

4th additional point: They complete the move into D10, with 2.5 million aliens still on Earth.

The whole setup is available for a sequel. At least, it wasn't too obvious though, so I'll give them that. I think the movie would be best if left as is (because, one of the major highlights of the film was the whole mysterious atmosphere regarding the aliens), and any further elaboration into the alien's plight would probably just feel 'tacked on'.

I dunno. Or maybe Peter Jackson can pull his magic, considering he did that with LotR. But this ain't LotR, and Peter Jackson ain't directing.

END SPOILERS

It was pretty cool that Peter Jackson saw the potential in the film and gave it a helping hand from a veteran. (Or maybe he was with the film from the start? I dunno.)

But yeah, cool movie, refreshing change from the movies of the past year, and it's good to see sci-fi get some loving, in a completely different manner. Well, the documentary style filming of the movie I thought was quite cool and refreshing, but probably because I haven't seen any of the other movies that have used it recently (such as Cloverfield).

[Sporknight]

Went to a midnight showing last night (this morning?) with Prophet Orwell and some friends. Fantastic movie, really is. Very intense, but quite the rewarding payoff in the third act with the abounding ass-kickerey.

[Cerrax]

The most that this movie has going for it is shock value and artistic direction. The story, while it has it's twists, is fairly standard. There's nothing within the plot that will have you saying "Why the hell did that just happen?" The actors do a pretty good job, but some of the characters lose their depth and believability as the movie goes on.

Like I said, the movie's strongest point is shock and awe value. You will see things that you really could have gone the rest of your life without seeing them. You will see things that you will scream "Hell Yeah!" to every time you see them. There's a lot of "Holy Shit!" moments in the movie, but its all highly visual. Rarely does the writing or the music really set the tone for the movie. It is certainly overflowing with spectacle and theatrics.

Overall I enjoyed it. It is my favorite movie so far this year and it is much, much more intelligent than any other sci-fi film in recent years. If your looking for something that will satisfy your lust for action and a craving for brain exercise, give Distric 9 a try.

[Strike911]

No spoilers here.

Just got back from seeing this movie. Cerrax's post above is spot on.

I was honestly shocked by how violent the movie is, and by the end, I was craving to see the violence. It's strange. By the end, you're entirely like "YEAH!" Quite a few people in the theater were "OOH"-ing and cheering when anything violent happened. It was pretty cool. I don't want to ruin it by saying some of the things that happen, but the first time you see some of the stuff, you're like "DAMN...!!" then after you take in a breath you're like "That was awesome!" haha. That's the only spoiler free way to explain things. And fortunately they do it a few times.

I loved the effects. They're subtle and feel very natural even though its all sci-fi. I really dig this movie.

All in all, I enjoyed the movie. I loved the ending, but it seemed to end a little abruptly, imo. Loved it though, and the social commentary on how refugees are treated is interesting to make parallels with.

[Petara]

Must see now.

Trying to get someone to go with me... a few friends responded with, "I haven't heard of it."

I guess I'm just a huge sci-fi geek, or some people have been living under rocks for a while now. I, myself, have been stoked for quite a while now. The trailers have been great and the reviews have been no less than excellent. Will see ASAP.

[SynthesizedStampede]

Aw man, you guys are getting me excited for this movie: I hope I'm not getting too hyped up haha. Me and a couple friends have decided to watch it tomorrow and all-in-all it seems like its a pretty decent movie that won't let me down . I'll give my input after I see it, but I suck at trying to put down thoughts about a movie down into words >_<.

[chapped]

I saw this movie Wednesday night at a free sneak preview and I must say, it's DEFINITELY the best movie of the summer, maybe even the year. One thing I will say is I do not like the new trailer for the movie. I mean, it's good and all but it makes the movie seem like a typical action sci-fi movie, which it is, sort of, but there are SO many things that are going on under the surface as well. It's a movie that has everything! On a side note, if any of you have a chance to see Moon, do it! It's definitely the 2nd best movie of the summer. It's only playing in a select number of theaters, which sucks, I think it would have done well as a major release.

[PrototypeRaptor]

I was most impressed by the fact that the movie had such a low budget to have such ridiculous CG.

I mean, I can't help but feel it was kind of a big middle finger to Transformers 2 and GI Joe who had budgets with an additional digit...

