|
|
|
|
|
|
District 9 [Blu-ray] 
Actors : Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope, Nathalie Boltt, Sylvaine Strike
Director : Neill Blomkamp
Studio : Sony Pictures
by Sony Pictures
Brand : Tristar
Release Date : 2009-12-22
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 2
EAN : 0043396292260
UPC : 043396292260
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 426 reviews)
List Price : $39.95
Our Price : $17.53
|
|
| |
|
Description |
|
From producer Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) and director Neill Blomkamp comes a startlingly original science fiction thriller that "soars on the imagination of its creators" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). With stunning special effects and gritty realism, the film plunges us into a world where the aliens have landed... only to be exiled to a slum on the fringes of Johannesburg. Now, one lone human discovers the mysterious secret of the extraterrestrial weapon technology. Hunted and hounded through the bizarre back alleys of an alien shantytown, he will discover what it means to be the ultimate outsider on your own planet. |
| |
|
Onlineconsumerstore.com |
|
A provocative science fiction drama, District 9 boasts an original story that gets a little lost in blow-'em-up mayhem. Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, District 9 begins as a mock documentary about the imminent eviction of extraterrestrials from a pathetic shantytown (called District 9). The creatures, it turns out, have been on Earth for years, having arrived sickly and starving. Initially received by humans with compassion and care, the aliens are now mired in blighted conditions typical of long-term refugee camps unwanted by a hostile, host society. With the creatures' care contracted out to a for-profit corporation, the shantytown has become a violent slum. The aliens sift through massive piles of junk while their minders secretly research weapons technology that arrived on the visitors' spacecraft. Against this backdrop is a more personal story about a bureaucrat named Wikus (Sharlto Copley) who is accidentally exposed to a DNA-altering substance. As he begins metamorphosing into one of the creatures, Wikus goes on the run from scientists who want to harvest his evolving, new parts and aliens who see him as a threat. When he pairs up with an extraterrestrial secretly planning an escape from Earth, however, what should be a fascinating relationship story becomes a series of firefights and explosions. Nuance is lost to numbing violence, and the more interesting potential of the film is obscured. Yet, for a while District 9 is a powerful movie with a unique tale to tell. Seamless special effects alone are worth seeing: the (often brutal) exchanges between alien and human are breathtaking. --Tom Keogh
District 9 downloadables (Click for pdf file) |
| |
|
| |
|
Monotonous and silly |
Let me start by saying, I'm a woman who enjoys some science fiction and many guy-type movies. I loved Blade Runner and all the Alien movies, liked Videodrome and A Boy and His Dog. I love the 3 Stooges and own both Jackass movies.
So I was all set to like this movie, or at least view it with thoughtfulness and an open mind. Or, maybe, just be entertained. Nothing wrong with that.
Was I ever in for a shock. Talk about cinematic crap. Aside from the special effects, I found nothing to redeem this movie.
About halfway, maybe two thirds of the way through, I simply turned my eyes from the screen and stared at the wall for the rest of the film. Not because the violence bothered me -- please -- but simply because I was sick of seeing the same thing, again, and again, and again, and again.
However I did listen to the rest of the movie, and for reasons I'll give below, I don't think I missed anything and that I can still provide a valid review.
Here are the movie's messages. They're quite simple, as you can see.
* Old white men in suits are evil.
* Army colonels are evil.
* Humans mistreat those who are different.
Now, before the fans start hollering: yes, I am aware that all of the above are true -- sometimes. But in D9, they're always true. There are no shades of gray, no subtleties, no mitigating circumstances, no questions raised, no thoughts provoked. Of course the above statements have their place in movies, books, whatever. But for cripe's sake I want an author/director who puts some thought into the work, who presents different dimensions. With D9 I felt I was watching a chimpanzee slap paint on a wall.
I tired of it very quickly, and found the wall much more interesting to study.
Now, why do I feel that, even with my eyes shut, I missed nothing of importance? Because I kept hearing the following elements. Repeatedly. Until I felt they were etched in acid on my brain:
1. Weapon fire and explosions.
2. Splats.
3. Clicks, grunts, croaks, that were the prawns vocalizing.
4. Shouted dialogue, consisting of variations on the word "fook." "fookin hell!" "What the fook ya doin!" etc.
5. String instrument orchestrations.
6. Phone-baloney, semi operatic, wailing, quavering vocalizations, sometimes over a background composed of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I assumed that at these times something serious was going on.
The above six elements happened in no particular order, sometimes two or three went on at once, but it was basically the same sounds, repeated ad nauseum. The soundtrack for this movie must have been the easiest one in the world to compose. A person could mark six sides of a die/dice, and toss it a hundred times, and come up with a soundtrack for District 9.
See it if you must, but don't say I didn't warn you. |
| |
|
Very good until the third act collapse |
The Bottom Line:
District 9 does a lot of things right and offers some compelling science-fiction entertainment, so I'm able to forgive the fact that in the last half hour all ideas are thrown out the window in favor of nonstop action and poor characterizations (e.g. the Nigerians who show up so we can have another villain in the film); it's an intriguing film and at times a powerful one, but it could have been so much more.
3/4 |
| |
|
ETs in a world with social problems ... in a great Blu-ray! |
|
This is a new and sometimes comic way to show how the governments play with people that are no important to them. Great quality video and sound. This is for what Blu-ray was made! |
| |
|
GREAT SCI FI FLICK!!!! |
Out of all my friends who watched this movie, I am in the minority because I am the only one who loved this film.
It was hard to watch at first because it is filmed partially in a documentary style and when humans gave their opinions of the aliens, my heart broke because I knew that the attitudes and descriptions imparted by those interviewed were similar to how the whites described blacks during the period of apartheid in South Africa. The same kind of disdain for another living being.
Anyway, after I stopped the film and collected myself and then thought.... "this is a like any other sci fi movie." I turned it back on sat back with some chips and thoroughly enjoyed this film.
Yeah, they're aliens and they are not cute like E.T but one cannot help but root for them because the humans who were supposed to help them treated them terribly. Turned many of them into addicts, did horrible experiments on them and I hate bullies so....
This movie had everything in it from humor to action to even a sweet moment between an alien parent and their child.
Highly recommend this movie!!!
|
| |
|
Oh, it's no fun being an illegal alien. |
|
It was no fun watching this movie, either. The makers of this film have limited knowledge of human motives, emotions, and organization. To say that the display of human reaction to the arrival of an interstellar spacecraft was indifferent is an understatement. Every human in the movie treats the presence of aliens on earth as a nuisance and a burden. There is no fear, no awe, no desire to learn their story, and other than the typical evil government/corporate cliche trying to copy their weapons, there is no wonder at the advanced alien technology of which there is an ever-present reminder hanging in the South African sky (I would have said Johannesburg sky, but the spacecraft is so huge it must be visible for hundreds of miles). Even more remiss is the lack of a single scene where a human ponders the fate of humanity, now that beings from another planet have arrived. In fact the disregard for safety is so pronounced that humans board their ship without fear of contamination and then decide that these physically dangerous and technologically advanced creatures from another world should stay as our guests. In later scenes we see that alien artifacts, including weapons, are everywhere amongst the aliens and humans who share the shantytowns together. In reality the governments of the world would have removed any human presence under the spacecraft, put a lockdown on access to the ship, and would study it and its contents forever. The end. Any variation on that story would come from the discoveries made and/or the actions of the aliens. The filmmakers could have contrived an interesting plot from that scenario, but instead we get a ridiculous parable about immigration policy. |
| |
|
|
|
