Comments on District 9

[petronia]

To elfiepike here:

I didn't interpret the beginning like that [i.e. Wikus being the protagonist and going rogue] at all - I thought he was going to act as a flash point (setting off a chain reaction of events beyond anyone's control, which to a certain degree happened) or "patient zero", particularly after we saw him getting contaminated by the alien fluid. Like, my X-Files background made me expect that the random played by no-name actor one starts the story with dies horribly, and the "documentary" style made it feel like we were going to be told a story that didn't center on a specific protagonist. He was too much of a douche to be a protagonist! XD

Elfie didn't like the quick-edit documentary style, which tbh I'm fond of, having seen quite a few good works in the genre, but what did bug me was that it broke conceit. I don't think the story could have been told otherwise without making the action even more contrived, but I would've liked the on-screen treatment to draw a clearer line between the "documentary" and "reality" sections. This is more the editor in me speaking than anything.

To horusporus here:

I was kinda surprised that a lot of the reviews said it sets up a sequel at the end. It was like, what do you expect is gonna happen after this clusterf*ck? XD;

Well. Really there's a giant plothole. Apparently they learned English and we learned their clicky language well enough to hold a normal conversation, but we never asked them if they had leaders, if anyone was likely to come looking for them, who was piloting the ship, and what they were doing on it in the first place. My guess is that the ship was a prison transport and that Christopher and the other dude were guards or admin and had to lie low in order not to be lynched by their own, which is why it took so goddamn long. Which adds yet another interesting moral aspect to the situation. And yeah, why was Christopher assumed male!? XD Normally when there's a kid running around you would assume mommy! Maybe the aliens don't have two genders (although they use prossies and sometimes walk around with bras on their heads).

The other egregious plothole I can think of is Wikus having the door codes for the secret bio-research facility that he didn't know existed, which no one cancelled/overrode despite the fact that they were going to DISSECT him and he ESCAPED (take the mfing weapons that only you can fire! God, worse than Shinji Ikari).

The Nigerians were horrible xenophobic caricatures, and the big bad multinational was also a horrible caricature of same. So: subtle around the focus point, and simplistic around the edges.

Online discussion now seems to revolve around whether D9's ROI means people will agree to give Blomcamp/Jackson money to make a Halo movie.

Comments

[acchikocchi.livejournal.com]

At exactly the point I realized Wikus was not going to be the flashpoint/patient zero and was in fact the protagonist, I remembered your earlier post about setting and transgressing expectations. XD;

[astrael-nyx.livejournal.com]

I didn't think Wikus would become the protagonist either. I had a difficult time immersing myself in the film because I was waiting for him to die. And I couldn't stop my brain from analysing the metaphoric race relations as well as my mounting surprise that D9 was actually an action film, as I didn't watch the second trailer.

I kind of admire Blomkamp's verve in using Wikus as the protagonist because he really is too much of a douche and coward (no matter what reform the film put him through, e.g., going back for Christopher, his love for his wife) to be the protagonist. Whoever did the PR also took a risk. It's a bit dangerous in this age to market the film without a protagonist (and a sketchy sense of the plot) front and centre for audiences to look for before they watch the film. Then again, the marketing campaign was clever and definitely piqued interest in the film by only releasing select details with the graphic ads.

[elfiepike.livejournal.com]

Elfie didn't like the quick-edit documentary style, which tbh I'm fond of, having seen quite a few good works in the genre, but what did bug me was that it broke conceit. I don't think the story could have been told otherwise without making the action even more contrived, but I would've liked the on-screen treatment to draw a clearer line between the "documentary" and "reality" sections. This is more the editor in me speaking than anything.

i think this^ is what i really wanted--maybe the fast cutting wouldn't have bothered me so much if the "reality" camera work didn't try so hard to look shaky-cam, "look ma, i'm really here in the action!" that's what i mean when i thought, "when's the movie really going to start?" and that's what the critical part of me thought about, camera angles and likelihood of reality actually looking like that. XD

i also agree with all your plotholes, which were more reasons why i was like "BUH?" at the end of the movie. ahahahah! language! gender! why are they all dumb? eeeevil nigerians! SECRET LABS! what what?

anyway. i want to see it again, i think, to simultaneously enjoy it more and pick it apart, haha.

[maramala.livejournal.com]

I was kinda surprised that a lot of the reviews said it sets up a sequel at the end. It was like, what do you expect is gonna happen after this clusterf*ck? XD;

Hint: 3 years.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but - it's no mystery is it? XD; If they bring reinforcements, they're friggin' nuking us, and we'll have deserved it.

[maramala.livejournal.com]

There's your video game movie sequel, right there. In 2012, even.

(Message? What message? WE GET TO BLOW THING UP GOOD--WAIT)