JPX has put up two posts about this movie that nobody's commented on, myself included. But I think this is shaping up to be something very cool. If you haven't taken a look yet, do it now. (I'm throwing in the hyperlinks with the videos, in case you want to watch straight off of Youtube and avoid having the widescreen lopped off. Of course, you can just watch them big.)
The first trailer has this amazing documentary style presentation, in which we learn about a disenfranchised group living in a hideous slum, surrounded by people who hate and fear them. It looks like it could be City of God or Slumdog Millionaire or Tsotsi, one of those serious arthouse movies that are fascinating because you're viewing the fearsome conditions of extreme third-world poverty. Except... remember that movie (and show) Alien Nation? This is like that, but 800 times cooler.
I know that working realistic special effects into hand-held video footage is no big surprise these days, but I really like how it's done here. The second trailer opens with such a shot, a common enough glance out a car window except there's a giant spaceship hovering over there. It's back to extreme-social-pressure-with-a-sci-fi twist, but then the ante gets upped. Way upped.
All of a sudden this groovy, original backdrop is home to alien robot mechs jumping all over the place, big secret shuttles taking off from underground, weird alien aerosol spray leading to weird alien flame throwers, and the big mech fucking catching a surface-to-air rocket. Holy crap!
As a bonus, here's the short film the director put together that eventually became District 9. It's more about the social themes than the action, and it's a lot more low tech, but if you have a couple of minutes it's worth checking out (and it starts with a good action scene).
I for one am psyched. I love the way the alien tech looks as gross and industrial as ours, I love the short film's point that the alien ships are dilapidated, I love the recurring themes of government just not getting it right. I really think this one has something to offer. Can I get a little chatter, thonners? Whaddya think?
7 comments:
Thank you! Yes, this movie looks terrific but it's not getting any love from Horrorthoners and I don't know why. I can't wait for this.
I have been observing the posts on this and it does look terrific. My apologies for not posting this earlier on one of JPX's posts. I guess I just needed to be reminded that you guys can't read my thoughts, right? Hey, what am I thinking now?
Oh! That's disgusting! That poor parrot.
How did you know!!!
I've been ignoring the posts because the name "District 9" bores me to tears. Why not just call it "Insurance Seminar" and be done with it?
But thanks to Octo's nudge, the movie now has my undivided attention.
ditto jsp -- he stirred the pot a little the night before he posted this. aliens? gigantic spaceship over major city? i really couldn't say why this wasn't more than a teeny blip on my radar before that.
i think after cloverfield, it will be refreshing to watch handicam that won't give me a splitting headache and make me want to yak in my popcorn.
50 and JSP, I definitely concur. I love the bus stop bench ad campaign, too.
And now I'm intrigued: why can't they take off? How is it that they can invisibly throw trucks around, but not totally kick the shit out of us? How did we come to "hold" them in our power? Why South Africa? I love how one of the more annoying problems is rerouting air traffic around the giant floating ships. Like that's the main problem.
And I agree that the handicam work seems slightly more palatable than Cloverfield. Can't wait! Way to stir it up, Octo, and JPX, you're right as usual!
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