[General Battuta]

Yeah, maybe there were a whole lot.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Saw the movie finally. It was pretty good, though Star Trek is still the best movie I've seen this year (and yes I've seen UP).  


I think ultimately the movie failed in one big way, and that is I didn't feel sympathetic to the Prauns (yes with a U, not a W though I don't know why). It's hard to feel sympathy for them when they can kill someone bare handed. They're hardly vulnerable save for a lack of weaponry. Though sympathy is something that the director certainly tried to draw from the audience.

The movie was very visceral, but, it didn't have the deep emotional draw that Star Trek did.
The story was in many ways predictable as well, such as . . .

Spoiler:

Oh, the guy's been re-captured. I wonder what's going to happen. Oh, cue the nigerians. And yes . . . Here they come!!!!

[Dilmah G]

TBH, I didn't even feel sorry for Wikus most of the movie, and usually only when he was on the phone to his wife.

[Akalabeth Angel]

TBH, I didn't even feel sorry for Wikus most of the movie, and usually only when he was on the phone to his wife.

No I didn't feel sorry for him either, though I suppose maybe because he acted pretty naturally. He was selfish yes but most people in his situation would probably do the same. Whether we'd like to admit it or not.

[Colonol Dekker]

He was a dick, all i can hear is the "It's the sweetie man" line then "one metre by one metre box".

[General Battuta]

He was a real person.

[Colonol Dekker]

Bah i'm not with it today.

Scuse me 

[MR_T3D]

finally clicked theis topic after finally seeing the movie,   (did not want to spoil it) and my impression is great
--EXCEPT--

Spoiler:

it's made for a sequel that i'm going to call will be a 'cast-away'-type story with the backdrop of the aliens' return...in force?

[Mika]

I found the movie worth watching, but not A grade. I didn't like the inconclusiveness of the ending and the fast cutting in the beginning. It seems that I also missed that the command module was not located. The guy playing the main character and the script writers deserve a mention of creating believeable character. The movie draws parallels to real life history and even towards present day in interesting ways. The action scenes were somewhat generic, except some brief cases showing the alien weapon effects. Though it deserves a mention of the most memorable kill of the year, this time with a pig travelling at ludricous speed.

A man can't take a woman's head off with one blow. We saw a Prawn do that. We also saw one tear someone's arms off by grabbing a gun they were holding and kicking them. They flew off the camera. That's a good ten feet. I'm not kidding about the "superpowers" bit.

It is possible to kill human with a single blow to head. Yes, the head would not separate. Back to movie, the other thing I usually find strange is that the aliens kick humans in a way that the kick energy is transferred to movement of the target human, rather than kick going through the target.

[NGTM-1R]

It is possible to kill human with a single blow to head.

Yes, which is why it happens so often.

Oh wait...

[esarai]

I can't be arsed to read all the posts, so I'm just gonna go ahead and say it:  District 9 is completely awesome and not for the squeamish. 

I loved how it crossed documentary style with a sci-fi horror action film.  And the production design was fantastic.  Everything looked so good, and the suspension of disbelief was minimal.  There are aliens, so you're already predisposed to suspend belief for them, but the rest of the scenario is incredibly plausible, and so horrifyingly realistic.

Spoiler:

And the whole movie pretty much took convention and turned it on its head.  The documentary-like style crossed with sci-fi action horror is something I've never seen before.  The standard tropes of "Aliens are the Big Bad" or "Aliens are the hippie flower children" were told to **** off.  Instead, the Aliens were just like us, and were the good guys.  And the weapons.  Oh god, those weapons were fantastic.  Bugger all to your standard Sci-Fi laser gun that leaves no battle damage, those things were balls-to-the-wall insane.  My favorites have got to be the lightning guns (seeing people explode was surprisingly satisfying), the "Force Thrower" (the one that saves Wikus from the War Lord that pushes people through walls), and that one gun that picks stuff up and shoots it with massive force at its enemies (most notably used to launch a pig and push a guy through some corrugated tin shacks). 

And then there's the fact that the heroes aren't perfect.  Hell, Wikus's own anger ****s things up when he leaves Christopher to the hands of that evil-ass colonel as Wikus takes off in the command ship.  He also wasn't your generic good guy from the beginning.  He slowly evolved into the roll, and even then he wasn't perfect. 

The Acting.  Damn it was fantastic.  Especially on the part of the Colonel.  He was so evil, I found myself rooting for the Gorramn bullets flying towards him.  Literally, I was thinking "GET HIM! GET HIM IN THE HEAD! NOOOOOOO!!!! USE THE MOTHA****IN' LIGHTNING GUN!"  And then he died getting torn to pieces by the prawns.  Most satisfying death by monster ever.

District 9 just one-upped every Sci-Fi movie I've seen. I don't think the Science Fiction genre will ever be the same. 

[Mika]

Yes, which is why it happens so often.

Oh wait...

Such accidents have happened. Not necessarily often, but those have occured. A couple of those did happen during a span of last three years here. One with a guy being punched and one with a boy losing balance during slippery time.

Besides, have you ever considered why you never see certain punches to certain places in boxing? And I mean punches that should belong both to the generally accepted punches and generally accepted impact areas? The skull does not protect the brain from all directions. That's all I'm gonna say about this topic and I'll leave the rest for people's own anatomic research.

[Scotty]

Death by punching/blow to the head != head being punched clean off.  The latter is clearly more awesome in a  movie.

[Dilmah G]

TBH, I didn't even feel sorry for Wikus most of the movie, and usually only when he was on the phone to his wife.

No I didn't feel sorry for him either, though I suppose maybe because he acted pretty naturally. He was selfish yes but most people in his situation would probably do the same. Whether we'd like to admit it or not.

Mmmm, I dunno. I'd be a little irrational sure, but growing up in WA Gang Central teaches you a lot about loyalty in the face of fear.

[General Battuta]

So you'd turn yourself in to MNU, go along with their weapon tests, and quietly let yourself be vivisected? 

[gavilatius]

So you'd turn yourself in to MNU, go along with their weapon tests, and quietly let yourself be castrated? 

... its practically the same thing.

[Dilmah G]

So you'd turn yourself in to MNU, go along with their weapon tests, and quietly let yourself be vivisected? 

No?
I wouldn't smash the alien who held the key to my survival as a human across the back of the head for one...

[General Battuta]

So you'd turn yourself in to MNU, go along with their weapon tests, and quietly let yourself be vivisected? 

No?
I wouldn't smash the alien who held the key to my survival as a human across the back of the head for one...

Maybe. I think it's hard to say how any of us would act in that situation. Kind of a Stanford Prison Experiment/Milgram thing...

[Dilmah G]

Mmm, well drawing on my own experiences (Hurt or Be Hurt... Just involving knives and several other objects gangbangers walk around with these days), staying loyal is of the utmost importance to me, and not just out of gang respect. And it really tests your character when you're forced to fall back on that behavior time and time again. And logically, it's either let the alien take his time or have the mercs rip me to shreds. It's the lesser of the two evils. Though, I think I'd enjoy having a look at how the aliens do things.

[General Battuta]

The thing is, though, it's 'loyalty' to a person who you're not sure is a person, who you've looked down upon for years, and who you just ran to out of necessity.