District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009)

District 9

Eric Harris - www.canneltoncritic.com

Last updated: 2010-05-10 10:58:19 by user06

District 9: Rookie Director and Green Cast Equal Gold

District 9
 
District 9 is sci-fi done right, simply said.  The story revolves around an alien air craft that crash lands (sort of) over Johannesburg.  After speculation on what to do with it we decide to break into the ship. What we find are some very ugly starving aliens.  In our infinite wisdom we decide to shuttle these aliens to land and keep them in a ghetto.
 
This action packed thriller starts off as a mockumentary which follows the exploits of Wikis van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) a newly appointed field operative for the private arms/security company MNU.  He is charged with the task of relocating the aliens, or “prawns” as they’re called, to a new facility resembling a concentration camp.  The mockumentary also serves the function of filling in a lot of the back story.  It’s effective, but I was also happy to see it not used as much once the second act came around.
 
Wikus is clearly ill equipped for the job and when he runs into a relatively smart prawn named Christopher Johnson he goes through a life changing experience.  Now what happens isn’t exactly a secret, but personally I find this plot twist to be all the more interesting when you’re not told beforehand.
 
Relatively green director Neill Blomkamp does a masterful job of getting us to sympathize with the prawns.  It’s not easy to love something that resembles a large bug slash cat-fish that looks glued together by puke.  I guess it doesn’t hurt to give CJ’s son some big ol’ puppy eyes.
District 9 is also a social commentary on some of the segregation problems in South Africa.  I can’t pretend to know anything about the subject which is what makes this movie come together so nicely.  You know the movie is making a social commentary and even if you don’t know exactly what it is commenting on you still feel the ability to connect with the themes.  This is the true purpose of sci-fi.  Blomkamp is able to tell a story that is close to him as a South Afrikaner while bringing that theme back to a universal context for a wide audience to understand.
 
Blomkamp was helped by a very talented friend named Peter Jackson.  After the Halo project fell through Jackson gave Blomkamp 30mil to spend as he saw fit.  He used that money to help finance District 9.  Another interesting factoid is that star Sarlto Copley had zero acting experience with no intention of pursuing a career before this movie.  Regardless he was cast in the lead after Blomkamp put him on-camera in his short film “Alive in Joburg” which is what District 9 is based off of.
For fans of sci-fi this is a must see and anyone with a heart, and a strong stomach, will like it as well.

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Recommendations: Shutter Island, District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009), Morning Glory

Last updated: 2010-04-12 19:06:50 by jpgreenb

District 9

Starring  Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and Nathalie Boltt
Rated R
112  Minutes 

Plot:  Twenty years after an alien spacecraft settles above Johannesburg, South Africa, MNU worker Wikus van de Merwe encounters dangerous alien technology, and must turn to help in the most forsaken place in all of Africa: District 9. 

As political as it was thrilling, District 9 is a sci-fi lover's dream come true. Imaginative, heartbreaking, and throughly entertaining, Neill Blomkamp's feature length debut is like that rare, tasty food that you know you won't have for years to come. While someone may cry foul with Avatar, that is really off in it's own genre (Cameronistic). Even to those who find science fiction to be typically cheesy and hard to take seriously, District 9 is hard not to take seriously.  From the first few minutes on, a constant and taut intensity lingers and amounts until a stellar climax- and ending. For those who like action, District 9 is absolutely badass (even though the lead is an office worker). Despite immense wounds and an arm that may never become human again, Wikus tears through District 9 like a man with nothing to lose. Sharlto Copley gave a stellar performance- hurt, lost, scared, and really frickin' pissed off. Ultimately Distict 9 is emotionally charged and absolutely riveting. What helps along the entire time is the brilliant documentary style shooting and nearly 100% improvised dialouge. It has been done before, but nearly as riveting as this. District 9 rightfully deserves to be #10.

Last updated: 2010-04-11 20:00:35 by user01

Beyond Science Fiction

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Recommendations: Wizard of Oz

Last updated: 2010-04-20 08:14:47 by Clarissa3782

DISTRICT 9 -- Haiku Review

Robert A. Nowotny

Last updated: 2010-04-05 02:50:57 by user07

District 9

District 9 bares no known stars, no known directors and yet Peter Jackson penned his name as a producer, that tells you how passionate he must have been about this.
Originally a short film lasting only 6 minutes(Which you can still see in one of my previous posts), this is the full feature length version which gives us more of an incite into aliens on earth and about them being pushed out of the land(Johannesburg ,South Africa)which they inhibit. The Aliens are served an eviction notice from the Govenment to leave District 9 ASAP. A definite hint of political undertone becomes apparent here, especially when this part of society is outcast and referred to in a derogatory manner as 'Prawns'.

Not your bog-standard Alien invasion Science fiction film, in fact its not an invasion at all. Although the spaceship arrives un-announced, it never really goes into why they arrive there. Hopefully a sequel will clarify this.

There is without doubt a 'clear message' in this film. I cant help but feel like the aliens were used as a device for what I think is a brilliant story structure.
The creatures as characters are developed well and the whole story itself is completely heartfelt.

With this and 'Moon', it feels like all the unknown talent in film are suddenly making themselves known.

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http://robinollysays.blogspot.com

Last updated: 2010-04-02 04:40:57 by Robinolly

District 9

Starring: Sharlto Copely, Jason Cope Thriller, 2009 (Rated R)Twenty years ago a flying saucer appeared over a small town in South Africa. A company called MNU (Multi National United) has been assigned the near impossible task of controlling the aliens and integrating them in whatever way possible into society. They have been relegated to a ghetto like slum in an area called District 9 and their presence has caused all kinds of problems as humans are now forced to cope with this alien and often times violent population. The situation comes to a head when MNU has decided to relocate the aliens to a new area and one of their head employees Wikus Van de merwe (Copely) has an unfortunate exposure to alien fluid inside one of the alien homes. He suddenly finds himself on the run from the company that just promoted him.

• I really had no idea what this movie was about and was quite surprised at what I saw in the first 30 minutes.
• It was a satirical comedy/parody documentary style. A comedy mostly because of how such bizarre subject matter was being presented in such a straight forward dead pan manner.
• There were mostly unknown actors and the acting was good.
• The movie got better for me as it went along and the actual story line began to develop.
• I really fell in love with Wikus. He was such a kind man who found himself in a horribly awful situation but never gave up fighting.
• There was plenty of action and plenty of blood and icky stuff if you are into that sort of thing. Which I am!!
• Those aliens are so nasty looking!

5 Stars

Just Me

District 9

I give the film: 4.5/5

Filmed partly-documentary style and partly-movie format, District 9tells the story of an area cordoned off by the South African government because of a large alien spaceship that has been stranded above that spot. The aliens, known as 'Prawns', however, wreak havoc in the town, and the people want them evicted. The plot unfolds when an officer from the Multinational United (MNU) gets contaminated by an alien substance during a raid, and he eventually mutates, making him a fugitive by the government.

He seeks the solace of a fellow alien, while trying to plot a breaking-in into MNU's facility to eventually aid him in turning back into his normal self.

Opened to both critical and audience acclaim, District 9 is an unorthodox science fiction movie that works on many levels. Being both funny and shocking, as well as an apt social commentary on segregation in the society, the film is definitely a breath of fresh air from all the previous bloated Hollywood blockbusters.

FINAL SAY:

 It will make you uncomfortable but you can't take your eyes off it. The final scene will probably haunt you for days.

