But that's because she has bad taste in movies.

I just saw this movie last night, and jesus christ it was bad. I'm not exactly a huge SciFi nerd, but I do enjoy the shows that aren't campy. This one was the epitome of campy. I'm not even going into the details of the plot, but character development was horrible!

Spoilers be here.

Ok, so most protagonists go through a change, especially if they're sniveling weasels at the beginning. We have a perfect candidate in this movie, he's the enemy, he's an idiot, and he's a wimp. When does he change? No where at all. He goes through the whole movie, and the only time he shows balls is when he dons his Super suit where nothing can really hurt him and the only reason he bothers to fight is because he can't run any more and people are trying to immediately kill him.

Also, that whole 'hidden' message was a joke. Wow, lets show how horrible apartheid was, and juxtapose how ignorant and animalistic black people are. I mean, we got the white corporations (with one token black guy) obscenely and cruelly exploiting the aliens, we have the aliens trying to survive and eating catfood out of cans, and then we have black people barbarically chopping off arms and trying to eat them for their spiritual powers. I think they might have convoluted their message on that one!

Finally, nothing was resolved. (gasp, could this be part of the hidden message? Is apartheid still going on in South Africa?? Well, this movie certainly did not make me want to care any more about it.) At least have some epic moment where the aliens power up their death star, only for it to destroy all man-made weapons and say some Planet of the Apes or King Kong morale that would ruin good movies but could only better this crapfest, "They really only wanted to live in peace!" or "Maybe it was us who were the true animals." or, "Humans were the ones we should have feared after all!"

 

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I saw Alien Nation with Sgt. Fransisco, so I didnt think I needed to see this movie kkthx

 

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I liked it… I also liked the original short… and I love the true historic event of District 6 which this movie is a basic parody of. I thought the movie was made in a new unusual way, using everything from first person point of view, to watching it through security camera’s, to news reports. I enjoyed it and the storyline of it. Maybe our taste of movies is different…. A lot of people loved Brokeback Mountain but I think it just sucked… literally.


And yes the protagonist does go through a change… he went from only caring about himself to carrying for Christopher and turning his back on a potential cure to save Christopher.. also the fact that he didn’t go through some kinda characteristic change is amazing.. he went from alien racist treating the prawns as second class citizens to becoming one of them trying to survive.. Without his super suit, did not not get balls and launch an offensive by going right into the main base explaining it may be a suicide mission, yet doing it for that chance, then showing compassion to Christopher once he saw the torture his humans were doing to the prawns? He went from ignorant and hate to sympathetic and the exact opposite of what he started to become. Also, yes the aliens arrived here and were treated as the bottom of the social ladder, it would be impossible for humans or anyone to treat anything else as equal regardless of the technological advancement they may have.


As for your remark about black people eating eachother to spiritually ingest their powers… yeah.. like that doesn’t happen now in many voo doo ridden tribal parts of Africa? This is still… common practice over there… voo doo and the such may be stupid to us, but to them our beliefs in a dude attached to a few 2 x 4s and rising from the dead forgiving our sins is rathers stupid as well. Africa and true bush Africans aren’t exactly that civilized so this movie depicted them as proper based on that belief… not all black people are like that.. don’t forget, most the cops and swat team in the movie were black as well including the main chief whom was proper and modernized (domesticated). I don’t see this movie as racial, though again… it was a true dipictation of District 6 which I believe occurred in the 80s… I dunno, too lazy to research it. Again, this movie is a historical parody.

 

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anyone that didn't notice social parallels in this movie from nearly every county on the globe and throughout history really needs to read more. it also takes very open jabs at weapons manufacturers who, weather we want to admit it or not, will go to any extreme to get ahead.

and altra, alot of people tend to not want to watch things that are a bit too close to "home" for them. could it be that you are on one side or the other of a racial/social rift?

I thought it was a fairly well presented film that was left open-ended for sequel possibilities. definitely more to the movie than the trailers.

