District 9 does not have Plot Holes [spoilers] [for people who watched the movie]
 

Ok so I heard a bunch of whining on the internet about how District 9 has plot holes. People seem to lack imagination, have a poor memory, and poor science/sci fi knowledge. Please tell me what plot holes you thought there were and I will tell you how you are wrong. It was a really good movie btw.

I am going to see it tomorrow, but you are right in one respect. Most people wouldn't know what a plot is let alone looking for holes in it. I mean wtf, everyone is a professional screenwriter?

I have had arguements with people about this very thing before and the fact is this: They either didn't understand something, their attention span didn't allow them to pick up on foreshadowing of events that pay off later in the movie or simply don't grasp symbology or historical or scientific concepts so they boil it down to being a bad movie full of plot holes.

I nailed some sap on here on his critique of the new "The Earth Stood Still" movie and it was all because he didn't pay attention and lacked a good education.

Here is the link if you want to read it... I may have been a bit harsh on him.
15200626-post6.html

I really enjoyed the movie but couple things annoyed me.

Why where they there in the first place? Invasion ?
What happened on the ship? Mutiny ?

Other then that cant wait for the sequel or prequel :thumbsup

I'm just glad to know that if aliens ever invade we can control them and even take their weapons with the power of cat food.

I liked the movie. but I some how missed the concept that the leader was incapacitated. and it took him 20 years too ... It was good but its sci-fi so you have to suspend some level of reality to buy into it. I could come up with some things with starwars even. thats sci-fi

The only thing i can see people complaining about is why the ship landed there and didn't move in the first place, since it was obviously capable of flight under the correct hands. I'm guessing it was because they didn't have enough supplies to make it back to where they were from (since they were malnourished when they opened up the ship). Its not really a plot hole, but it was something that was never really explained.

the big leap was that the magic fluid not only changes humans into aliens, it's the fuel for the spaceships. nice!


there were several others- why the secrecy making the fluid.

how did they actually get back on the mothership after the pilotship crash?

why would the alien be so neutral to the human after he found out everything and have such a scene yet leave all the aliens on earth.




don't get me wrong, highly entertaining movie.

they ran out of gas. all they needed was about a quart for both the pilot ship and the mothership but it took 28 years to make that.

it was a coincidence that the plan to relocate the aliens fell on the same exact day they finished up making the fluid.

Yea the liquid turned the humans into aliens, which is why they were so secretive of making it (if you cant believe that, but believe that the aliens were real I don't know what to say). They knew the humans wanted to use their weapons and the discovery of that liquid would stop him from being able to go home. As for the fuel they made, it was simply to get the small spaceship off the ground and into the mothership, which is how they managed to finally end up getting back into the mothership.

i don't believe they knew the fluid would morph humans into aliens, they were not making a weapon. the alien was making the fluid because it was needed to power the alien crafts.

Yea they were making the fluid because they wanted to power the ship, but it also had that effect on humans. They knew about it, which is why when they found out the dude was turning into an alien, they automatically knew he came in contact with the fluid.

Why would the aliens trade their weapons for catfood, instead of just fucking everyone up and taking the cat food

could be. it certainly wasn't anything that made me go pfft. but if i was missing some special fluid, and the last one close to it was a human who is now sporting an alien appendagel, i would hope to be able to put 2 & 2 together.

either way, that is some special sauce.


:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

i got to thinking that maybe the whole movie is a setup for district 10, there's a great story in the works, imo.

I had no clue about this movie going into it.

So the first half I was like WTF, this shit makes no sense whatsoever. After around the halfway point though I was able to get into it and ended up really liking it.

Pretty good movie if you make it past half way or so.

ok, i am going to go ahead and reveal THE BIG plot hole in this film.

while a sci-fi film, the movie is also a drama, shown by importance placed on the character development.

who didn't become emotionally involved with the alien? those doe eyes, his love for his son, he just wanted to go home is all. And his complete passive response ( almost forgiveness) to human mistreatment of his fellow aliens.

so after all this, he takes the mothership for just himself and his son?

leaving almost 2 million of his fellows to be left to the atrocities he witnessed and experienced.

that is a plot hole. a happy hollywood ending but not so happy when you think about it!

either way, a great and entertaining movie film.

