District 9

As I recall, someone in the movie explicitly says that the aliens were all low-intelligence worker types with little initiative. At first, I was under the impression that something - possibly related to whatever had caused the ship to be stranded on earth - had caused all the leader/engineer types to die. Then, after Christopher appears in the movie, I got the impression that he was a leader/engineer type, and that he had deliberately kept his status hidden because he didn't trust humans. He probably surmised that if humans discovered that he understood how the alien technology worked, he'd never be allowed to leave.

Watching the film was like an object lesson in desensitization. The first time one of the prawns' weapons went off and caused its victim to explode, I was shocked, and I imagine everyone around me was as well. By the time Wikus was rampaging in the Power Armor, everyone around me laughed every time someone exploded.

I would say that Christopher Johnson figured correctly, there.

It still bears noting that Christopher was the only Prawn to actually attempt a dialogue with the MNU when presented with an eviction notice. The others either submitted or got violent.

I saw it over the weekend and was kind of confused when I left. My boyfriend came up with the idea that maybe the Prawns were refugees, so which I replied, "Then just where is Christopher going?" I don't think that's right myself. But what really bugs me is that the ship parks over Johannesburg, the craft that Chris has hidden under his shack appears to be what drives the thing, and there's absolutely nothing to indicate why it parked there and why that craft fell off. And what was that fuel and to what did those pieces belong that Chris and his friend got it from? It looked like motor oil to me, which they transformed in their ghetto chem lab.

It has so many unanswered questions that it makes it all really hard to believe. I want a sequel to come out just so I can make the confusion go away.

I thought the confusion added to the realism. In real life, you don't always know what's going on and the parts that aren't important aren't going to get explained to you. People also don't use As You Know very often.

I'd also note that there is some pretty heavy Unreliable Narrator going on in the show.

Well, the fact that he's essentially trying to commit genocide probably has something to do with it. I'm also not sure if it can be What The Hell Hero given that he was far from being a "hero" for the first part of the movie.

Actually, what I got was that it was more like China's "One child" policy: It was a measure to keep alien reproduction down (presumably because of the fact that they reproduce very quickly) but not to actually wipe them out. (he asked Christopher "Do you have a permit for that?" about his/her kid which implies that they are allowed to reproduce under certain conditions)

edited 1st Sep '09 2:50:57 AM by Arilou

I thought the confusion added to the realism. In real life, you don't always know what's going on and the parts that aren't important aren't going to get explained to you. People also don't use As You Know very often.

Aye, here's to that. Besides, the focus of the film was really Wikus and Christopher; explaining everything would've been forced and likely lead to a Mr. Exposition moment. People need to realise that you don't need to know everything to enjoy a film. On the subject of which, I don't want a sequel. Gah, sequels.

Although I do have to agree with your friend and mine, Roger Ebert, that the ending packed the action on too heavy. The focus of all the rest of the film had been story and character, and they really should've maintained that. Damn. Well, nothing's perfect.

I understand that one doesn't always know everything and that you don't have to know everything. It's just that some of it didn't seem to make sense to me and I was so busy analyzing the movie in parts that I kind of forgot that I was watching a movie.

Did the prawns have discernible genders, by the way?

Theory: Christopher Johnson is a human—or maybe an individual of another species—that got splashed with the shuttle fuel in his past.

edited 1st Sep '09 12:39:43 PM by Charlatan

Question: Is there ever a point when Christopher refers to what's in the cannister as "fuel," specifically?

I thought it seemed possible that it was actually some sort of bio-catalyst like the Spice from Dune: they need it to navigate or operate their FTL/hyperspace drives. That would explain the biological element, and the fact that one little cannister works for that gigantic ship.

Err, yeah. Hell, maybe it's a battery for a critical nav system or something.

The aliens are hermaphrodites.

From a website called "MNU Tells Lies" on a video that also tells us that the alien does not form any emotional attachment to their offspring which we know is a lie.

Question: Is there ever a point when Christopher refers to what's in the cannister as "fuel, " specifically?

When Wickus first sees the ship, Christopher's son points to something and claims that the "fuel goes in there". Later in the movie, they activate the craft by putting the canister into that same place.

Actually, I was looking for a point where Christopher said it himself. Chris Jr. may be an accomplished remote power armor operator, but there's still a lot that he doesn't understand. "Fuel" to him might just mean "stuff that makes it go."

If the cannister holds some sort of bio-catalyst that allows someone to operate the ship's systems, then a child might see it as "fuel," but it would not actually be powering the ship.

Also, you'll probably find that spark plugs and fuel ultimately go into the same place.

And a biocatalyst sounds like it would be more reasonable for causing the mutation than just 'fuel'.

Black Friday: Yeah, that's pretty much my original rationale. The fluid they were taking from the alien tech they found in the junkyard was the biocatalyst for simple devices like the guns and power armor, the intermediary element between the biosystem and the technology.

When it's distilled into a compressed version, probably using nanotech, that can be used to operate the much more complex systems of the mother ship at whatever their version of FTL speed is, it has the side effect (unintentional or possibly intentional) of re-writing DNA to match its creator species.

If the ship was a colony ship, why did they pack it with gib-alicious energy weapons and a mecha suit with the firepower of an Army battalion?

Unruly natives.

Yeah, I'm not sure how you equate "Going off into the great unknown, full of danger and hostility, to find a corner of the universe where we can carve out a life for ourselves" to "not bringing weapons".

I mean, colonies have shown themselves to be rather partial to guns in real life.

I’m getting into this thread a little late, but I just saw it on DVD, and felt it was pretty good, exceeding my expectations. I liked the story, and the violence was a bit rough after a while, but it seemed justified by a setting involving African gangs and the military. I was reminded a lot of Children of Men in this film. They both shared gritty, bleak settings, and had bittersweet endings.

I finally rented it. It was awesomely awesome.

Just watched the movie and jesus christ was it awesome. Probably among the best movies I've ever watched.

I rented it awhile back and I loved it. The Jitter Cam didn't annoy me. I thought it was really good.