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Wilson Ng - http://wilsoniscurious.blogspot.com/

Last updated: 2010-03-14 00:01:03 by wilsoniscurious

District 9

As with The Children, District 9 is one I got too late as I have been trying to cram in as many movies as I possibly can in the little time left in the year. What District 9 is and what it looked like via advertisements, are two very different things and the best way to describe it is Cronnenberg's The Fly, meets Starship Troopers. Two films I love and while I loved D9, I haven't fully wrapped my head around this one yet and I anticipate multiple viewings of the film where I will find even greater enjoyment from it. District 9 has possibly the most anti of anti-heroes put to screen, to go along with one of the most unassuming leads to be in a very successful Sci Fi action film.

Recommendations: High Plains Drifter , Dalkomhan insaeng , Dial M for Murder

District 9

District 9

Starring: Sharlto Copley,Robert Hobbs,Jason Hope

Director: Neil Blomkamp

Genre: Sci Fi, Action, Drama

Rated: R

The head of the MNU tries to relocate Aliens from the ghetto known as District 9, he comes in contact with a fluid that begins to turn him into one of the Aliens and is hunted down by his former company.

District 9 is a SCI-FI film based in Johannesburg South Africa, Which makes the allegory between aliens in a ghetto and South African apartheid all the more compelling. The pseudo documentary feel that bookends the film is used for superb affect.

For twenty years a giant alien ship has hovered over Johannesburg the inhabitants all million and a half plus have been living in a walled off ghetto, these poor conditions have caused them to display behavior that makes the humans want to relocate them to an alien concentration camp.

Wikus (outstanding newcomer Sharlto Copley) is in charge of evicting the “prauns” (slang term for the aliens) and relocating them to the district 10 camp. Things go wrong for Wikus when he is sprayed in the face with a black mist that begins to turn him into a praun. He is hunted down by MNU and Nigerian gangs that are interested in how to duplicate the transformation for themselves, thus allowing them to use the genetically linked alien weaponry that humans cant.

From the get go District 9 brings something new to the Genre from integrating alternative footage (interviews, security cameras, etc.) you know the movie is unique. The special effects are outstanding; the mothership, the praun’s themselves as well as the alien weaponry are all excellently done. The Praun themselves are able to convey emotion that not one human actor in GI JOE was able to do. Dstrict 9 is hands down the best film of the summer and one of the best ever in its Genre being both smart and exciting. District 9 proves that there is more to a good movie than just a big budget and horrible special effects. District 9 is a lesson to the studio’s on how it is possible to make a great movie; That content and quality as well as new ideas are still possible in this day and age.

Rating: Four Sniper Kittens

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District 9 (2009)

Love it, hate it, on the fences about it, DISTRICT 9 was awesome. If you didn’t get it that’s your fault, but as smart, sociopolitical, sci-fi films go? This was remarkable.

District 9

hmph.  was my first thought after the credits started to roll.  i had to think about this one for a minute before i was able to form an opinion.  and i’m still not real sure how i feel about it.

it’s filmed in that over the shoulder, documentary style that i’m growing very tired of.  thanks a lot blair witch project.  i’m still getting sea sick watching movies because of you.  but i suppose mtv is mostly to blame for that.  any fool can shoot an over the shoulder film i suppose.  and okay, i guess i get it.  you’re trying to tell a story like it’s happening in real life.  okay.  but when it switches to a scene that’s not being televised or whatever, why is it still over the shoulder?

but anyway, other than that i guess this was a rather original film.  i’ve not really seen anything like this for a while.  unless you’re counting the wildly popular video game, halo.  then yes, this looks a lot like something we’ve all seen before.  in the video game halo.  the aliens look like halo, the alien weapons look like halo, the mnu trucks look like halo.  come to think of it, the over the shoulder style resembles the gameplay on halo.

didn’t they make a halo movie?  with the rock?  well, district 9 is better than that pile.  but it’s non the best sci fi movie of the summer.  by a long shot.  maybe that’s not fair, i really enjoyed star trek.  and with star trek you had a million fans built in already.  but it was very well done and i’m looking forward to the dvd release.

but back to district 9, there’s this giant alien spacecraft that apparently runs out of gas and drifts over the earth before finally resting above johannesburg, south africa.  why johannesburg i’m not sure.  probably to draw some comparisons to apartheid and the way the aliens are treated.  but whatever, it’s kinda fun to hear ol’ dude say fuck repeatedly in his south african accent.

the spaceship just sits there for a while before the curious humans break into it to see what’s going on.  they find a hive of sorts of a million “worker drones” aliens that seem to have no leadership or ambition.  they are just kinda hanging out.  so they pull all these guys off the spaceship and put them into essentially a concentration camp.  the living conditions are horrible and once again, i’m sure the director was trying to make a profound point about the way humans treat other humans.  not very well.

the whole thing just kinda made me scratch my head a bit.  i couldn’t figure out how these aliens with vast technology would just accept to live in those awful conditions, selling off their weapons and technology for cat food.  (the weapons were all biologically engineered preventing humans from using them.)

sci fi junkies will enjoy this film but i’m not thinking it’s going to appeal to a wider audience.  i give it one and a half alien insect arms out of four.

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Cal Reed

District 9

I enjoyed this movie...except for the part that was skipped over because the Blockbuster Express kiosk enjoys putting the DVD's in cases that could easily scratch the discs. The plot line was interesting and highly entertaining. The whole thing was done in a documentary style which worked out well. Special effects were also used pretty well. Not a bad directorial debut for Mr. Neill Blomkamp. Most people have no idea who this man is so they slapped Peter Jackson's name on it to essentially trick people into going to the movies...it worked and we can expect a "District 10" in the very near future. I wouldn't buy it, but if you are one of those people who like science fiction then give it a try.

District 9: Alienus Ex Machina

For 28 years extraterrestrials have been relegated to ghettos, their existence degrading and abortive, scrounging through human refuse, victimized by Capitalist and Militarist idealism. Wikus van de Merwe is in charge of the relocation project to move these aliens from the center of Johannesburg to the outskirts of town, and this becomes more an exercise in military action than “humanitarian” aide. He grudgingly befriends a Prawn named Christopher Johnson and together they must find a cure for his transformation and restart the hovering Mothership.

Director and writer Neill Blomkamp has some grand ideals, utilizing the narrative structure of science fiction to examine human nature, but his story becomes a confused mass of melodrama and shoot’em up cliché. Blomkamp smartly begins the film with exposition in a cinema verite style, bringing the viewer into this possible reality with newsreel footage and interviews, and reveals very little about this grand mystery. This is absolutely essential in suspending our disbelief and it almost works: Pascal said that Truth is stranger than fiction…because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. And here the narrative becomes implausible and unable to reconcile with possibilities and descends into the prosaic.

Many plot holes become obvious: It is difficult to believe that the alien compound would be allowed access to local crime lords…and the aliens allowed to keep weaponry. This would be the most heavily guarded structure on earth, whether its in South America or Washington DC! And every piece of alien technology would be confiscated and catalogued while the Mothership would have become home to thousands of scientists deconstructing the technology: this would be the greatest event in human history. Also, the Command Unit would have been easy to discover because it was filmed detaching from the ship; even so, satellite technology or, if the ship was an obstacle, metal detectors or search parties would have discovered the subsurface module. And why does Christopher Johnson spend twenty years collecting the black fluid fuel? Wasn’t it on the ship before they were discovered? The Prawns have some legal status otherwise they wouldn’t have needed to sign wavers: where was the Red Cross or other aid? And why didn’t the aliens have a representative, either human or from their own race? As Wikus transforms into an alien, he retains his human cognitive functions: how is he able to give commands to alien technology in English? And why would District 9 be the last place he would go: it would be the first! And cell phone calls are not only triangulated quickly but to within a few feet of the originating location.

