District 9

[marcus_sez_vote]

After the hell of dealing with automated phone company menus PLUS the "disconnection office" that tries to do everything in their power including use of delays, bargaining, etc. to prevent one from actually completing what you're trying to do, I decided to catch a flick during the day. District 9 happened to be playing nearby and with a matinee

Comments

[eclecticgypsy]

So, when I was very young, I saw no difference at all between the words "cannibal" and "canonball". Let me tell you, that made for some funny conversation.

This random thought brought to you by the wonders of Tramadol.

[marcus_sez_vote]

I don't know...the scene with the eggsacs getting their nutrients removed and then being set on fire where he talks about the young aliens popping like popcorn was more than just being selfish IMO

[shatterdaymorn]

Indeed... I think the best display of the prawn's inability to deal with humanity was one of the scenes with the Nigerians. After they sell the battle suit, one of the Nigerians holding an axe says to a prawn "look over there". The prawns turns his back looking for something and is immediately killed.

That is not an alien that is able to interact with humans out of exploit them.

As for Wikas, I think they went a bit too far in making him unsympathetic close to the end. When he knocks out Christoper or later runs away from him saying "you can keep him", it was a bit hard to stomach for so late in the movie. Sure he eventually helped him escape, but that doesn't forgive his behavior of a few seconds ago

[marcus_sez_vote]

Yeah I've seen that short. Gives me hope for the Halo movie! Will need to get this on DVD when it comes out.

Be well.

[alberteqx]

Wikas felt a lot like a fairly incompetent middle-management human being being portrayed realistically, although I am incredibly glad he had the redemption via Power Armor scene. It would have veered over into territory so grim to be nearly unwatchable if the MNU simply took them away in the end. I can respect that, but I probably would never watch it again.

Oddly, Christopher struck me as a complete non-violent mechanic in the movie. Not once do I recall him actually 'killing' anyone. His reaction to Wikas blowing someone up for the first time in the MNU ("What the fuck?!") was pretty telling to him as a character. He certainly had the most positive elements of humanity throughout the entirety of it.

And yeah, parents brought children to see this when I went. Definitely not a kids movie- incredibly grim in it's realism of human bureaucracy and personal failings.

[_lackey_]

Think on a grander scale. You are one alien surrounded by a stronger force, a planet worth of people. You have a gun that could kill 1000 people before it ran out of ammo. You have no way home, no source of food other than those people, no hope. Do you keep a gun that will let you gloriously commit suicide, or do you sell it to fill your belly. On an individual scale, that gun is not enough to fight back

[paladin_of_gaia]

Exactly, a sick, dejected, and disorganized population with access to very finite resources, and apparently used to having some kind of leader or warrior cast protect them would make a poor resistance force. I also give some further allowances to the plot on this point since the movie is as much about about race and class as it is about aliens, if not moreso. Why the advanced widget does x and not y, or isn't used in a given way, isn't really the point of the story. In the same vein, the reason behind the transformation didn't make a huge amount of sense, but of course, the transformation was a metaphor anyway. Also, it's worth noting the line "Look, we are the same" was of course meant to poke at more global themes, that the distinctions we make between people based on skill color are foolish nonsense, rather then indicating whether Wikas was morphing into a drone or warrior alien.

Also, friending you, Lackey. :-)

[marcus_sez_vote]

I think we saw more guns than that considering the guns that were captured by the MNU and the Nigerians, but yeah I don't imagine there are tons of them. All what you say is true, but they could conceivably set up compounds like the Nigerians and negotiate from a stronger position. I suppose there is too much government pressure for them to organize like that, but it still seemed odd to me. The behavioral argument (drones who aren't really able to do complicated actions) makes more sense to me.

Be well.