"How was District 9?" Topic

has anyone seen it? I haven't yet.

how was it?

Otto
noizehive.blogspot.com

Saw it, liked it a lot. It went in some different directions than I thought it would.

It definitely makes me want to do some gaming in the setting, fwiw, and has made me view SPUGS in a whole new way. (The alien's don't really look like SPUGS, but there are enough similarities for a conversion.)

There is a longer thread from yesterday with comments, Otto (a few drift toward spoilers, so be a tad careful).

The consensus seems very positive (more so than you usually see around here!). I hope to see it tomorrow.

Just got back and liked it a lot. The animation was so good that I completely forgot about it. Usually, I watch something like that and tend to notice the animation and think, "Hey, that's pretty good animation." With this, it just seemed to blend seamlessly.

For once, I did not hate the roboty thing (the thing that grabs the rocket out of the air in the commercial). I hate RoboTech and that sort of stuff because they largely make no sense. This one did and the combat felt right!

Four and a half Prawns out of Five!

The only thing it lacked was Steve Guttenberg in the lead role. :)

I was pleasantly surprised and left the theater with no regrets. The action was cool, the Alien weapons were kickass and the Acting was pretty good. Plus the USA was not portrayed as the evil empire this time.

Yep, it was good!

Thanks,

John

Really quite enjoyable.

It certainly had plenty of flaws, but for $30 USD million to make it was a lot better than most big-budget Hollywood films with ten times the budget.
-Kle.

Saw it this afternoon.

I enjoyed it a lot. There are a zillion unanswered questions, but they didn't distract me from enjoying the film.

Most firepower I've ever seen for a hundred cans of cat food, by the way.

I loved the Sweeties!

I'm the sweetie man!

It was great sci-fi. It had ideas, action, FX, and great acting. I loved that the protagonist was a huge douche, I loved the politics of it, I loved that the energy weapons made dudes 'splode!

And then there's the power armor and it's weapon that I will now call "The Baconator."

And as for gaming, it has huge potential.

Ambush Alley in a shanty town, 15mm spugs and maybe Rebel minis civilian contractors, along with those new wheeled AFVs from GZG. Hmmm…not sure about the power armor/walker though. That was pretty unique. Prawns would be the insurgents since they have little tactics/organization, but they'd have better firepower than the MNU mercenary troops. Then throw in the Nigerian gangsters for extra chaos.

Another random thought…I liked that the aliens were obviously very smart in that they could build all this weaponry, but they were so aimless without leadership (apparently all dead? Run away?) and with no concept of value that they trade it all away for cat food. Reminds me of the Manhattan indians trading their island away for beads.

How does this relate to Plan 9?….

…it's from Outer Space?

Hi

I saw it yesterday and liked it a lot as well. I have a long time friend from South Africa who, despite living here a long time, hasn't lost his accent. Seeing a movie where ALL the white guys spoke that way was fun for me. That odd lifting lilt at the end of a sentence is, well, cute on a girl!

I like the documentary approach, and actually enjoyed that they didn't answer all the questions about back story. Soooo, often, SF fails with the "reveal" part. So, ya, good times.

Rocky

You could probably use a plastic mech from EM-4 for the power armor or Mechwarrior clickie one.

I agree about the scenario possibilities.

Thanks,

John

This was one I really enjoyed. Lots of subtexts. Well worth seeing.

I paid full price and did not feel cheated.

Just got back & enjoyed it a lot.

Think I've got some Spugs (with powered armor) under the painting bench…

Saw it a couple hours ago.
It is probably one of the best movies I have seen. I like it a lot. It got my negative views on the military/industrial/experimentation/inhumanity complex all fired up.
I enjoyed the acting, story, and the way tv and surveillance footage was mixed in with the movie parts.
Great movie. Go watch it everyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Otto
noizehive.blogspot.com

Quite a good movie. I did have a bit of a problem with the "magic" fluid which could either: (A) power a starship or (B) if accidentally spilled on a totally alien species, slowly turn that creature into one of you. I mean, if we sprayed the Prawns with gasoline would they all become human?

Another thing that struck me was that they had a number of long-range aerial photos of the sprawling, squalid "alien" shantytown. Except that they weren't movie sets or CGI. They were REAL sprawling, squalid shantytowns that are inhabited by REAL people today. Kind of distrubing.

I did have a bit of a problem with the "magic" fluid which could either: (A) power a starship or (B) if accidentally spilled on a totally alien species, slowly turn that creature into one of you. I mean, if we sprayed the Prawns with gasoline would they all become human?

That's because gas is a fluid, but not a "magic" fluid.

:^)

I guess that is what was meant when they said the alien technology is all biologically based. Oh…wait…so is gasoline…..never mind.

Seriously, I got the same unsettling vibe as you looking at the shantytowns. These weren't sets. Excellent movie. It was at times harrowing, very realistic, poignant and even funny. I like when the human looks at the Prawn scientist's collection of computers and stutters, "….this is all HIGHLY illegal."

Ralph

Hi

There was a NPR segment about it yesterday with "the government should GIVE…"

and how embarrassed SA was with that shantytown on screen.

R

I spent some time in Jo'burg, Cape Town and De Aar back in the early 80's – the film did bring back memories of the shanty towns I saw then. T

Another nod to the Shantytowns, there was a copter passing over a Shantytown, then the caption said 12km from District 9, so this human Shantytown was just as Shantyish as the Alient one

I heard they filmed District 9 in a real shantytown that was being emptied out and the residents relocated…