 

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_Six,_Cape_Town


Even tho Altra is black, I still love him like a "brotha"

But the story is more home to what happened in our true history then sci fi, Briq is correct. In a way, the entire basis of this movie happened as you can see in the link I provided.

I saw no racial stereotyping in this movie... I imagine some might be offended due to the portrayal of the Nigerian Gangs, but that's pretty accurate to how they operate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_Society

TBH - I am surprised Al Sharpton hasn't complained about this movie yet... as he normally does.. Hell he ranted for weeks on Resident Evil 5... some people gotta whine about everything... because of this I cannot buy my Zippidy Doo Da Brer Rabbit cartoon on DVD and am stuck watching it on VHS!

but as for cannibalism..... it happens periodically regardless of race and location... for example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lurch

a modern day rapper with an appetite of love...

I loved the movie... and think it's a Must See... guess I just love crappy movies...

On a side note... Sweeny Todd is still the worst movie I have ever seen that got so much hype.

 

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lol, not at all. I just think the irony was a bit overdone, and I doubt it was intentional.

And I'm not arguing that this was being untrue to African gangs, but it's a bit counterproductive to portray them in such a way when trying to deliver such a strong moral.

As for the more than the trailers let on, I would say that the only good part that the trailers left out, vague as they were, was the pig.


Lexi, don't you own a dog? I'm assuming you consider it to be part of your family. Imagine if it could talk to you, I think you'd find humans are far more compassionate than you give them credit for, in dealing with non-human beings. I doubt PETA for Aliens would be less prevalent should something just crash land on the planet.

 

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The irony of your statement is amazing. Let's play make believe... let's say something happened in Roswell.... what do you think is most likely? That the government found aliens and released them in to our public treating them as our guest and they eat, sleep, drink, and hang out at frat parties - or that they isolated and experimented on them, disected them, and took them apart with their technology to see what makes them tick? Let's play pretend again - yes my dog wakes up one day and talks to me.. would I be on Oprah or would they cart my dog off to a laboratory (lets pretend and call it Area 51) and hook him up to a car battery to see wtf happened to make him suddenly communicate? Also, in case you don't realise this, PETA cares more about animals then people.

Now if this movie were real, you honestly do not foresee humans (especially primitive people) selling their body parts or ingesting them for medical beliefs or experiments? Aren't the chinese the leading population of black market organs now? You honestly think PETA or _a branch of_ would form a union to stop the ill treatment of these 'outsider?' You think the world governments would recognise them, give them jobs, social security numbers, health care, education, etc? Doubtful. Less then 200 years ago people owned people, in some parts it still exists and hatred still brews. I doubt people will learn from the past and welcome a third race amidst us with open arms... again - look at our history and district 6 which was within a generations time.

The portrayal of this movie is that the world would not welcome another race within our ranks without some kind of backlash - especially this day and age... they tried in the movie at the beginning remember? Then they were openly aggressive, thieves, ate peoples stuff and just destroyed things - so they placed them in the camp... exactly what happened when whites and blacks mixed in South Africa prior to District 6. So to say the irony is lost is like saying it never happened when it did.. the only difference is they added a third race to the mix. The black gangs there were portrayed exactly how they are now and always will be. You are looking at the earliest forms of life, the most primitive country, and the one where evolution seems to have stopped. I doubt they would shape up and become modernized with anything being introduced.. the movie did a good job on 'assuming' what would happen... again.. it just showed the past with District 6 with a sci fi twist.

 

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You might be right about your speculation, but I don't believe it, and didn't find it believable in the movie.





Yes, and you don't think a PETA would pop up for Aliens? It would have many more supporters for beings who can actually articulate themselves, don't you think?

