District 9 vs. Avatar

TWO MEGA ALIEN MOVIES, ready, go!

AVATAR 

(Summary: Humans invaded another planet, Pandora to excavate a precious material. The aliens (indigenous natives of Pandora from the Na' vi tribe) and their homes are now being threatened by the humans. Genetically engineered Na' vi bodies were made by the humans and they controlled these avatars using the minds of selected people. One of the avatars (controlled by the leading actor) falls in love with the Na vi princess. Okay, then the battles begins, Humans VS Na' vis. )

"Avatar, Avatar was awesome! It is the movie of 2010 (well it was released in Singapore in 2010 and in the USA in 2009)...blah blah blah" , I'm probably not the only person who learned about all the fuss of the James Cameron project. An epic movie in terms of CGI and cinematography, yeah.. special effects wise, it was pretty awesome. 

But I got to admit, I was bored during some of the scenes. Come on, it was almost three hours long and it was NOT Lord of the Rings (LOTR). If a movie is three hours long and it doesn't have some sort of character that resembles Gandalf, Aragorn, Bilbo Baggins or even Gollum (for that matter), I will most probably be bored. Not definitely, but most probably. 

Yeah, it surpasses the Scary Movie series and Sadako (2012) by miles. But with all that fuss of how good it was, I wanted to be amused, I was waiting for something unexpected to happen, maybe like if they found another Earth and on that new Earth, avatars and humans could coexist and spawn baby "Avatar-mans".

Take away the 3D glasses, the high expectations and suspense, Avatar is really a story about  two incompatible 'beings' making love in paradise. 

Maybe the two most interesting things to me were the: 1) dragons (how awesome is it to be able to bond with a pet dragon man! A PET DRAGON that gets you out of danger and serves as a convenient way of transportation) and 2) the intricate and complex process of enabling humans to 'live' in the body of an Avatar through the power of the mind in the name of Science.

Think of the 1995 Disney Classic: Pocahontas, that is basically what Avatar is in my opinion.

Ratings: 6.5/10
(Alright alright, for you Avatar geeks out there, I'd give it a 7/10 at the most and I am really pushing it.)

DISTRICT 9

(Summary: JUST THINK INDEPENDENCE DAY but this time the aliens did not stay on Earth voluntarily, they were stranded as their mother-ship broke down and they had no way home. So, humans being humans start segregating the aliens (a.k.a cockroaches), calling them names and degrading them to a slum area called District 9. These Aliens worked and survived on little provisions. They adapted to life on Earth after many years of staying on the planet. One day, a reporter (played by leading actor, Copley) went to investigate the slums, however there was a twist of events and something happened to him. The show ends with a cliff hanger, leaving the audience (a.k.a ME) guessing the final plight of the reporter.)

OH MAN. OH DISTRICT 9, wherefore art thou District 10 or a sequel? (There are talks of a sequel coming up!!! :D :D :D)

I didn't watch it in the theaters, no 3D glasses, no huge comfy velvet seats, no big screen and awesome sound effects. I downloaded the movie and the only things that accompanied me and District 9 were my Macbook Pro and a pair of average earphones.

No big preview for District 9, no big advertising, just a movie title amongst the many other films that were released that month. Yeah, that was District 9's resume, including the saving graces of a promising cast (promising because they were talented and not famous - especially the leading actor, Sharlto Copley) and that it was produced by well-known names such as Peter Jackson (director of Lord Of The Rings - LOTR Trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit Trilogy) and Carolynne Cunningham (Academy-Award nominated producer and assistant director of King Kong (2005) and the LOTR Trilogy). 

In a nutshell, I downloaded District 9 out of boredom and curiosity and was more than pleasantly surprised by the experience of the movie.

Well I thought the movie poster looked like a wannabe cool-alien-action movie, something like Independence Day meets Battleship. I was curious to watch a movie that seemed trivial. A movie with a dry storyline (so I thought at first) - aliens getting stranded on Earth. Yes, that's basically the gist of the movie, ALIENS STRANDED ON EARTH...boo hoo.

But NEVER underestimate the power of Simplicity.

A simple and maybe all too familiar plot (like that of Independence Day) might actually hit the jackpot. The simple things surprise you because you do not expect much from them. Nothing works in a movie, not even a great script if the execution (eg. computer effects, make-up, wardrobe, cinematography, editing etc) of the actual production ain't great. District 9 also tugs at one's heart strings, bringing up a very controversial subject (degradation and segregation) in a subtle yet powerful manner.
Personally, the humanization of the "cockroaches" (a.k.a the aliens/intruders of Earth) is what made the movie stand out. In addition, the sympathizing character played by leading actor, Copley gave the movie a sense of hope and allowed the audience to relate to him (because we are all moral beings or we try to be at least).

In conclusion, District 9 is the Blueray DVD that I would go home with. :P

Ratings: 8.5/10
(I really want to give it a 9/10!! But I guess I still have too many movies to check out before I can be that generous.)

-Posted by Becky Brontosaurus (on Rach's account)