District 9 is a good action flick that presents a neat allegory without getting overly preachy: Think Alien Nation meets Cry the Beloved Country.
But like all sci-fi movies, some of the military stuff is a little, uh, questionable. So while the movie's still in theaters, we thought we'd get the discussion going about some of District 9's military tech -- both the fictional and the real-life stuff. (Warning: all sorts of spoilers ahead.)
* The alien weaponry was cool. There was some kind of lighting gun, except that it seemed to vaporize humans rather than electrocute them. There was also a ... force beam? Something that seemed to slam people as if they were hit by a kinetic force (that's probably what blew apart MNU headquarters). The alien-powered armor suit also had what looked like some kind of super-magnet that attracted bullets – but flung them back at such velocity to kill the human shooters.
* The alien powered armor suit was particularly awesome. But as per usual in sci-fi, alien armor is surprisingly vulnerable. Presumably, alien armor is designed to stop alien weapons, which means the Prawn suit should be resistant to lighting guns and force beams. Our hero's suit gets chopped up by a .50-caliber sniper rifle and a rocket-propelled grenade (I think machine guns and assault rifles also did some damage). Also surprising: The alien dropship could be taken down by a small vehicle-mounted surface-to-air missile.
* The eeevil Multi National United (MNU) mercenaries contractors guard the aliens with light infantry, light wheeled armor, helicopters and ... anti-aircraft missiles? Pretty heavy weaponry for guarding a refugee camp -- but pretty light armament if you're thinking of taking on an alien mothership. Considering they were guarding aliens who might have stashed lightning guns, it's surprising they didn't have main battle tanks in the area.
* MNU were your standard Hollywood mercs: shaven-skulled sadists. That must be why they didn't deploy non-lethal weapons. Sheesh, if the Prawns are similar enough to humans to breathe our air and eat cat food, then you would think Tasers would work.
* Assume there were at least a million aliens on the mothership when it appeared over Johannesburg. If they all had to be evacuated by helicopter, and each helicopter held an average of 15 aliens plus human guards, then we're talking more than 66,000 flights. That's 180 flights every day for an entire year. (I can't believe you did the math on this. -- Ed.) Did they turn Johannesburg into one big helicopter pad? They stuck on the Prawns on the outskirts of a major South African city? If they could airlift a million aliens, they should have been able to relocate them to a remote area to avoid the chance of contagion.
* The alien DNA in Wikus van de Merwe let him fire Prawn weapons. But operate the Prawn battle suit? I kept thinking of Jeff Goldblum and the Mac hack in Independence Day. Memo to self: Don't go hand-to-hand with a Prawn.
[PHOTO: Wikimedia]
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