Underlying feelings aside, it was an excellent movie. Not better than Hurt Locker, but pretty damn close. Go see both.

[Dr.Flintlock]

I was most impressed by the fact that the movie had such a low budget to have such ridiculous CG.

I mean, I can't help but feel it was kind of a big middle finger to Transformers 2 and GI Joe who had budgets with an additional digit...

Underlying feelings aside, it was an excellent movie. Not better than Hurt Locker, but pretty damn close. Go see both.

Despite the low budget, I'm pretty sure a lot of the CG was handled by WETA (a nice little addition by Mr. Jackson, if you will). On that note though, while I absolutely loved the film, I couldn't help feeling slightly irked that the main reason it got so much attention from it was because Peter Jackson had his name plastered all over it as producer. He's a great director and all, but he wasn't exactly the "brains" behind this operation, but a lot of people might miss that and not give credit to Blomkamp.

Just my 2 cents, and to whoever said there was a gravity gun, I could've sworn I saw a particular scene in the 3rd act where Mr. Mech suit throws a giant pig/cow at a soldier with a similar device. Pretty random little snippet compared to the rest of the battle, but still mightily hilarious in a way.

Still need to see Hurt Locker though. Probably Saturday afternoon.

[jezon2000]

It is my favorite movie so far this year and it is much, much more intelligent than any other sci-fi film in recent years.

You have seen Sunshine, I hope?

[I-n-j-i-n]

^

Or Moon, that came out months ago, for that matter. Not even sure you can classify Sunshine as a sci-fi..

[LuckyXIII]

*SPOILER*

] Pig gun

*END SPOILER*

[Petara]

I thought it was a great sci-fi flick. The majority of the reviews (which have been very positive) are well-founded, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it was groundbreaking in the way The Matrix was. Still, the action was wicked sick and I liked the whole Enemy Mine thing Wikus and Christopher had goin.

Alien weaponry: WIN

Crazy Nigerian gang: FAIL

[bustatunez]

I really enjoyed it! Weaponry, art direction and CG acting were all brilliant, and I really dug the way the story was framed. Sound and music were ok but I didn't hear too many sounds that were particularly memorable, especially weapon sounds. Which is kind of a shame since there's so much you can do with them, especially considering how clearly videogame-derived they were. Similarly the music fit perfectly but didn't have particularly memorable cues, save for one subtle but interesting reveal cue I won't spoil.

Speaking of SPOILERS:

The most interesting part about the storytelling is how open-ended it was, and how it didn't bother filling in all the blanks. They never explain how the prawns and humans can understand each other, they don't go into much detail about how they got a million of them off the ship or how they were able to relocate them, not much explanation of the experiments before Wikus, and obviously the cliffhanger ending. Most importantly, they never explain about how and why they showed up in the first place, leaving open a host of theories which I hope are NOT explained in any kind of a sequel, which I also kinda hope doesn't happen.

But personally my guess is that it was actually a prison ship of some kind, which was eventually overrun by the prisoners themselves; hence the need to land, internal ship damage without visible exterior damage, and starving inhabitants. If I had to I'd guess Christopher was a crew member, hence his knowledge of the technology, his outfit, relative sentience in general, etc.

A more crackpot theory would be to say that the prawns are actually distantly-evolved relatives to humans, somehow transformed and interchangeable via that fluid. Maybe some humans were harvested, transformed and transported ages ago (think Stargate), who knows. I just like the fact that it's completely open to interpretation

/SPOILERS

Oh, and there's social commentary. Not as interesting as the individual characters' psychology and dynamics, but if you feel like getting beaten over the head then help yourself, it's there.

Lastly if you're asking yourself "hey those aliens look familiar".... you're thinking of General Grievous:

[kitty]

Definitely a good movie. I didn't know anything about it except for the ads on the buses around campus. I recommend seeing this over all the other movies out in theatres right now.

And if you don't feel like spending an arm and a leg to see it right now, go see it in the dollar theatre when it gets released if you guys have one of those in your town.

The action and the suspense was very well done. However, one of the few things I didn't like was that the movie was a little predictable at certain parts, which ruined the suspense at key moments.

[LuckyXIII]

http://www.mnuspreadslies.com/index.php

[Salluz]

I knew from the beginning that this movie wasn't just another alien movie. I would say quite a bit but I don't feel the need. It's worth every FREAKING buck.