Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:20 am Posts: 5198 Location: Connecticut Gender: Male
LittleWing wrote:
Usually I don't disagree with the forum on movies...but lately...
I saw the movie on Friday. I thought it was good, but nothing spectacular. I was really worried about the first 25 minutes going into it from what everyone had said on the board...but I guess I don't see what the big deal is...
What was everyone expecting it to be? I thought the first 25 minutes was a great lead in for the movie. I didn't think it was too slow either. It provided a good amount of background, while still allowing the rest of the movie to fill in the rest of the gaps. It was an interesting perspective and I found myself getting drawn into it from how it provided the background information. It wasn't fast, but it wasn't slow either.
How else could it have been done?
I guess I don't think one part of the movie stands out from the other. Just about every aspect of it was above average, but not one aspect of it was great. There could have been more character and plot development for sure. The special effects were good, not overdone, not overly snazzy that it makes you laugh, but I dunno... I hated the ridiculously cheezy stereotypical go-tee'd military people.
I guess one thing that bothers me is that the prawns have all these weapons, but they don't really use them to fight back. They're a superior race, but they just succomb to the conditions they were forced in to. The climax wasn't all too exciting either.
On the bright side, I think the undoubted sequel has a lot of potential upside compared to this one.
This is how I feel. I agree with this post word for word. Very good, not great.
This movie is seriously overrated guys. We've seen the intellectual sci-fi a lot recently in Children of Men, The Fountain, Primer, and The Dark Knight... and the action sci-fi in Sunshine, Star Trek... there are just so many films that work better on every level than this one did.
Science Fiction has always been about prejudice, i guess more specifically about prejudging new things, ideas, beings, and the juxtaposition with Apartheid is just too dumbed-down simple.
This movie is seriously overrated guys. We've seen the intellectual sci-fi a lot recently in Children of Men, The Fountain, Primer, and The Dark Knight... and the action sci-fi in Sunshine, Star Trek... there are just so many films that work better on every level than this one did.
Science Fiction has always been about prejudice, i guess more specifically about prejudging new things, ideas, beings, and the juxtaposition with Apartheid is just too dumbed-down simple.
I think you're seriously underrating the movie by expecting too much "challenging sci-fi" from it. It's as much sci-fi as it is an emotional character journey as much as it is an action-adventure as much as it is a human rights message. To think it's one of these things over another is to miss the different levels on which this movie works as a movie, not just a message. It's a VERY straight-forward movie. It's not complex in terms of meaning, but it is complex in terms of narrative and filmmaking to make all these things work.
Wait, you want a complex take on Apartheid? It's pretty simple: it's fucking wrong. It deserves simplicity to get the point across. This isn't an existential take on the human condition, it's about human rights.
An intriguing aspect of District 9 is that we go from seeing the aliens as sub-human insect creatures, to seeing them as sentient life-forms, to rooting for Christopher Johnson & son. Now, if we can get behind treating completely alien beings with that type of respect and compassion, shouldn't we treat our own likewise? It's not complex, but that doesn't mean it's not powerful. Call that "dumbed down simple" if you want, but this isn't a shades-of-gray issue in the first place.
This is probably the best movie I've ever seen in my entire life.
Then I feel sad for you.
Really, how is this much different from Alien Nation or dozens of other sci-fi films, other than that it stylizing the second half into a live action Halo IV? I thought it was good for what it was, above average summer movie fare.
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:02 am Posts: 973 Location: Murfreesboro, TN Gender: Male
broken iris wrote:
Rocky Estoppel wrote:
This is probably the best movie I've ever seen in my entire life.
Then I feel sad for you.
Really, how is this much different from Alien Nation or dozens of other sci-fi films, other than that it stylizing the second half into a live action Halo IV? I thought it was good for what it was, above average summer movie fare.
No way. This movie is a thousand times better than Alien Nation or dozens of other sci-fi films.
This is probably the best movie I've ever seen in my entire life.
Then I feel sad for you.
Really, how is this much different from Alien Nation or dozens of other sci-fi films, other than that it stylizing the second half into a live action Halo IV? I thought it was good for what it was, above average summer movie fare.
To me its all about the execution. The aliens weren't humanoid, they were basically intelligent, sentient cockroaches. Huge difference from something like Alien Nation. Yes, the theme is the same, but this is more challenging to accept, and this pulls it off with incredible filmmaking grace and patience, letting it unfold for the audience. It also showed balls to make the main character an undesirable guy and to hope that the audience will go with him on this journey. Yeah, some of the surrounding stuff was cookie-cutter (the blood thirsty military guy, the evil greedy corporation) but that's sidebar stuff. The meat of this movie is GREAT.
I think this is a fantastic filmmaking achievement, successfully juggling all that the film does with very little budget. This film had vision behind it, and the final product shows.
Nice job with the condescension, too. This wasn't exactly the "best movie I've ever seen," BUT it was one of the most exhilarating theatrical experiences of my life. Same with Basterds, but in a completely different way. Feel sad for me?
After seeing this a second time, away from the hype, I'm sticking with my original opinion. I love the idea that people are left to wonder about the long terms effects of their actions, that no conclusion is given, but the presentation of humanity as so fundamentally ignorant just ruins it for me.
Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2006 7:44 pm Posts: 5489 Location: Ireland Republic of Gender: Male
watched it last night. twas good but not great imo. as someone posted earlier despite all these weapons and ability to kick human butt the aliens accepted their treatment????
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Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 9:10 am Posts: 17256 Location: Chichen to the Thing
Muck wrote:
watched it last night. twas good but not great imo. as someone posted earlier despite all these weapons and ability to kick human butt the aliens accepted their treatment????
don't they explain that these aliens are essentially grunt followers and that their "queen/leader" abandoned them there?
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