• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Rotten(ALIEN)Watch of DISTRICT 9:

Status
Not open for further replies.
harSon said:
There's never been so much talent behind a video game adaption, when you have Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg (Who is blown away by the screenplay) interested, and willing to contract people like Alex Garland to write the script, chances are the films going to end up quite good.
Click to expand...
But Microsoft still wanted too much of a say and wanted to get too involved in the process, this is something I don't feel can be avoided when it is based on a "product" much like the GI Joe toys, or a Video Game.

Something that rarely happens with book adaptions and the like. Which is why I would vastly prefer for him just do what he wants
 
Cheebs said:
But Microsoft still wanted too much of a say and wanted to get too involved in the process, this is something I don't feel can be avoided when it is based on a "product" much like the GI Joe toys, or a Video Game.

Something that rarely happens with book adaptions and the like. Which is why I would vastly prefer for him just do what he wants
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that it was in development hell because of internal politics between Universal and Fox.
 
There were a lot of things going wrong with that movie, not just one key thing. You're both technically right.


As for the script in D9, I didn't have a problem with it. I liked the fact that they let Copley improvise most of his lines, gave it a more grounded effect.
 
harSon said:
I was under the impression that it was in development hell because of internal politics between Universal and Fox.
Click to expand...
I remember reading a recent interview with the guy where he said MS was trying to get too involved as well. I think it was the AV Club?
 
holy shit, I seriously don't get the love for this movie. Favourite movie this year? Among the best sci-fi ever? These are some of the things I've read in this thread. I know more people who dislike this movie than like. All of us think it's cheesy, not deep/emotional, etc... I'm fucking confused here, it's like we didn't watch the same movie.


Was I supposed to connect to this guy
who starts mutating and goes to desperate measures to fix himself and along the way becomes best friends with an alien and his son?
 
Weekend numbers are up on Box Office Mojo, 18.9mil. About a 50% drop(bit under), 73mil total. Looks like it's going to chug past 100million just in the US.
 
shintoki said:
Weekend numbers are up on Box Office Mojo, 18.9mil. About a 50% drop(bit under), 73mil total. Looks like it's going to chug past 100million just in the US.
Click to expand...
Yeah I was just coming to post that and eat a bit of crow. I kept saying it was going to drop more than 50%.

http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

I'd wouldn't be surprised if the drop was less than the current estimate, given the daily breakdown. It will clear $100m easily. Awesome.
 
shintoki said:
Weekend numbers are up on Box Office Mojo, 18.9mil. About a 50% drop(bit under), 73mil total. Looks like it's going to chug past 100million just in the US.
Click to expand...
It picked up a lot of steam on Sat after having a really bad Friday. I wonder how it would do if it didn't have to compete with the IB which also appeals to the r-rated loving male geek type of audience.
 
It will, it picked up well after taking a big hit on Friday (probably due to IB's opening). It'll do more than 100 mil now. I wonder if it will do better than Watchmen.
 
YYZ said:
holy shit, I seriously don't get the love for this movie. Favourite movie this year? Among the best sci-fi ever? These are some of the things I've read in this thread. I know more people who dislike this movie than like. All of us think it's cheesy, not deep/emotional, etc... I'm fucking confused here, it's like we didn't watch the same movie.


Was I supposed to connect to this guy who starts mutating and goes to desperate measures to fix himself and along the way becomes best friends with an alien and his son?
Click to expand...

I didn't find myself connecting to him, as much as watching him go through a range of real human emotions. He was totally despicable in some scenes, and redeeming in others. That's one of the things I liked about the movie; it made us both love and hate the character at various points throughout.

I wouldn't call it one of the best science fiction films ever, but I would certainly call it one of the more unique and visceral science fiction experiences out there. It's easily more of a science fiction movie than Star Trek or Transformers. I have yet to see Moon though, which looks to be the most pure science fiction film of the year.
 
vooglie said:
Some people were speculating that it's more than just rocket fuel seeing as how Wikus' cut-off arm grew back and whatnot.



The container with the liquid was confiscated by the MNU. The kid could only call the mothership once the fuel was inserted into the ship.
Click to expand...
the aliens don't know how much was wasted
LOL they going to be
stuck half way to prawnland
 
ICallItFutile said:
Saw this tonight. I have a handful of things I don't understand. Let me see if I can get all my thoughts together.

Why did Christopher have to hide attempting to escape the planet? I would think the humans would be willing to help them return home; besides the weapons they possessed, the prawns living on Earth only caused problems.
Click to expand...
He didn't trust humans, didn't see anything to be gained by telling them, didn't want their help, etc. If they knew a Prawn as tech-savvy as Christopher existed and he was doing things fundamental to the creation of their technology, why wouldn't he be captured and forced to divulge their secrets?
[/quote]


Even more so, why did Christopher appear more intelligent then the other prawns? I recognize only a few other individual prawns were focused on, but most were shown to be "savage".
Click to expand...
Why do many people in a ghetto give up hope without even realizing they've given up hope? Perhaps they didn't see any hope of a better life and became institutionalized savages. Christopher seemed to remember how his people used to be before their time on earth turned them into animals.