The poorly written script languishes in modern science fiction convention but does have its subtle moments: Blomkamp focuses upon Wikus and his diminishing physicality, his human identity being subsumed by this horrendous transformation. But his morality is questionable from the very beginning: he considers the aliens as sentient beings but has no problem aborting their young, or using threats to get these beings to sign his documents.

Unfortunately, the story violates one of the basic tenets of creative writing: never extricate characters with Deus Ex Machina trickery; or in this case, Alienus Ex Machina. The CGI is brilliant and adds a gritty realism that provides the film with visual frisson that is underlined by a mournful score. The final scene of Wikus now fully transformed gently crafting a metal flower is a requiem for his lost humanity and fading hope. Final Grade: (C-)

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Recommendations: The Birds, Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960), Funny Games

All reviews copyright Korova, Ltd. Visit Alex at his Home Theatre Blog, http://korovatheatrepresents.blogspot.com/

District 9

So many questions.

So few answers.

Anytime you do an alien invasion story, you have a responsibility to make a few things clear. Why are the aliens here? What do they want? What are their abilities? What kind of tech level are we talking about? How smart are they?

You have to answer these questions because we've seen so many alien invasion stories we can assimilate the fact of an alien arrival very quickly. (In the movies, anyway.) Within seconds we're wondering what KIND of aliens we're dealing with.

Now, if you as a storyteller want to deliberately withhold the answer to a particular question and make it the focus of the story -- "Yes, these aliens are amazing, and all they seem to do is help us out, but what do they REALLY want?" -- then have at it, good for you, I can't wait to see the flick.

If, on the other hand, you withhold answers to these questions because you don't really know the answers... if you present contradictory answers that shift around in response to plot demands... if your human characters don't even ask these fundamental questions... if your aliens are a conceptual mess in every possible way...

...then you've got something like "District 9."

The idea behind this movie is that aliens show up on Earth one day and get their asses handed to them so badly that we feel sorry for the aliens. This premise is so implausible it's hard to imagine how it could be saved. "District 9" gives us no clues.

The movie opens twenty years after the aliens (called "Prawns") have arrived. Here's a list of ridiculous and/or unexplained things that happen:

--The Prawn mothership has come to rest over Johannesburg, South Africa. (From what I hear of JoBurg, it's a fantastic city, but the South Africans are barely in charge of South Africa. At best this is a random choice on the part of homework-shirking aliens.)

--The United States has no interaction with the aliens because the U.S. has no territorial jurisdiction in South Africa.

Okay, stop the list. Stop the list!

This one item is so outlandish it's almost impossible to continue. In a movie about alien visitors appearing on Earth, there are no Americans anywhere to be seen. Literally there isn't a single American character. This is arguably more fantastical than the appearance of aliens.

In a way it's sweet that young film-maker Neill Blomkamp thinks the United States would let South Africa -- or the curiously fictional multi-national task force called MNU (why not just use the existing United Nations?) -- represent humanity. But much like the war in Iraq, any global situation that menaces the security of the USA will see personal intervention from the USA. To pretend this isn't the case badly hurts the movie's sense of reality.

It's almost as if "District 9" were a big F.U. to the United States for the movie "Independence Day," in which Americans were portrayed as the only people strong enough or spirited enough to offer the slightest resistance to an alien takeover. If that is indeed the case, then... touche, "District 9."

Okay, on with the list:

--MNU troops board the mothership, only to discover the aliens are practically lying on the floor in a heap, victims of either malnourishment or illness. Neither possibility is explored or explained in the subsequent twenty years. Really? Isn't it kind of important to figure out what happened to these aliens?

--The Prawn are removed from their mothership and quartered in a city slum, the District 9 of the title. Again, I'm pretty sure America (or Japan, or China, or the United Nations) would put the Prawn up at a first-rate research facility for the chance to study and learn from them, but the South Africans are running things, so... it's off to Shantytown with you guys. There the Prawn live in shacks, rooting through garbage heaps like animals. And Americans are left to mutter "Dang! I wish they'd appeared above Cleveland!"

--And indeed the Prawn are animals, intellectually. Although they can speak, their functional intelligence is low-human at best, high-dog at worst. Mention is made -- once, that I can recall -- that the mystery illness may be responsible for this, but the idea is abandoned as soon as it is raised. "Dumb aliens" is simply part of the premise of the movie.

--So, twenty years after the arrival of the Prawn (i.e. the present day), MNU decides to evict them from District 9. Why do they do this? I'm glad you asked! You see, the residents of neighboring slums don't like living beside the criminal-minded (!!!) Prawn. I guess the Prawn, clueless when it comes to the concept of private property, steal stuff. Yeah. You know why I don't like living next to creatures from another planet? One of 'em stole my bike last year.

--To properly evict the Prawn, MNU needs their signatures on consent forms. I don't know what else to say about this. Moving on...

--A bureaucratic paper pusher named Wikus Van De Merwe is placed in charge of this operation.

--Wikus is also on the lookout for illegal weapons. When he finds a strange cannister with alien markings on it, he sprays himself in the face like an idiot.

--This is bad for Wikus, as it gradually turns him into a Prawn himself! Wow, you're saying, that's incredible. Was it designed for that purpose? Nope! It's actually a kind of fuel, this tar-like substance. It's necessary for the operation of Prawn technology. But if a human touches it, he or she turns into a Prawn. I wonder what else it can do. Clean your apartment while you're out, maybe!

--Wikus is taken to a bio-containment facility for medical study i.e. vivisection. Lots of greedy, cold-hearted people stand around marveling at how valuable a bio-weapon based on human/Prawn hybrid technology would be. Did I mention the Prawn spend their time rooting around in garbage heaps? A human/Prawn hybrid strikes me as less valuable than a simple human, but MNU intends to vivisect poor Wikus over it. Okay.

--This evil plan fails because Wikus... are you with me here?... pushes a couple people out of the way and runs out of the building, escaping into District 9. I think he shows flashes of "alien" strength, but geez, you'd think they'd perform the surgery in a locked room, just to be safe, instead of the highly escapable hangar bay.

--Wikus (who is growing a Prawn arm now) seeks out the Prawn who lives in the shack where he sprayed himself. He learns that only technology found on the Prawn mothership can reverse Wikus' transformation. And the only way to get to the mothership is to recover the remaining fluid in the cannister. That fluid can be used to power the small space capsule the friendly Prawn has buried underneath his shack. Unfortunately the cannister is in MNU's possession, and we are made to suppose that MNU headquarters is a lot harder to break into than it was for Wikus to break out of.

And so at long last we have a plot goal -- sheesh, it took us awhile to get here!

--Wikus and his Prawn friend need weapons to break into MNU, so they go to... a Nigerian weapons dealer living in the slum. Wikus apparently goes to an ATM, withdraws some cash, and runs over to the weapons dealer's shack. Unfortunately, the weapons dealer wants to eat Wikus' arm because he thinks it will give him the powers of the Prawn (the aforementioned rooting-around-in-garbage-heaps.)

