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Hey, so for those who have been living in a cave for the past year, two movies came out in the year 2009 that were very similar. Humans vs. aliens, a human becoming said alien. I am talking about Avatar and District 9. However, aside from the whole humans and aliens plot and having incredible visual effects, these films are as different as night and day. So which one is the better one? Well that's what I'm going to do now. Let's get started.
Human Protagonist
Jake Sully vs. Wikus van de Merwe
Some of you guys might be familiar with my feelings with Jake Sully and if you don't, I'll make it simple. I. Hated. That guy. He lacked absolutely no emotion whatsoever aside from an arrogant pseudo-intellligence and he was just a stupid moron. That's not to say Wikus wasn't a stupid moron and in fact, I think both of these characters graduated in the same school. But the thing is, none of the things Sully does bites him in the arse. By contrast, Wikus's major mistake ends up costing him. Badly. Aside from that, the two characters are incredibly different. Jake decides to become like the Na'vi (at least a hybrid of them) because, well, he wants to get his real legs back. Wikus....well it's not like he had much of a choice, right? Their "Heel Face Turn" was done rather differently. Jake was more gradual, as he became more ingrained in their culture. Wikus...his kinda came suddenly.Then there's the other characters' interaction with the characters. Everyone, and I mean everyone, likes Jake at one point or time. But the thing is, he's not remotely likable. Wikus got a mixed reaction from everyone and that's what it's like in real life. I don't think even marines are universally liked. I certainly didn't like Wikus that much, but the movie wasn't making me like him. Avatar tried that on me with Jake. The actor playing Jake was rather, well, dull. He didn't have a large range of emotions. Just arrogant glee and stupefied bewilderment. The actor playing Wikus has a wider palette of emotions and reactions, which made me much more realistic, I thought. Point goes to District 9
Avatar: 0
District 9: 1
Allien Protagonist
Neytiri vs. Christopher Johnson
Well, these two characters are incredibly different. Neytiri is meant to be a romantic interest for Jake while...Christopher. Well, I don't remember any romantic tension between the two. Outside of fanfics, of course. (Gorram Rule 34) It can be argued and this is how I viewed it, at least, that Christopher was the real hero in the movie. He's infinitely more likable, a great deal of the plot deals with him trying to get out with his son, and he wasn't a jerk. Neytiri really didn't do much outside of teaching Jake and being his girlfriend. What I really really
really hated in the movie was when she leaves Jake after telling the tribe that he was sent here by the RDA to find out about the tribe. Twenty minutes later, she's happy to be at his side after he wrestles in that giant dragon thingy. What does she has to say to explain this? "I was afraid." BULL. ****ING. ****! That's one of the lamest excuse I've ever heard in my entire life. For god's sakes! If you go back to him for the size of his dragon, fine! Just say it!! At least she got to perform the finishing blow on Colonel Quaritch. Also she really didn't do a grand job introducing us to their culture. Granted, neither did Christopher but that was justified in the plot (sorta). By contrast, Christopher had a stronger character. He wants to protect his son, to do that he has to make a deal with Wikus. He then find out about MNU's experiments and now wants to save his entire race. Point goes to District 9.
Avatar: 0
District 9: 2
Supporting Characters
Well, I really can't say a lot about the supporting characters in District 9, mostly how the film style is. Like most documentaries of people, the main focus is that one person. Everyone else is simply a prop. By contrast, Avatar did a far better job in building up their supporting characters. Especially the human ones. The Na'vi...eh not so much. They just existed to support the Mary Sue world they live in. In particular, Grace stood out. She was a no-nonsense, chain-smoking scientist who refused to take any crap from anyone. In fact, there were times where I wished she was the main focus of the story. Shame she had to die. Trudy and Norman were also noticeable for their changing character paths. Avatar is definitely the winner here.
Avatar: 1
District 9: 2
Villains
Colonel Miles Quaritch vs. Colonel Koobus Venter
This was a tough choice because these two guys are practically racist sociopaths who would shoot a bunch of aliens without any sweat. These guys are literally bad*** incarnate. They can make Ahnold their little love toy. With the two of them, it isn't completely clear why they're so adamant against the aliens. Beyond what the other people felt about them. But here, I have to go with Quaritch. Why? Because he was much more human than Koobus was. He cared about his soldiers deeply and he saw little sights into his humanity. Koobus was just a killing machine. In fact, he was more like a Terminator than an actual human. Point goes to Avatar.
Avatar: 2
District 9: 2
Alien Design and Culture
Na'vi vs. Prawns
These aliens are INCREDIBLY different. And certainly how they were presented was different. We have no idea what the prawns are like. At all. We have a vague idea on what their weapons can do and that they're mostly not very intelligent, save Christopher. A lot of these are just fan-speculation like the green prawns like Christopher are the more intelligent and higher in a social caste or that the rest of the prawns are like worker bees. By contrast, we saw a lot of the Na'vi culture and well, it's very similar to the New Age/Native American cultures here. Way to think outside the box, crew. I really didn't care for the Na'vi design. They really looked like nudists dipped in blue dye. All right, so you mix a little cat characteristics in them. That really doesn't change a lot. Plus the whole idea that they have four limbs while the other animals have six really really bothered me. The prawns were very insectoid in nature and well, to be honest, they looked more like aliens. District 9 wins.
Avatar: 2
District 9: 3
Visual Effects
Now, if there's anything we can all agree on regarding both of these movies, it's the visual effects were just amazing. Whatever I said about the Na'vi and Pandora can be instantly annulled by the beauty of the world and the creatures. I saw the movie in 3D and it was just amazing. The colours really really came out with the array of cool colours and you simply had to appreciate how it all went together. The final battle and the deux ex machina was wonderful as well, even though it did feel like an ass pull. Then we have District 9, where the aliens were incredibly lifelike. Everytime a weapon went off, it felt really real and it made everyone go "Holy ****!!". And they pulled this off with a relatively small budget. I'll just reward both sides a point for their efforts.
Avatar: 3
District 9: 4
Story
It's my belief that the story is one of the most important parts of a movie and here it is no different. Underneath both stories is a political message that was about as subtle as a runaway train. On a boat. Avatar was anti-imperialism and District 9 was anti-apartheid. How effective was the message delivered? The two movies certainly got their message across to the audiences but personally I felt District 9 was stronger in that aspect. By the time I left the theatre watching District 9, I was all for a mass prawn invasion of Earth. With Avatar...ehh not so much. Some parts of it has to do with seeing this damn storyline so many times. But most of it was how the Na'vi was presented as the most perfect beings on this Earth. This was a point I brought up a while ago. District 9 just showed us the prawns and the humans being complete ***holes to them and we kinda moved towards their side. Certainly they've done bad things like derailing trains and setting fire to trucks so they weren't perfect. By contrast, the Na'vi was forced down on us as a peaceful, harmonious race who was being attacked by the cruel and mean humans. Presentation wise, Avatar was a traditional, focus on the hero story while District 9 tried to pull a mockumentary. And it worked really well. So well, I actually wished they tried to do that for the rest of the movie. It would be interesting to see how that might have turned out. But all things considered, District 9 wins this category and this battle.
Avatar: 3
District 9: 5
Now remember, this is purely my opinion so take it as it is. Just don't get your knickers in a knot, okay? Oh and feel free to comment on what you liked or didn't like about this and depending how well this is received, I might do another...
But great job! 