I'm confused about what occurred in the 20 year gap. All I understood was that District 9 became a hell hole and humans wanted them separated. I get the impression there is much more to it than that, seeing it took Christopher 20 years to be able to make the liquid solution to leave Earth.
Click to expand...
Wasn't the intro a quick rundown of how things changed over the years?

Was the object that fell off the ship the small vessel that Christopher hid under his shed?
Click to expand...
Yes.

How the hell did he manage to conceal it?
Click to expand...
Oh c'mon dude. How does a hoverboard work? Some answers are just "trust us, it happened".

What was the point of Wikus going door to door evicting prawns? Was it just to show they were being humane to them? Was the appearance so important he did it personally, even with the obvious danger?
Click to expand...
They had been on the planet for 20 years. Obviously they had been worked into the legal system. They were apparently protected under the same eviction laws as any human, even if those laws were being bent (or broken) because they were Prawns

Why did Christopher's friend, as well as other prawns become so aggressive around humans when being threatened with weaponry? Were they supposedly unable to control themselves unlike Christopher?
Click to expand...
Once again I think it comes down to them as a whole forgetting what they once were and being institutionalized to be aggressive savages. Christopher remembers how his people once were and seems to hate the humans for what they've become. He teaches his son about his people and his planet so that he has some pride/self-respect as well. This is evident in the part where he throws the candy, offered to him like a dog, back at Wikus.

Did I miss an explanation for why the ship was stranded in the first place?
Click to expand...
They fluid is the fuel. This is one thing that did bug me. The ship seemed to move fine without it, but this is the explanation the film offers. Christopher stated it very explicitly.

Why did humans start living in District 9? It makes no sense to me that Nigerians would trade for weapons that they could not use, even if it was just for cat food. Did no one try to stop them?
Click to expand...
The Nigerians were depicted they are seen IRL: As scammers. So the explanation hinted at in the movie was, just another Nigerian scam, nothing to see here. The ones trading cat food for weapons were sociopaths, lead by a wacko who had delusions of ruling the world if he could get the weapons working.


Why were no other countries involved in the affairs of the alien ship?
Click to expand...
I dunno.

Was the hatred for prawns explained or was it completely unwarranted? Is it simply hate because of them being different.
Click to expand...
Dude... did you even watch the movie?
Once again. You should have gleaned the myriad reasons from the 20 year recap at the beginning.

Did the prawns at the end save Wikus because they saw him as one of their own?
Click to expand...
Maybe.
The guy they attacked was a dick who terrorized them. He was usually surrounded by his other troops so they may have saw that as a rare moment for revenge, when he was alone.


I have the feeling you didn't pay any attention whatsoever to the movie.
 
Even more riveting the second time through for me. What stood most for me this time is just how incredible the pacing is. Blomkamp knows how to keep it running full steam ahead.
 
shintoki said:
Weekend numbers are up on Box Office Mojo, 18.9mil. About a 50% drop(bit under), 73mil total. Looks like it's going to chug past 100million just in the US.
Click to expand...
No doubt its going to pass 100 million, if it doesn't drop too much it could pass the 100 million mark by mid-September.
 
YYZ said:
holy shit, I seriously don't get the love for this movie. Favourite movie this year? Among the best sci-fi ever? These are some of the things I've read in this thread. I know more people who dislike this movie than like. All of us think it's cheesy, not deep/emotional, etc... I'm fucking confused here, it's like we didn't watch the same movie.


Was I supposed to connect to this guy who starts mutating and goes to desperate measures to fix himself and along the way becomes best friends with an alien and his son?
Click to expand...

Indeed.

Much has been said about Wikus, and the 'consensus' if you will is that you're not supposed to identify with him so much as to understand his actions. There are some things he does that one can identify/relate to, and some things he does which one does not; it's part of the realistic take on a human being, they're not completely predictable, but they're still 'human'. And yeah, favourite movie of the year by far. Probably a good few years now that I think about it.
 
If a sequel comes out, one can only hope for a
Prawn rescue as awesome as...







image12.jpg
 
I think word of mouth is still carrying the movie really well. I mean, even my parents when to see it last night after I recommended it. They usually don't ever take my movie suggestions but they had already heard the "buzz". I asked what they has heard and my mother said 'nothing specific, I just heard allot of people talking about how GI Joe had a 150million dollar budget and hadn't recouped, and this movie called district 9 had a budget of 30 million and had already made 50. It must be pretty good.' To me, it was a hilarious conversation. I talked to them again today and they said it was good, but my mother really wasn't into the exploding people (go figure). My dad commented that the early movie reminded him of an episode of COPS.
 