He did repeat several times that he'd be coming back though - he was leaving to go to his home planet which IMHO is a setup for district 10 where it becomes some kind of rescue mission or planetary invasion to get the 2 million prawns back. Either way, he made it clear he wasn't just busting off with the ship and leaving his buddies behind - he promised to be back in 3 years

also, they mentioned that the prawns had lost all direction because their leadership for one reason or another died, or went missing, or whatever - they simply didn't know...just that the prawns were likely worker prawns, and not at the top of the food chain - hence why they are so crazy, stupid and unruly - which I assume is some kind of parallel statement to how the rich in human society kept and keep poor people ignorant, so that they are more likely to accept the powers that be.

The prawns are obviously "insect" - and therefore one would assume that they have some kind of ant-like society or hierarchy...the workers are completely lost without the queen, and without some kind of objective and ruler to guide them, they just go haywire.

I thought it was a cool movie, with a fairly unique story...nice to see something that isn't just aliens coming and beating the crap out of us only to be killed by....water, or some shit LOL

I didn't like it. Not because of the plot holes but simply because I thought it was too comedic. Too many cheap laughs for a drama with a really good story idea.

Also, added you on ICQ. Hit me up tomorrow for a sec please -- have a Q for ya.

i am with you! it's fun to discuss movies lightheartedly as well, the good films spark dialogue.

that being said, while i see EXACTLY what you are saying, you lend credence to my plot hole conclusion, he promised the human that he would return for him, not his fellow aliens. the same human who fouled his plans, betrayed him, and is related to those who commit atrocites to the alien's relatatives.

yet the benevolent, compassionate alien bails on 2 million of his bros!

:warning

Being as they were all malnourished when they cracked open the ship, I think it can be assumed they had insufficient supplies. It's unlikely that those supplies increased on their own, so if he had "rescued" all of the prawns, he would have doomed them all to a starving death, which is why he was flying home alone to bring back help...for them and for the human who he previously promised to help. Not to mention he didn't exactly have the resources to move all the prawns and try to secure supplies while constantly under fire by the humans.

The questions that jumped out at me were:

(1) Why isn't the pressure needed to suspend a ship that size and that height crushing everything underneath it?
(2) If the ship was out of fuel and they needed to fly up to it, how did they remotely get it to move over the pilot ship without any physical contact at all to transfer the fuel?
(3) Just where are they going that they can be there and back in just 3 years? The next closest star would take 4 years even at the speed of light!

Those questions could be explained by technological advancements that defy our limited understanding of Physics, but leaving open questions like that distracts from the movie imho, although I did thoroughly enjoy it.

I watched it last night and thought the movie was brilliant. I strongly believe they are already planning a sequal which will be super cool. Many good messages in that movie if people actually pay attention to it.

i see what you are saying but the movie portrayed the south africans as wanting to rid themselves of the prawns. why hide the fluid and run away by yourself when you can be ghandi, work with the local community to rid it of the aliens and bring home millions.

there was nothing that he needed to go back home and get to go back and save the rest. reveal the secret sauce, tell the locals hey, we need cat food and helicopters to get everyone back on the mother ship and we are out of here.

that's act 3. not sure why they missed it other than to prep discrict 10.

:thumbsup

Exactly.... strange that the aliens who have weapons of unbelievable power simply wouldn't try to use them at all, but one rogue alien/human takes out the whole fucking army, and the gang? Those weapons were amazing...

Just watched it...aweasome movie!

That's not a plot hole, that is leaving the ending up to your own imagination using the information that was provided to you earlier in the film. It was stated many many times he was coming back, and why/when.

They don't have to fucking show it to you if they've explained it already. That's the problem with shitty movies these days. Everyone expects everything to be wrapped up in a neat little package for them.

It's like with the movie Seven Pounds, it should have ended at the black screen after he commits suicide. Everything that happened after was the whole plot line that was explained throughout the whole movie, showing it wasn't necessary. If anyone watched that movie and didn't know what was going to happen after he killed himself, well you're the reason movies suck these days and Hollywood has to dumb down their shit.

Good questions, wouldn't consider them plot holes though right?

1. The physics of space travel even suggest that the amount of energy required for long distances. Negates any need for the travel in the first place. ie: To have that ability, you either have Unlimited power at your fingertips and have no need to find any - and/or- you are so enlightened there is no reason to search for anything.

So, I would just say - it's a movie - whatever.