--Not to worry, though. Wikus employs his patented "push a couple people out of the way and run out of the building" approach to escape. To be fair, he does snatch a Prawn rifle lying on the ground to help his cause. And I don't mean to throw stones here, but if I were a Nigerian weapons dealer intent on eating someone's arm, my rule of thumb would be "don't leave rifles lying on the floor," ESPECIALLY if they are "alien" laser rifles that only work for people with alien DNA, like the guy whose arm I'm trying to eat. But I'm not a Nigerian weapons dealer. Maybe that's why.

--So Wikus has himself some guns. He and his Prawn friend break into MNU, shooting everyone in sight. They grab the cannister of alien fluid (which has been left in a drawer), and shoot their way out. Yes, Wikus does push a couple people out of the way during his escape. It's what he does.

--Where does that leave us? Oh yeah, Wikus and his buddy take the fluid back to the home shack, fuel up the space capsule and take off. Ahhhhh. Success! Except that an MNU baddie fires a rocket launcher at the space capsule, making it crash. Sigh.

--Wikus gets captured not by MNU (who have REALLY poor ground troops) but by the Nigerian weapons dealer, who AGAIN tries to eat Wikus' arm. To make a verrrry long story short, Wikus ends up in a suit of mechanized Prawn battle armor -- don't ask -- and shoots his way out.

--Once free, Wikus battles the slow-arriving MNU ground troops, who are trying to stop Wikus' friend from getting back to his space capsule and resuming his flight up to the mothership. After a loud, artlessly-staged fight sequence (there are no other kind in this movie), Wikus sacrifices himself to buy time for his Prawn friend to escape.

--His Prawn friend reaches the mothership and somehow pilots it out of orbit, bound for home at last. Raising ALL kinds of questions like 1) so you only need one person to pilot this thing? 2) Then why are there normally thirty thousand Prawn on board? And 3) Why did Wikus' Prawn friend leave all the rest of the Prawn behind? 4) Couldn't he use the tractor beam technology shown earlier to lift the Prawn out of District 9 and into the mothership? And of course, the mother of all questions in this movie, 5) If it were within Prawn power to repair the mothership and fly home, WHY DID THEY STOP HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?

As an American, I'm kind of glad my country wasn't represented in "District 9" because every human comes off terribly. Even Wikus, the main character, treats the Prawn horribly until he needs one of them to keep him from turning into a Prawn. And he's the best of an awful, evil bunch of human characters.

The movie is meant to be an allegory. I get that. But the best allegories are buried beneath dramatic plausibility. Otherwise they ring hollow.

Blomkamp seems to want to make a point about man's inhumanity to man -- through the prism of man's inhumanity to aliens -- but his story plays out so ridiculously that I end up disagreeing with his thematic premise. I do not think humanity would treat aliens this shabbily, and therefore I don't think humans are as hard on fellow humans as Blomkamp supposes.

And I have a dim view of humanity! In a perverse way, Blomkamp has given me hope for all of us by making such an ineffective movie about humanity's barbarism.

For that, I guess I should thank him. I'm not going to, though.

SCORE:

How Accomplished: 22/100 (movie gets five points for the Prawn looking good on a modest budget)

How Much I Enjoyed: 14/100 (As a veteran of alien-invasion stories, I'm probably a little harder to please than most.) (Also, the jittery handheld camera made me want to punch Blomkamp in the face.)

District 9

Yes.. I'm back blogging. Not like anyone cares but hey! Finally found the spirit to blog again after doing the blog for my IPD. Anyway I know it's been out long but just saw District 9 last week and it was awesome!



I love this movie man!This movie was so brilliant, so fast paced and so radically different from any movie I've seen. So District 9 is about this spaceship who kinda "crash landed" over Johannesburg and we find these aliens that are malnourished and dying and we decided to be nice to them. We set up a refuge camp for them and take care of them. But 30 years after the crash landing, we humans get sick of looking at their prawn faces and decide to move them to another refuge camp far far away. And this guy, Wikus van der bla bla is the guy in charge of evicting the aliens.



The CGI of the film is so gritty and the film's documentary style made all the action scenes look so freaking real. District 9 takes me back to films like Terminator where the film is so breathtaking and so amazing and then you find out the low budget it was made on and you just go like "WHAT?" The whole damn movie costs 30 million dollars. You know what other movie costs 30 million dollars? He's Just Not That Into You. So just compare the two and awe at the reverence of Peter Jackson once more!



Now I was looking at this and I'm thinking "This is a cool ass science fiction film." But there is also so much emotion and drama added to make the story even better. And such a big social statement of apartheid and racism of us humans.



Oh Oh Oh and it is so freakin gory! We get all the bloody massacres from people being blown up by ray guns and niggas devouring alien limbs. I don't get squeamish watching slasher films, but watching District 9 kinda made me cringe a little.

So anyway, if you guys are looking for a show that's gonna make you go Ohhh and Whoah and Holy Shit.. District 9 baby! District 9!!

RATING:9/10

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NicholasC

District 9

In the novel Disgrace, a privileged white South African is systematically destroyed for transgressing cultural boundaries (and for being a racist, chauvinist dinosaur). The novel was written by privileged white South African Nobel Prize in Literature winner J.M. Coetzee. As ever with Coetzee, the moral of the story is ambiguous. Although the white guy is a supercilious prick, many of his antagonists are, similarly, prickly. Coetzee creates a picture of South African society which is congenitally violent, enthralled by deviant sex, and fond of ostracism. The movie,District 9, is basically the same story, with freaky aliens, a big black robot, and lots and lots of guns.

A huge alien spaceship hovers over Johannesburg. The aliens themselves landed twenty years ago. They look like walking prawns. After token efforts at integration failed, the humans decided to ghettoise the aliens. The result was District 9, an alien Soweto. Government legislation, perhaps hankering after a new apartheid, forbids the aliens from owning property or associating with humans. They are policed by a private military corporation called Multinational United. On the day our story begins, MNU is tasked with emptying the ghetto to make way for District 10. It’s going to be a very bad day for MNU underling Wikus van de Merwe.

As I say, it’s Disgrace, with aliens. Only, instead of having an affair with a younger woman, Wikus accidentally ingests alien space-fuel. And, instead of retreating to his daughter’s farm in the Eastern Cape, his right arm turns into a giant lobster claw and he blows the crap out of some xenophobic mercenaries. I have a hunch (albeit sarcastic) J.M. Coetzee would like these developments. They aren’t exactly in the spirit of his novel’s elegiac humility, but they’re f—ing exciting to watch. As Wikus is brutally ostracized from his society, there’s a very Coetzee-an feel to the plight. He doesn’t deserve our sympathy; he earns it, as he pukes ink and sees his fingernails fall out. His is a cathartic journey, much like the literature professor in Disgrace. It’s just that Wikus finds catharsis by turning into a walking prawn.

Native South African Sharlto Copley plays Wikus as an office drone, but he can’t help being South African too. There’s something about white guys from South Africa that radiates confidence, and brio. Even if you’re a white South African nerd, choked with guilt for the sins of your white forebears, you can’t help acting cock of the walk. If Wikus was British he’d be a snivelling, weak-kneed, civil servant-type. But since he’s South African, and being played by a South African, the manly spirit of Africa is present even in his tank top. This helps when he starts blasting MNU goons with alien weaponry, in a way it wouldn’t if Wikus was played by Hugh Grant.