The Nigerians were depicted they are seen IRL: As scammers. So the explanation hinted at in the movie was, just another Nigerian scam, nothing to see here. The ones trading cat food for weapons were sociopaths, lead by a wacko who had delusions of ruling the world if he could get the weapons working.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that they were going more the witch doctor route, like how people eat albinos to cure diseases, etc.
 
Wow. The advertising did a good job hiding what the movie was actually about...or maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

I loved every second of this movie.
 
Saw it today after having really been intrigued by the commericals and the teaser trailer. Good but not great for me.

The first half of the movie is outstanding. Really draws you in and does what sci-fi can do which is create a mirror to examine our own society. The second half of the movie unfortunately falls into sort of typical summer blockbuster action foolishness and parts of it didn't make sense to me.

Still enjoyed it but it could have been a real classic with a better second half. Certainly better than the your typical summer fare though and by comparison I thought this was a much better movie than Star Trek which got a lot of praise for what I thought was a pretty average movie.


EDIT: This is one of the very few cases that I actually think a movie warrants a sequel both because arguably there is more story to tell and it could answer some of the lingering questions I had.
 
blame space said:
:lol

BUILD AWESOME WEAPONS

TRADE THEM FOR CAT FOOD
Click to expand...

:lol :lol :lol

vooglie said:
Indeed.

Much has been said about Wikus, and the 'consensus' if you will is that you're not supposed to identify with him so much as to understand his actions. There are some things he does that one can identify/relate to, and some things he does which one does not; it's part of the realistic take on a human being, they're not completely predictable, but they're still 'human'. And yeah, favourite movie of the year by far. Probably a good few years now that I think about it.
Click to expand...

I agree. I don't need to identify with the main character of a movie to enjoy it, it just needs to make sense. Wikus made sense and was believable, there was never a "WTF!? Why would he do that? This is so frustrating, argh!" moment unlike many other films.
 
I really liked the movie but I HATED the shakey cam. It looked like it would be a documentary type thing for the first half but then it transitioned to real-time action, but the shakey cam stuck. I guess they did it to keep the the pacing consistent but I still hated it.

That said the story was awesome, even if
Wikus's development from annoying social worker to a badass alien warrior
was a little outlandish. :lol

I say 9/10
 
jonnybryce said:
:lol :lol :lol



I agree. I don't need to identify with the main character of a movie to enjoy it, it just needs to make sense. Wikus made sense and was believable, there was never a "WTF!? Why would he do that? This is so frustrating, argh!" moment unlike many other films.
Click to expand...

You're joking, right?

He got sprayed by a mysterious alien liquid that he deemed was a weapon and didn't so much as bother to get himself checked. If he didn't keel over at the party, I don't think he ever would have gone to a hospital. When he ran away and went into hiding, he made calls from his cell phone.

Those were two very big "WTF!? Why would he dot that? This is so frustrating, argh!" moments for me.
 
YYZ said:
holy shit, I seriously don't get the love for this movie. Favourite movie this year? Among the best sci-fi ever? These are some of the things I've read in this thread. I know more people who dislike this movie than like. All of us think it's cheesy, not deep/emotional, etc... I'm fucking confused here, it's like we didn't watch the same movie.


Was I supposed to connect to this guy
who starts mutating and goes to desperate measures to fix himself and along the way becomes best friends with an alien and his son?
Click to expand...
holy shit, I seriously don't get you.
 
Jamesfrom818 said:
You're joking, right?

He got sprayed by a mysterious alien liquid that he deemed was a weapon and didn't so much as bother to get himself checked. If he didn't keel over at the party, I don't think he ever would have gone to a hospital. When he ran away and went into hiding, he made calls from his cell phone.

Those were two very big "WTF!? Why would he dot that? This is so frustrating, argh!" moments for me.
Click to expand...

I can definitely understand this, but they didn't bother me as much and here's why.

With the cellphone, we saw him being chased by security. We saw him constantly on the run. He was on the move, so I guess he thought it didn't matter if they could find where he was because he was going to keep moving and keep hiding, he was so desperate that it was worth it. Really, what was the point of calling anyone anyway? No one could have helped him at that point, he was just in a state of desperation. It's like when someone cries and screams for help when getting arrested, there's really no purpose, it's pure emotion and panic, something people just do...not everything is justified and rational. When he spoke to his wife, it was because that was his wife and he needed to talk to her and didn't give a fuck.

