Continuing from part 1 of my analysis of Avatar and District 9, my two favorite sci fi movies of 2009.
VILLAINS:
Both movies have very similar villains as well. They both have two: the ruthless corporations and the corporations' kill crazy mercenaries. I guess I will rate the villains by how evil they are. The most evil wins of course.
Avatar's two primary villains are Parker Selfridge, leader of a mining corporation, and Colonel Miles Quaritch, a cold mercenary leader. Selfridge is bad but he seems to have tried to avoid violence for a long time. He is strictly business, but has no qualms about destroying any obstacle in his path. Though when his actions lead to a near genocide, even he seems a little disgusted with himself. Quaritch, however, doesn't feel bad about any of the things he does. He seems to see himself as an all American and just doing his job. We learn from the gitgo that he has long since held a grudge against the Na'vi and their planet in general. Throughout the film he seems very obsessesed with destroying them, to the point where he cares more about their destruction than the lives of his own men. Selfridge and Quaritch are both cold, calculating and aggravating bastards.
In District 9, we have three main antagonists: Wikus' father in law, Piet Smit, a rich executive in an alien affairs branch of South Africa's government; Koobus Venter, an even more sadistic and impulsive mercenary leader; and finally the insane and cannibalistic Nigerian warlord, Obesandjo. Smit is all about business as well, to the point of sacrificing his son in law to be used for organ harvesting. He doesn't care about the feelings of others, even those dearest to him and will do anything to ensure the interests of his partners and the government. Venter is even worst than Avatar's Quaritch. He is a homicidal hired gun and bully who enjoys nothing more than making others miserable, especially the Prawns who he at one point says he loves killing. Every word out of his mouth makes you hate him even more. Plus he is given much more freedom than Quaritch and can do whatever he wants. Finally Obesandjo, the voodoo practicing madman who is obsessed with gaining the Prawn's "power", which he believes he can get by killing and devouring Prawns. He kills indescriminately and has a sort of humour toward incredible violence. Obesandjo himself is not that dangerous, he is confined to a wheelchair, his power lies in his small army of Nigerian crazed murderers who seem ready to take on just about anybody and follow his every order.
Bottom line all of these guys are bad. But the District 9 villains just struck me as being the worst, they are just completely and unapologetically cruel. Though Avatar's villians commit near genocide, they weren't passionate about it. And the majority of District 9's villains most definitely are passionate about the atrocities they commit. So District 9 wins in this case.
EFFECTS:
This is going to be pretty quick.
District 9 has some tremendous effects. The aliens, surprisingly, look very real at times. It is very hard to make a humanoid insect look tangible. They do have there moments of being too animated, but thanks to motion capture their body language and movements are just spot on. This could be best noticed in the facial expressions of the main aliens. You can see the fear, nervousness, anger, or wonder in their eyes every time. The alien effects are terrific. Aside from the aliens, District 9's weapons were some of the coolest ever put on screen. They've got guns that totally vaporize people, they've got guns that cut people in two, they've got guns that do more damage than a bazooka. The most impressive though is the MECH, yeah, the armored battle suit. You get inside and you are the most bad ass thing on earth, but you're still vulnerable. Also the design and effects of the alien mothership is very amazing.
But District 9's special effects pale better than albinos in comparison to Avatar. With a totally original and superb perfection of motion capture animation, the CGI aliens don't just appear to have realistic emotions and expressions, they do have them. There are many moments where the effects are just so convincing and genuine that the creatures in Avatar are real. It can barely be described how good it is, In regard of the technology in the movie, the majority of it looks a little too Transformers animated. It is hard to avoid that. This movie has more MECH's than District 9 and the one MECH there was far more real looking than the hundred sum we get in Avatar, and the battle ships suffered the same problem. But that can be forgiven everytime I see a plant or an animal. It is colorful, unique, and beautiful and art for the ages.
So yeah, Avatar owns the effects department.
FILMMAKING ASPECTS:
This is how I rate the stuff that was behind the camera during the making of these two great films. I look at the direction, the writing, the acting, the works.
Both movies are examples of how to use money to make movies. The veteran creator of Avatar, James Cameron uses one of the biggest budgets in years, maybe ever, to make not just a film masterpiece, but a new film experience. The first time creator of District 9, Niell Blomkamp uses a considerably small budget of $30 million to make a great and fascinatingly inspired film. So they both have points for that. They also get points for the level of craft they put into their films. Both movies seemed to have all of their makers hearts into them and that is the main reason they are so good.
Talking cinematography, Avatar had really clear and glistening visuals I think using steady cam mostly whereas District 9 had a raw and grainy saturated picture with heavy shaky cam use, but in the end Avatar was just much more beautiful with it's images.
District 9 wins in the acting department because it is just more believeable. While there was a lot of emotion and solid acting in Avatar, District 9 just felt really gritty and painstaking, everyone felt real to me. Everyone in Avatar speaks movie, everyone in District 9 speaks human.
When it comes to sets the movies are at a tie because they are both so unique and cool. District 9 is shot on the ground in the real slums outside of Johannesburg, South Africa so they have the realism. Avatar was shot in the Middle American jungles and then molded over with CGI to be a dreamlike alien environment. They were both great so they both win.
The writing, one of the most important parts, was good for both movies. They both knew how to keep our interest with a wealth of things we really haven't seen in sci fi movies before. James Cameron succeeded in writing a true blue action epic like he always does and doesn't force anything on you. The pacing was perfect and the story was always flowing nicely. His intention is to make you join the characters, let them grow on you, and then follow them as their destinies unfold on screen. He has the heart. Neill Blomkamp may not have the pacing right and the story was a bit murky due to budget limits, but all in all he made a very inventive film. Few filmmakers these days can write just about every aspect we love in movies into one movie, but Blomkamp did with District 9 and that's one of the main reasons it's so great. There were just so many things I didn't expect to see in District 9 and when I did I loved it. We have another tie here.
And well I've gone on forever, so I will stop myself now. So what was better in my opinion? Avatar, the revolutionary and earth shaking adventure epic for our times? Or District 9, the intense and satirical indie actioner. On the scoreboard Avatar received 7 points whereas District 9 ended off with 6. So Avatar wins in this case. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't diminish how much I love the hell out of District 9, I just think it will be looked upon as a greater experience for people. Though I got a huge adrenaline rush in the last act of District 9 and felt my heart ease, my blood was pumping before Avatar even began. It is just a ride and one people will not soon forget. I just hope I live in the time when I see other movies that were as cool as these.
This has been another in depth analysis from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for enduring.
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