Director Neil Blomkamp’s great success, besides casting Copley, is to surround his star with a fictional world that seems real. Using the same found-footage technique that helped convince the audience inCloverfield, Blomkamp presents his story as half The Fly and half fly-on-the-wall documentary. Unlike Cloverfield’s director (Matt Reeves), however, Blomkamp realises that the I’ll-just-keep-the-camera-running trick gets nonsensical at times, so he’s never afraid to abandon the documentary format when he wants to root you in a scene. The finished movie is the fastest, wildest, most heavily-armed racial segregation parable you can imagine.

J.M. Coetzee would probably not wish to be associated with District 9, or any movie about cat food-eating aliens. And it’s true, District 9 is not (unlike Disgrace), a deft autopsy of white South African conceit. District 9 is more interested in alien autopsies, and giant robots, and what happens when aliens kick ass using giant robots. It doesn’t want to probe the white South African psyche, so much as splatter white South African guts. And ok, no-one’s going to award this movie a Nobel Prize. But that’s not to say it isn’t fun. District 9 is what would’ve happened if the A.N.C. had directed Robocop. There’s good reason it feels so right when the racist villains get pulped.

DISTRICT 9 (2009)

BOTTOM LINE: “District 9” wins big points for originality, execution and its decidedly risky story and execution, given its pitch as a mainstream film. The film however overstays its welcome and descends into typical Hollywood convention, action and noise by the end.

THE GOOD: There is much to praise in this film by young upcoming director Neil Blomkamp. With oscar-winner Peter Jackson in his producing corner, Blomkamp has been able to turn a $30 million film in to one that rivals films with three times that budget. He has also been given free reign to execute the film in whatever manner he saw fit, which is again, quite rare in Hollywood filmmaking unless you are one of the top directors, least of all on one of your first features. “District 9” tells its story through a combination of documentary and hand-held action techniques, and coupled with the film’s risky story which sees alien refugees trying to co-exist with humans in a very apartheid-like society in South Africa, you have in effect an arthouse film pitched for the mainstream market. The film is not afraid to use its science-fiction context to discuss racial issues, delving in to the darker aspects of human behaviour. The apartheid motif is about as subtle as a sledge-hammer, with the aliens taking the place of blacks (the aliens are referred to as “prawns” by the human characters), although it does allow many moments of social and political commentary that give food for thought. This is borne out in the character of Wikus (Sharlto Copley) who is in charge of moving the aliens out of District 9 and away from the human population who have grown fed up with their presence. When he is exposed to a piece of alien biotechnology, he suddenly finds himself transforming in to one of the aliens and is forced to seek refuge in District 9; he tries to find a way to transform himself back in to a human while the agency he used to be in charge of hunts him down in order to conduct their own experiments on him. The cast is filled with unknowns who do a particularly good job with their performances, particularly Sharlto Copley who not only sees his character transform from human to alien, but also from a coward to a reluctant hero. Although this is a film with aliens and is set within the realm of science-fiction, “District 9” is really a commentary about how ugly humans can be. The filmmakers deserve their kudos for making such a risky story within the realms of mainstream filmmaking. Neil Blomkamp in particular has shown a remarkable amount of skill as director in bringing to life this rather unusual story.

THE BAD: Despite its unique approach, “District 9” does manage to stumble in to typical conventions, particularly in its second hour. By this point, there is so much noise, explosions, bullets and people being blasted by alien weapons that it all becomes tedious and over the top. The conventions are a plenty, including the smart and cute alien kid, the object of pursuit (ie The MacGuffin) which is the alien biotechnology, the fish out of water story where an oppressor comes to sympathise with those he oppressed, and a flimsy fugitive-esque chase story. All of these elements are not new and stand out as a little disappointing in an otherwise unique genre film that manages to all but exceed its origins. The character of Wikus is difficult to follow; he is such a coward in the first hour that you do not feel that much sympathy for him. Even in the second hour when he has that moment where he does not think of himself but he puts the fate of his new alien friend ahead of his own, there is still not much to sympathise with, even when we get to the last shot of Wikus, now fully transformed in to alien, constructing a flower which he sends to his wife. In the end, “District 9” manages to overstay its welcome by about twenty minutes, and largely that is due to too many action sequences in the climax which make the whole endeavour tedious rather than engaging and thrilling.

RATING: 7.5/10

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Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

District 9

Plot: It’s been almost 30 years since an alien race crashed landed on Earth.  Their ship is damaged making it impossible for them to return home.  They live in terrible conditions in a place called District 9 in South Africa.  When the government tries to relocate them to a new facility, something goes terribly wrong with one of the government officials.

District 9 is a damn good movie, but I think people need to calm down.  It’s not one of the greatest ever made.  It’s getting a little more praise then it deserves.  Make no mistake though; it is something that should be seen.  I have to admit that when I saw the trailer, I thought it was just some gimmick like the Blair Witch Project, one of my least favorite movies of all time.  “Oh, so it’s an alien movie, but shot like a documentary.  Yea, we’ll see how this one turns out.”  Sure, I was a regular Sammy Skeptic, but I thoroughly enjoyed this.

There are only two great characters, but its enough.  The government official Wikus Van De Merwe (played by Sharlto Copley) is very likable at the beginning.  The movie does a great job of getting the audience on his side right away.  This is a good thing because bad things happen to this guy, but he also has some questionable actions.  Copley gives an outstanding performance here, probably the best acting I’ve seen so far this year.  Unfortunately the human antagonists are pretty ‘meh.’  This hurt the movie a little bit.  I would have liked to known more about the bad guys.  The other great character is Christopher Johnson (one of the aliens).  He’s one of the few aliens you get to know.  You really feel for this guy and that’s credit to the great direction.

Neil Blomkamp is the director.  This is his first movie, and boy does he have a bright future.  Some of the tension he creates had me sweating bullets.  Easily the best scene for me is when there is a huge standoff in a government building.  There are a lot of realizations about what’s been happening to some of the aliens that come to a head here and the character interaction was gut-wrenching.  It’s one of my favorite scenes so far this year.  The begining was also great.  Just watching the back and forth between the humans and aliens as they argue about being relocated was fascinating.  It was a very strong first half.

The special effects also need to be mentioned.  A lot has been said already about how good they look, and they do look really good.  The amazing thing is the budget was about $30-35 million yet they look so much better than some of the big budget movies like X-Men Origins: Wolverine where they are piss poor.  There are so many special effects these days that look like a fricking Saturday morning cartoon, but these actually look real dammit.  But the special effects are nothing if it’s a sub-par story, and District 9 is very strong in that area.

Unfortunately there were some things that bothered me.  The last third of the movie drags on forever.  This really knocked it down a few pegs in my book.  The climax keeps going and going and going.  There are too many character twists.  Enough already – just get to the ending.  I think it was wrapped up nicely and I like the ending a lot, it just takes forever to get there.  It gets so long that it starts to feel like a ‘meh’ sci-fi action flick.  This hurt some of the tension in the end, but you still get the emotional impact you crave.

So all in all, an impressive movie, but it’s not the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.  I think people are overrating it because of the way it was made.  Yes, it was very original and we’ve never seen anything like it done before, but I’m not going to give it 500 points just for that.  The Blair Witch Project was original and different too, but that movie had shitty characters and an even worse plot.  District 9 has a great story, and pretty good characters.  Definitely a must see, but lets calm down.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Last updated: 2010-02-01 18:34:30 by danjewish

Movie Review: District (2009)

District 9
 
is a film that I really liked but wish I liked more.

Produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Neill Blomkamp (previously best known for his 3D animations), the film has an original and fascinating premise with a political message – aliens stranded in Johannesburg, South Africa and segregated by an apartheid government into the titular District 9 (a reference to the infamous South African ‘whites only’ District Six of 1966).
However, the film was not as political as I expected – while it may have started off that way, before long it morphed into your more typical action sci-fi film, complete with an impossible mission, robots and alien blasters.

Stylistically, the movie was also somewhat uneven.  It commenced with a documentary-infused style which utilises a mixture of news footage, interviews and a ‘live’, nausea-inducing hand-held cam (which made my wife ill).  It was fresh but after half-an hour of it I was beginning to get sick of it (both mentally and physically).  But as the film started to become more personal and action-oriented (and for where news cameras would not have been available), it started to return to more traditional film-making and story-telling techniques.  Strangely, it was at this point that I began to really enjoy the movie.  Perhaps it was because characters finally started emerging and plot started moving.  Regardless, it was fun.

Speaking of characters, the human actors are largely unknowns (to me anyway), and they put in credible performances.  The lead actor, Sharlto Copley who plays Wikus van de Merwe, really annoyed me at the beginning but he grows on you as the film progresses.

Needless to say, the special effects were seamless.  So was the make-up.  I especially liked the alien design, a far cry from your slim, grey-skinned extra-terrestrial with the big black eyes.  They were funny (and provided much comic relief) but human enough for audiences to relate when required.

So overall, an unusual, solid film – one that I’m likely to remember a few years from now.  There were some glaring plot holes and inconsistencies, but District 9 is impressive enough in most other areas for me to recommend it.

3.5 stars out of 5!

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PJM

Last updated: 2010-01-05 23:04:19 by user04

District 9 — 9.5

HOLY SHIT!

I dont know where to start with this one, fucking great godamned movie from start to end, nearly no complaints, but still amazing and is a must see!

First off, there are no major actors in this movie at all, no one i even remotely recognize, which adds a sense of realism to this film, since they are not actors you have seen before, you have no attachments to them. The main character is such a by-the-books jackass at the beginning of the movie, you actually want to kill him at certain points. But through the progression of the movie, he turns into an utter badass.

The movie starts off as short of a self biography of the main character, and then changes into what seems like interview sessions. The amount of ways the director went out of his way to make this movie seem more and more real is ridicilous, there was no point in this movie where i questioned that the aliens, or Prawns(a racist term in this world) were actually fake, or people in suits. This movie makes them feel alive, like they are actually real. its insane.

I wont go to much into the story I’ll save that you to watch. but the aliens have weaponry, that will only work with their DNA, similar to guns that require a fingerprint to work. And their weapons are so brutal, its crazy, like there is one gun that shoots lighting, but when it hits a living creature, the thing it was pointing at(including prawns, or humans) becomes and exploding pile of mush. like someone shot at a human, replaced the human with red mashed potatoes around a bomb and let it go off. It is a thing of pure genius. I laughed manically along with the rest of the theatre the first time it happened.

Base Score – 10, i fucking love this movie

-1 for actually seeing a few things that had me cringe, like the popping scene. and how humans were treating the prawns.
+ .5 for awesome mech!
= 9.5/10

Last updated: 2010-01-12 01:43:32 by Tolll

District 9

District 9 — a movie which poses the question of what would happen if Aliens were stranded on our planet — is a film which, despite the many things it gets right, fails to capitalize upon its great potential. Abandoning its possibly intriguing philosophical and fantastical premise in favor of shooting and explosions, District 9 makes itself into little more than an ascending action flick. While there are vague allusions to social inequality and specism/racism, on the whole the story comes off as rather bland and vacant.

Instead of choosing to focus on the real subject of interest, that of the aliens and their struggle, we are forced to follow the story of one unlikable imbecile who becomes infected by some sort of mutating alien virus. Previously employed to relocate the Aliens, Wikus Van De Merwe (the main character) finds himself a newly fashioned subject of vehement prejudice as he transforms into one of the aliens which he previously took part in condemning. His plight is the main subject of the story. The problem with this is that, well, I just didn’t care about him. At no point did I feel much concern for the unfortunate Wikus (call me stone hearted if you will). I got the distinct impression that I was supposed to care about him though, at the very least, by the films conclusion. Maybe he was supposed to be lovable in some light, but I failed to see it. Perhaps I am mistaken, which is possible considering they managed to make me like the mostly unlikable Aliens. Though liking an abstract foreign entity is certainly easier than liking a human in this film, as the creators would apparently have us believe that mankind is comprised almost entirely of blood sucking brutes and morons. Whatever the case, the protagonist of District 9 is not a character I am going to shed tears over (that doesn’t stop them from trying though). The only characters I did feel any attachment to happened to be a sophisticated pair of “Prawns”, as the aliens are called. Unfortunately though, they are eclipsed by the buffoon of a protagonist who occupies most of the screen time. On that note, a quick word: If as a writer or director you decide to frame your protagonist as unlikable through most of your movie, then by all means, do so. I happen to love a good old anti-hero.  But when you do, don’t try and pull an absurd moral 360 and have him suddenly become some martyr hero. It’s  abrupt, lazy storytelling, and it ruins movies.

Worse yet than the handling of the protagonist is the movie’s employment of a characterture villain. In the second two acts a rather half-hearted attempt is made to forge some sort of singular antagonist in the form of a cut and paste evil mercenary colonel. This character serves very little purpose and could have been completely ignored in my opinion. He also delivers by far the worst line of the movie. It’s some wannabe memorable line about “enjoying watching Prawns die” which is delivered with almost no affecting intensity in a pretty mediocre performance by some guy. It also made me cringe with how absurd it seemed.

I just couldn’t help being frustrated with this movie. I found myself repeatedly wondering through this films running time: Who cares about this lame, insignificant human drama when there is a massive space ship floating in the background? I want to know about that! But no, we learn only minuscule tid-bits about the fascinating stuff, which perpetually looms off in the horizon (literally), always taunting us with its mysterious presence. Instead of learning of that, we get a rather tepid story of cross species unity and a symbol of apartheid. Did I mention, the movie is emotionally flat?

I felt almost cheated by writer/director Neill Blomkamp. He had a great concept that he managed to make it into something almost conventional. Yeah, this movie is pretty good. Its saving grace is its distinct hint of originality. But it fails to really delve into the intrigue that is there on so many levels. Unanswered questions include: Why are the Aliens there, where are they from, what are the alien character back stories? And that’s just for starters.  I get that they ignored that stuff consciously, but what I don’t get is why.

In the end, it is not the characters or the action but the initial premise which is the best part about District 9.  Sadly though, that premise is almost misleading as what the movies really about is one man’s transformation into Alien-dom. It may sound as though I am condemning the movie for it being something different than I wanted. It should, because that’s true. And I feel justified in saying so simply because I can see an action movie any time. G.I. Joe is still playing last I checked.