2. We don't know if it was out of fuel completely. We only know they didn't have enough fuel to get home.

3. Eh, we don't know what their space travel capabilities were. There were never any specifics mentioned on it. Maybe they could travel at five times the speed of light, and their home planet was 7.5 light years away (15 total both ways = 3 years).

Again, it's a movie - whatever

Plot holes I dont know. Great movie... the main thing that would never have happened...
*****spoiler******





is that they would never let humans and aliens mix. They would be totally blocked off and guarded.

Exactly, I expected the aliens to gather and be beemed up to the ship, however that wouldnt leave room for a 2nd movie.

Whoever made this movie is a real fucking asshole
The first half of the movie was really good. The second half fell apart completely.

The action sucked... the MNU agent made for a decent laugh while giving out the eviction notices/etc... during the assault scenes he just got more and more frustrating to watch.

The plot didn't really have holes in it... it just sucked. Too many things aren't explained, like that horrible movie Cloverfield. It's not cool, interesting, or original to do the cinematography like a 'government top secret classified tape' and leave a lot of pieces to the puzzle missing... it's just annoying and an excuse to not have to work on making a solid story.

Not only did the storyline begin to suck, but what do you know... getting close to the end of the movie it becomes painfully obvious that it's setting itself up for a prequel/sequel. Nothing really gets accomplished, the ending just keeps you asking more questions.

The original idea of the movie, effects, aliens, etc were all really cool, but it gets horrible half to three quarters of the way through

you must of seen the director's cut or something but the movie i saw, the alien promised to come back in 3 years- for the human. not one mention of returning for the rest or why leaving without the rest.

the part left up to one's imagination was wtf happened to wikus.


you are sadly mistaken if you think hollywood dumbs down movies for viewers like myself.

why didn't the aliens use these super awesome weapons in the first place but instead sold them to negroes?

i wanna see that!

I just thought it was cool that they just let nigerians in to sell sex and drugs to aliens. How awesome are nigerians??

the movie rules...you didnt see wikus at the end? eating some cat food?

i am pretty sure that is him..living in district 9 as an alien

i would agree- i also concluded he stayed on earth.

but it's only implied, not confirmed, that it was him making that flower/etc.
the conclusion included scenes of people speculating what happened to him.

so the film's producers wanted that to be left up to imagination, to some degree.

wtf are you clowns talking about? OF COURSE that's the MNU agent making flowers for his wife... it's been 'x' number of days after infection and he's a fully blown prawn now...

what... it's supposed to be a random alien leaving his wife flowers?

It's him, and it's setting itself up for the sequel.

Stupid movie

Well, I suspect it wouldn't have worked out that way. The humans wanted to use the technology and was testing every alien artifact they could find. Even if the didn't know the transformation effect of the fluid, they likely would have kept the fluid for further studies, and being that it took twenty years to find the materials and process, then that's quite a gamble to take. Since his people had been mistreated and stuck in concentration camps, I think he'd realize the humans wouldn't say, "That one once of fluid can power that massive ship carrying 1.6 million prawns through the galaxy for at least 1.5 years; that's cool, and we have absolutely no interest in it, so we'll just let you walk away with it and supply you with enough food to feed 1.6 million prawns for that 1.5 years! No problem!" There's just no way that would have happened, and I think he'd have figured that out...

it's a movie, they can make it end however they want, just like how they made the alien benevolent in regards to the protagonist. those issues you mention are all easily dealt with in one way or another to allow act 3 to flow with acts 1 & 2.

but it remains that they built the alien up into a hero and let him bail on the rest, a plot hole based on setting up a sequel.

Naw, certainly not plot holes...just science holes of the non-black variety. ;)
1) Exactly. The energy expenditure required to reach our planet (using current known physics) would be far greater than that acquired by turning out entire planet into energy...so there's really no economic incentive.
2) True...the poor alien could have been conserving fuel and trying to process enough to make it home when the human cracked the hull...
3) According to Einstein, the universal speed limit is the speed of light...nothing can move faster that that, at least not anything with mass, so there's no traveling 5*c. Again, that's based on our current and incomplete understanding of physics.

I liked the fact that both heroes were fallible. I'm tired of the standard recipe of the super strong hero who can take on 20 armed men without obtaining a scratch and ultimately defeat the evil villain so he can save the world and run off with the girl. What I liked most about the movie is how it made you change sides halfway through, along with the ultra-fallible "hero".

agreed! i was more than surprised to see the development of the mnu paper pusher into the hero. they did a great job with that.