As for not getting himself checked, I'll give you that one. It was a "WTF" moment. I could try to justify that by saying there are obviously tons of men who will avoid the hospital at all costs, they can have serious pain in serious areas or even twist their ankle and still prefer to wait it out, but it was a pretty odd decision on Wikus' part. The only thing I'd imagine is that he was afraid that he'd lose his position, or get in serious government trouble, for playing with alien technology instead of simply confiscated it so he prefered to wait it out in denial, hoping it was temporary. edit: He may also have feared people would take him as a joke, people already thought he didn't deserve his position and now he was so irresponsible that he needed to be hospitalized his first day on the job, so we're back to him pushing it off in denial and hoping it would be a temporary reaction.

Either way, I'm willing to let that go because the story did bring Wikus to the hopistal. It's not like they used his confusing decision as a way to avoid him ever going to the hospital, such as in Orphan where no matter how many pieces of evidence there were, the father would simply not believe that Esther was behind anything just so that they could keep the story going. You're right though, Wikus not going to the hospital himself is a "wtf" moment, but I wouldn't chalk it up to a flaw or reason you can't enjoy the movie.
 
jonnybryce said:
...The only thing I'd imagine is that he was afraid that he'd lose his position, or get in serious government trouble, for playing with alien technology instead of simply confiscated it so he prefered to wait it out in denial, hoping it was temporary.
Click to expand...

This is correct.
He didn't go to the hospital because he had broken some sort of MNU law by handling the alien artefact so callously. Remember he got the documentary crew to do a 'proper' take of that scene where he rightly bags the item? And then asked the camera guys to edit that footage out? Yup. It makes sense, if you pay attention.

Edited for clarity.
 
Saw the movie today, thought it was fantastic. It started off a little slow for me but after about an hour it was nonstop awesome. Really love how different it felt from other movies, very unique style of storytelling.
 
Jamesfrom818 said:
You're joking, right?

He got sprayed by a mysterious alien liquid that he deemed was a weapon and didn't so much as bother to get himself checked. If he didn't keel over at the party, I don't think he ever would have gone to a hospital. When he ran away and went into hiding, he made calls from his cell phone.

Those were two very big "WTF!? Why would he dot that? This is so frustrating, argh!" moments for me.
Click to expand...
He said it was definitely not a weapon while he was handling it. Not going to the hospital was probably because he was scared what the top brass would do to him if they found out how he had been handling alien technology. The next part is something a lot of people probably missed but the cellphone was not his. He grabbed it off some guy on the street while he was escaping so obviously MNU wouldn't be able to track him with it until he made a call to his wife and they got that phone's number.
 
Hellsing321 said:
He said it was definitely not a weapon while he was handling it. Not going to the hospital was probably because he was scared what the top brass would do to him if they found out how he had been handling alien technology. The next part is something a lot of people probably missed but the cellphone was not his. He grabbed it off some guy on the street while he was escaping so obviously MNU wouldn't be able to track him with it until he made a call to his wife and they got that phone's number.
Click to expand...


I'm fairly certain he said it was a weapon. That was the whole reason he confiscated it.
 
Jamesfrom818 said:
I'm fairly certain he said it was a weapon. That was the whole reason he confiscated it.
Click to expand...


no. i'm 100% certain he said it was Not a weapon. he did say it was alien technology and might still be dangerous, but he said it was Not a weapon
 
Jamesfrom818 said:
I'm fairly certain he said it was a weapon. That was the whole reason he confiscated it.
Click to expand...

He said it is NOT a weapon. But that it had alien markings on it. Then he started fiddling with it, and after he got sprayed he again repeated that it is not a weapon, but still illegal and dangerous, and he put it in the bag.
 
God's Beard said:
I was under the impression that they were going more the witch doctor route, like how people eat albinos to cure diseases, etc.
Click to expand...
They pointed them out as Nigerians first and foremost. Why did they need to be identified as Nigerians when they could have been South Africans? They even said something about it being their new scam, or something to that effect. I've only seen it once so exactly what was said escapes me.
Yeah one guy - their leader - did consult a witch doctor lady and eat body parts
, but the reason they were there in the first place seemed to be explained as them being those good ol', opportunistic, Nigerians.
 
ElectricBlue187 said:
You're goddamn right it has. Now you will swallow this heavy handed aparthied metephor young man and you will like it!
Click to expand...

I don't think it was heavy-handed. I mean, it was fairly obvious that parallels were being drawn but you were never beaten over the head with it or anything, it was just there.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Alien III - any good?
37
926
m14 replied
Alien Romulus | Rotten Watch
News Community  10 11 12 13 14
661
52K
violence replied
8 Reasons Its Tough to Watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Today
2 3
138
1K
jason10mm replied
Alien 5 (Sigourney Weaver) TBA
2
87
1K
JPSLotus97T replied
James Cameron Speaks On Killing Off Central Characters in Alien 3
2
60
1K
CashPrizes replied
Top Bottom