Fixed.
I make no excuses for Prometheus and its horrible story / screenplay / script / writer, but District 9 was bad for all the same reasons; and the examples are far more egregious and numerous.
You can quit the misquoting now.
It's not funny.
They are not in anyway the same.
Everything in Prometheus was supposed to be a mystery. Lots of the stupid stuff in Prometheus was just thrown in to add more mystery. The writer even said he didn't have the answers.
Wait. What?
Staying in the path of a rolling spaceship.
A "mystery?"
Changing from a contorted position to a crouched position in a single cut.
A "mystery?"
Getting lost when you have all the information you need.
A "mystery?"
Being freaked-out by dead aliens, but fascinated by a living aggressive one.
A "mystery?"
There were unanswered questions in the movie and stuff that simply wasn't explained or didn't make sense. Some of it was OK, some of it was not. My complaints have nothing to do with those unanswered questions. I'm only complaining about unforgivably-bad, sloppy film-making. Why can't a director just watch his movie and realize that more editing or re-shoots are needed? WHY?!
District 9 was supposed to make sense, and be an understandable allegory.
...and here's that ridiculous allegory excuse again. It made this piece-of-shit movie (
District 9) into a success with critics and audiences by making them believe there was some kind of intelligence in the movie. It's actually no more intellectual than
Transformers (well, maybe a *little*).
You say it was "supposed to make sense?" Well it failed miserably at that!
Most people didn't have trouble understanding it, and most didn't think it had too many unanswered questions. The only real mystery is what was going to happen after the movie ends.
"The only real mystery?" I'm not complaining about "mysteries!" What on Earth made you think I was complaining about "mysteries" and "unanswered questions?"
I was complaining about bad movie-making. Characters that lack any motivation. When the viewer does understand a character's goal and motivations (Wikus wants to be human again), the character takes numerous actions that contradict with its motivations. In many cases, there's not even an explanation of what the "protagonist" is trying to do ("I'm fighting my way back to a ship that was shot down earlier with me in it! Derp derp derp!"). All those problems I listed earlier...and you write them off as "mysteries!" This has nothing to do with "mysteries" or "unanswered questions."
They tested and tested and tested, then made it obvious they were going to chop his arm off and had no regard for his life. Killing him wouldn't "make it work for humans." They behaved as if they wanted his arm. Couldn't they get the arm from any prawn?
Indeed. It's confirmed later that they are shooting-to-kill.
So they were going to study his arm. It was more convenient to do it without him attached to it. Their research was illegal; they didn't want him alive anyway
s.
A Prawn could shoot the weapons, but the point is so far they had never been able to get a human to fire the weapons. That's why he, and his arm were important to their research.
You're just as contradictory as the movie. How does killing Wikus help them keep studying him?
...but since you brought-up the Nigerians, there was another horrendous plot point. Wikus was nearly killed by them and was unbelievably fortunate to escape. He wasted everyone in the room...EXCEPT THE LEADER. The leader was looking directly in his eyes and saying: "I *will* get you. I *will* kill you. I *will* eat your arm."
It makes no sense that the gang leader would talk that way to the guy with an alien weapon who just wasted everyone in the room (dozens of people) and he was in a completely helpless position.
It makes even less sense that Wikus doesn't kill him after he already blew away everyone else.
You must hate almost every movie and TV series with a lead villain. The bad guy usually gets away, at least the first time.
Wasn't the leader unarmed and not attacking Wikus? So Wikus isn't a murderer with a license to kill. Seems simple enough to me. Have you killed every person who has ever threatened you?
So the Nigerian leader had bravado. Sometimes that works. Besides, like I mentioned before they are superstitious and uneducated. Have you ever read about some of the wars in Africa? They go naked, wear women's clothing, and eat human organs because they think that will make them invincible in battle. For a good read, look up General Buck Naked. The Nigerian in the movie, wasn't nearly as crazy as some real African warlords.
Wikus killed
everyone else. Even the women that were holding him down. The bad guy didn't "get away." He was inexplicably spared.
Also, it doesn't make a bit of sense that a warlord gang leader would be unarmed. If anyone there would have a personal weapon, he would.
Nothing technical at all about this complaint. He fit perfectly fine. The viewer watched for a torturous amount of time while Wikus sat there acting like he was wondering: "What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" ...and doing nothing. I waited and waited and waited while thinking: "WHEN is he going to get in the damn mobile armor?" ...until he *finally* did.
Ok, it's been awhile since I watched the movie. So he hesitated. Why is that hard to understand? It happens to most people in a crisis. Once again, Wikus isn't a super hero. He isn't even supposed to be above average.
Hesitated...and hesitated...and hesitated...and looked for a way out of his situation...and looked some more...and some more...then had the "idea" to get into the suit. As far as the viewer is concerned, the suit is only there only so he'll get into it. So hurry up and get the fuck in there, Wikus!
Your "explanation" for the knock-out simply doesn't work....
Yes it does. He was turning into a Prawn, he wasn't going to wait years. Even if his solution might have been worse, it was the result of a panicked decision. The actions of someone panicking doesn't have to be logical. He was also a bit angry, and felt he had been deceived.
"solution?"
"decision?"
Ouch! My head!
Asshole! You've injured my brain! Gaaaaaah!
You said Wikus "wasn't going to wait years." ...so he took action to make sure he'll
never be human again?
Dooming yourself to failure is a "solution?"
The decision should have been:
"Oh, shit! MNU guys are coming in here! Better get CJ down here with me right now so we can leave!"
How does he even start to think this?
"OMIGAWD! It's going to take longer than I expected for CJ to make me human again. I know what I'll do! I'll risk getting caught by MNU and take time to knock-out the only guy that can help me. Then I'll leave him for MNU to capture / kill so I have no hope of ever being human again."
He's extremely fortunate that they didn't immediately kill CJ. Later, he behaves as if he's conflicted about going back to rescue CJ...even though he has no hope at all without CJ.
Even though that last drop was absolutely necessary, and even though the canister sprayed all over Wikus, they were still able to fly the craft back to the mothership.
Have you ever been on a boat, car, or plane trip? You always have take enough fuel to provide a margin of safety.
Take a can of black spray paint. Spray yourself in the face once, and see how full the can is afterwards. There's still going to be a lot left in the can.
Notice how they spent years collecting it and that last drop was extremely important? The amount that it sprayed on Wikus included hundreds of droplets that size (maybe thousands).
link
If you have any more questions about District 9, revive that old thread or try IMDB. I'm done answering questions about it. I thought the movie worked well as both an allegory and a Sci-fi film.
District 9 was highly rated by both critics and audiences, 91% and 81% respectively at Rotten Tomatoes. That's better than Prometheus, which even still is overrated.
The allegory was a cheap way to make critics and stupid masses think there was some kind of intelligence in the movie, and there wasn't. The reference to apartheid was cheap and easy. I wouldn't mind at all if they had built a better movie around it. The fact that critics and audiences rate it so highly is what bothers me most. It was unforgivably sloppy. It made the same sorts of mistakes as
Prometheus, only far more numerous and far more egregious.
Facebook
Twitter