Is it so much to ask for a sci-fi film that justifies its actions, and uses scientific concepts that are not completely absurd? I don’t think so. The thing is, I did not dislike District 9 (hard to believe at this point, probably). I enjoyed it for what it was worth. That being a modestly intelligent sci-fi action flick. It was not the intellectually challenging, philosophical science fiction query movie I had been hoping for (I need to see Moon I guess). I had heard a lot about this film. Mostly good things. Maybe I went in with too high of expectations where most others went in with none. Maybe not. All-in-all, District 9 is an “okay” film that doesn’t penetrate to the heart of any of its proposed subject matter, making it less than the great movie it might have been.

3 out of 4 stars for what is probably the most overrated movie of 2009 so far (In close contention with Star Trek, though I think I liked Star Trek better).

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Recommendations:

Last updated: 2010-01-02 22:40:41 by user01

DISTRICT 9

District 9 is sort of an action movie for the thinking man.  It actually has a smart premise and is thoughtfully done.  It’s not your typical Transformers or G.I. Joe movie just full of explosions and stuff.  It stars a bunch of actors that nobody’s ever heard of and takes place in South Africa.  It’s also shot with a lot of hand-held cameras in a documentary style for much of the movie.  None of these factors would normally add up to a box office hit.  Yet, it has managed to become one.  That’s because it’s unique and unlike almost anything you’ve ever seen before.
The movie begins by explaining that an alien ship has resided over Johannesburg, South Africa.  The aliens from this ship have been segregated to a slum district, kind of similar to apartheid in some ways.  Residents don’t like having the aliens there and so the government decides to begin a mission to move the aliens to a district that is further away.  Most of the movie follows Wikus Van De Merwe, played by Sharlto Copley.  He is appointed to lead the task of evicting the aliens from their current shacks and moving them.  He’s a rather friendly, optimistic guy especially considering the task he’s been given.
Of course, the transition doesn’t run so smoothly and problems soon arise.  One problem is that Wikus gets infected with some sort of fluid that he comes across in one of the shacks.  The movie gets even more interesting from that point on.  There are a lot of cool scenes of the aliens being resistant and even rioting just as people would in similar situations.  For a movie that didn’t really cost too much to make, the aliens are very detailed and realistic-looking.  They’re called prawns by the people because that’s the creature they most resemble here on Earth.  There are parallels to racism and class structure that are much like what has gone on in South Africa for so long (the director grew up there).  All this makes for a pretty intriguing and different film from most of what you see nowadays.
Unfortunately, the last 30 minutes or so of the movie gets too caught up in the action.  The climactic battle at the end goes on way too long.  This is where I started to get bored and at points felt like I was watching one of those other typical action movies.  I missed the clever story that had initially piqued my interest.  Still, this really was a different movie experience from most of what you see out there.  The only film it sort of resembles in some ways would be Cloverfield which was also worth seeing, yet this still stands on its own.

Recommendations: The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Se7en , 25th Hour

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-philadelphia/danny-porcaro

District 9

(This review might refer to a few plot points that you might prefer not to know until you watch the film, although it tries to avoid explicit spoilers, so if you want to stop here, let me sum up: I did not like “District 9″)

A huge spaceship has appeared in Johannesburg, floating over the city. Human beings board it and find incredibly generic-looking aliens who must have taken about five minutes of work from this movie’s design department. They look like prawns, so the humans start calling them, of course, prawns. They’re malnourished and in need of refuge until they can return to their home planet. However, this proves to be a difficult task for… some reason the movie doesn’t bother answering, and if it did it was amidst so much other exposition I couldn’t catch it. I think it has to do with the Prawns being an advanced civilization who has mastered interestellar (or possibly intergalactic) travel but are not above acting like obnoxious cavemen when interacting with human beings. So, the aliens start living on District 9, which over the course of the next twenty years, becomes a slum.

All of this is depicted through a documentary style that the movie uses not as a clever narrative device, but as an easy way of dropping tons of exposition on the viewer without having to bother with things like “subtlety”, “narrative economy” or “immersion”. In fact, one character tries to convince us of this film’s originality by saying (I’m paraphrasing) “this spaceship has appeared not in New York, but in Johannesburg”. Director Neill Blomkamp might as well have included a shot of himself winking to the audience and saying “See what I did there?”

This documentary style could have worked as an introduction, but the entire film uses it — whenever there is a camera, no matter if it’s a camera a character is using, a security camera or a camera mounted on someone’s gun, director Neill Blomkamp cuts to it, no matter how ridiculous or out-of-place it looks — which is particularly painful when it comes to the gun-mounted cameras.

In fact, Blomkamp’s camerawork makes Peter Berg look like a genius. He’s apparently not aware there’s such revolutionary techniques like tripods and steadicams and instead he uses Parkinson’s-Disease-camera for the entire film. Even when the protagonist is talking on a cellphone, sitting down, completely still, simply quiet, not moving at all— Blomkamp films from a distance, with a zoom — and the camera shakes so bad the protagonist goes from the center of the shot to having half his body cropped by the right side of the frame and then back to the center of the shot again. Hell, in the scene the restrained protagonist is refusing to kill an alien, an actor actually obstructs the fucking frame and Blomkamp takes his time cutting to another angle.

The director is also completely lost when it comes to timing — the movie just speeds forward like Blomkamp is afraid the theater will explode if something intense doesn’t happen onscreen for two or three minutes. And I already mentioned subtlety isn’t his strength either, but a more specific example is still needed: on the same cellphone scene I just mentioned, the protagonist’s reaction to being rejected by a character is trying to cut his own arm off, which, even under his extraordinary circumstances, is excessive to say the least.

Mind you, the protagonist is a total idiot, and the movie knows this — after all, he’s being hunted by the authorities and yet he keeps using his cellphone (he does refrain from answering the question “where are you?”, but I think this is because he did not actually know where he was). However, he is also unlikeable and inconsistent. In the beginning of the film, he’s being a dick to the Prawns, but in the middle of it he’s shocked by the notion of killing one.

In fact, all characters in this movie are unlikeable, and the ones Blomkamp means for us not to like, he really means, going as far as to have them laugh cruelly. The most extreme example is when Blomkamp focuses on two of them eating a Prawn’s body part and chewing wildly like gorillas on amphetamines.

Because, as it must be clear by now, “District 9″ is a very badly-written film. The dialogue is simplistic (“I’m not fucking like them.”) and the film’s attempts at humor are out-of-place and simply bad — the scene the protagonist finds out he’s been accused of having sex with a Prawn is illustrated by a still shot during a news program, showing himfucking a Prawn out in the open — and if this is a satire of Fox News or something, it should have taken a backseat to the movie’s tone and story.

But it’s not just that — when the protagonist is captured and becomes a test subject, the scientists are incredibly cruel to him, even though they need his cooperation. And for the love of sheer common sense,how did they expect to perform complicated surgery on him without ananaesthetic? Did they think he’d stay still while they opened his chest? And why didn’t they restrain him properly, knowing he is going through a change that makes him significantly stronger? And for fuck’s sake, why is it that after the protagonist is contaminated, the other characters act like this was always the plan? And why don’t they go visit the place where he was contaminated, if they’re so interested in it? There were witnesses who saw him being contaminated and where that happened, there’s even footage of it. And if the protagonist is such an idiot, why was he promoted? Because his boss is his father-in-law? The same father-in-law who, later in the movie, wants him dead?