 

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PETA is an organization for animal cruelty not human cruelty. I have yet to see them interfere with the issues of 3rd world countries, child labor issues, or black market organ harvesting. If anything they have harmed humans many times that deal with animals, beating up circus owners, and people wearing fur coats. Amazingly enough, you are trying to consider these aliens as a human entity worthy of protection by a group that has a long history of beholding animals to the highest pedestal. Are you declaring that an alien species should be considered on the same level of an animal or dung beetle worthy of PETA’s protection or as a nullified human race protected by the basic Geneva Convention and given the full rights of mankind? They were given shelter, they were given food rations, and they were being exploited.. just like Africans are now and have been and always will be to themselves. What do I believe? They will be treated like they were in the movie… a 3rd class human kind, like the hoods and tribes of Africa are today. They will be treated like 3rd world humans, harvested for organs, treated as cheap labor etc. You say it cannot happen, but it’s already happening now.. take a look at the lifestyles of these primitive countries, hell take a look at bums in Detroit or Southern California. Hell, here in Florida, you pay a Mexican a case of beer and perhaps 50 bucks, put him in the back yard and give him tools – you got yourself a porch instantly. I doubt the world would allow a race to be introduced and instantly moved to the top social ladder.. with todays economy, job rate, unemployment, etc.. it wouldn’t possible happen. Just look at the slums in our own country. Prostitution, drugs, etc are rampant.. the movie portrayed it perfectly. They tried to treat them at equal and then moved them into camps when they couldn’t absorb properly.. did you miss the first 10 minutes? Where the people got tired of the Prawns and started to riot so the government put them in camps.. kinda like the US did to the Jap-Americans in WW2, or how blacks and whites did to eachother in District 6… which is in South Africa.. which is an exact parallel (as Briq stated) that this movie is about… which.. DID.. happen.


District 9 is such a good movie – God has it on TiVo.

 

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Lexi, when you put words in my mouth, you only argue with yourself.

But the point I'm trying to make right now is so simple that I have no why idea how you're having trouble understanding it. If PETA exists in this world for beings as low and dumb as animals, why do you not accept that a defense organization (akin to PETA) would not be created for the aliens? And then how would you not believe that more people would be in support of such a defensive initiative for other beings that can talk than they are in support of one for animals? You cannot tell me that if aliens were to show up here, powerful lobbies would be created in their support. The powers that be, at least on the Western side, would be forced to take measures as strong as, if not stronger than, nuclear protocols.

As for why any organizations have failed in Africa, there are multiple reasons for that. I will point out only a couple: 1) Humans are expendable, aliens, humpback whales, and polar bears are obviously not. 2) The exploitation being done in these countries is mostly directed at the resources, not so much towards the people - they just get the blowback and are forced to live in the poverty. 3) The people who are directly screwed over live in countries. Sovereignty makes it difficult to invade a country for the betterment of the people in the country (see the Iraq, Afghanistan, etc fiasco's).

3.2)If aliens were left in Africa and they had any perceived value to them, there is no way in hell that any first world country would leave them to any country in Africa. That place would be carpet bombed and annihilated before any 3rd world country could get its hands on a fraction of the power the aliens would have to offer. If the US didn't have the balls to round up every alien and their tech and declare itself the new ruler of where ever they landed, China, Russia, or Iran would have no qualms. In fact, a more believable movie would be a WWIII brought about by the desire to obtain these weapons and technologies the aliens brought, even if humans couldn't use them. You don't think we would expand our Psy Ops programs to manipulate the aliens to use their weapons for us? Instead of keeping the aliens in slums, we'd be training a large portion to be p(R)awns (haha!) in our battles.

Finally, and again, you keep bringing up District Six, but that only makes one of my original points. If you're retelling the tale of District Six, and you're using aliens to depict the refugees, then what exactly are you trying to say with the black gang members. Again - White Corporations = the ruling class who decided that Cape Town was a slum because of intermixing the races. Aliens = the blacks who were uprooted and forced to live in squalor. Black people in the movie = ?? animals?? really? That's the message its sending and it seems painfully overlooked by anyone in the production of the movie (and those on this thread?). Telling me that the movie accurately portrayed West African's (in South Africa!) doesn't dispute my point that their portrayal in the movie is steps backwards for any theme, moral, or message it might be trying to make. And by 'might be trying to make,' I mean desperately attempting and failing miserably.

 

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