“District 9″ isn’t original either. As mentioned, the aliens are ridiculously generic, a simplistic hybrid of arthropod and human being. That, and the film is full of cliches, with several predictable plot points being introduced in the beginning (the squad leader who will later be trouble, the gang leader who will later be trouble, the alien who will later be trouble, then help, then trouble again). Blomkamp even goes for the cliche of the child-alien liking the protagonist, despite the protagonist being a dick to him all the time. Not to mention the moment the protagonist is about to abandon someone, then regrets it and goes back for the rescue.

Despite Blomkamp’s bad craftsmanship, the film’s editing is at least competent — well, okay, it isn’t, it cuts sloppily to several unnecessary camera angles, but in the action scenes it works, making them clear and understandable. But once again, the film sabotages itself with preposterousness, like the painfully stupid moment an alien uses a thin sheet of metal that barely covers half his body to shield himself from a constant stream of bullets — and it works for him. In fact, Blomkamp thinks that showing bullets hitting the metal all the time makes it more believable, when all it does is to prove the people shooting have a good aim and could easily shoot the alien’s unprotected legs from under him. And even more hilariously, when the alien drops the sheet of metal and makes a run for it — suddenly everyone forgets how to shoot properly! This same alien, in a certain moment of the film, says “I have an idea”, channels McGyver and assembles a bomb in under two seconds.

Even the mecha-armor introduced in the film has been seen before in better sci-fi movies, like “Aliens”. And again, they only make the film’s paradox even bigger: the Prawns have advanced technology but are not above acting like trailer park rednecks. And even though the huge spaceship floats above Johannesburg for twenty years, literally rotting up there with no way of returning to its home planet, then I fail to understand how the movie’s ending is coherent. Do you expect me to believe that McGuffin (the little tube of fluid) is the solution toeverything? The ending, by the way, after portraying all its characters as cunts, expects us to feel emotional at the way the film’s conflicts are resolved.

Sharlto Copley is intense as the protagonist Wikus Van De Merwe, but that’s all the fast-paced, over-edited movie allows him to be. The rest of the cast is either cartoonishly evil or simply unremarkable. The aliens themselves are well-animated most of the time, failing only when they need to express more subtle emotions — but in this instance, this movie’s cheap budget of thirty million dollars actually works as an excuse, and in all fairness the special effects are mostly convincing. The cinematography, sound effects and the music are efficient as well, making for a technically decent film, at least.

But really, “District 9″ has been widely-regarded as brilliant — you might think my hopes were too high, and I’ll admit I was looking forward to watching it, but no matter how my hopes were, the issues I’ve been practically listing since the beginning of this review would not have been overlooked. I feel that in order for me to like this film, I’d have to lower my standards. It has failed to make me laugh, tried to use cliches to make me cry (there’s even the “Go, save yourself!” cliche), has unimaginative art design, simplistic dialogue, cartoonish villains, preposterous action scenes, an unlikeable protagonist who is stupid AND a prick too, schematic plot structure, badly-paced and disjointed storytelling, poor direction, derivative ideas, several instances of “deux ex machina” — and it’s being considered a classic, apparently. Why? Because it’s in Johannesburg, not in New York? Because it was made for 30 million? Because it’s produced by Peter Jackson? Because it’s Blomkamp’s first film?

It’s a mindless, derivative and unimpressive sci-fi flick that in certain moments looks like “Blood Diamond” with a human and an alien.

Written by André Navarro on October 11th 2009

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Last updated: 2009-12-22 13:09:32 by andre_navarro

District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009)

There is much to anticipate in District 9. Produced by Peter Jackson (The Lord Of The Rings, King Kong) with a shoestring budget of only US$30 million, it is billed as a landmark in science-fiction filmmaking and one of the year’s most original pictures. Under an unusual marketing campaign that relied on internet buzz and ‘No Humans Allowed’ posters, District 9 arrives in Singapore like a quiet stealth ship, without any fanfare, and certainly without much hype.
 
Directed by Neill Blomkamp, a South African whose immense talent in special effects has led to sci-fi fans labeling him as the next James Cameron (The Terminator, Aliens), District 9 is adapted from his critically-acclaimed short, Alive In Joburg (2005). He expands the film narrative to integrate more elements of action and suspense, but not necessarily tying up loose ends or explaining certain issues of logic. Because the film’s visuals arrest us more than we expect, we tend to ignore such issues and just enjoy the spectacle. And we should.
 
District 9 is set in an alternate reality in Johannesburg where aliens called ‘prawns’ live in slum-like conditions apart from humans. The prawns are forced to relocate into another concentration camp-like area far from the city following protests by humans concerned with their increasing acts of violence and crime. The film stars unknown actors with Sharlto Copley leading the cast as Wikus Van De Merwe. Wikus is changed both physically and emotionally when during a mission to get the prawns to sign their eviction letters, he accidentally consumes black liquid in a canister. The story unfolds with an air of unpredictability as Wikus realizes that to survive, he has to seek refuge from the very people he is trying to evict.
 
Blomkamp directs District 9 in a style of a documentary. The film begins with a series of interviews which sheds light on the crisis. And then follows up with live feed from news broadcast and black-and-white images from security cameras which bring a sense of urgency. Most of the film is shot with fair amounts of shaky camerawork, but they are not as nauseating as anything in Cloverfield. The color is often desaturated which adds to the film’s grittiness and unpolished feel. To Blomkamp’s credit, the film is largely expertly-directed and contains several excellent action set-pieces towards the end. And unlike in Michael Bay pictures, viewers know exactly what is happening on screen.
 
Blood-thirsty fans will welcome District 9 with a warm embrace. Here, there are scenes of strong violence and gore as humans are shot to pieces and prawns used as experimental subjects. The physical transformation of Wikus is quite frightening, though it is nothing compared to what is shown in The Fly (1986). Apart from David Cronenberg’s film, District 9 is also influenced by Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day (1996) and Cameron’s Aliens (1986). The prawns have identifiable and similar human-like features like limbs and a face; though they are strange and at times intimidating, these aliens are a far cry from the brutal, grotesque creatures in Cameron’s film.
 
Much is said about the film’s social and political commentary. Echoes of apartheid reverberate in District 9 in which prawns are treated as minority and thus, outcasts, in a system which completely favors humans. Blomkamp does not take sides initially, but later on he tends towards empathizing with the prejudiced. The film ends with a thought-provoking (and haunting) image, and the development of the story leaves room for a possible sequel. From a bag of sci-fi clichés, Blomkamp manages to come out with a stunningly original concept. In a decade of sequels and remakes, this is about as unlikely as Terrence Malick reimagining…Spiderman.
 
SCORE: 8/10
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Recommendations: Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010), To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962), The Visitor

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District 9 (2009)

I never realized how much I actually care for aliens. When aliens land on Earth, global business conglomerate  Multi-National United forces them into rigid containment zones where  they are compelled to labor, even as MNU commandeers their other worldly  technology for profit. As tensions build between human and non-human  races, a rogue agent leads a resistance movement against MNU’s ruthless  consolidation of power.
The first thing I noticed about this film is its style. It uses a lot  of documentary-esque presentation, they use a lot of footage from  interviews, the use of the shaky camera, and even some security camera  footage. It’s that feeling of realism that sells the world and makes it  feel like its a documentary and not another glitzy Hollywood production.
The action is amazingly fast-paced, there’s humans shooting all over  the place, and the way the special effects look. In many movies that use  a lot of special effects they don’t really look real and your sort of  just looking at the camera and saying, “oh this is a nice science  fiction film”. However these aliens actually look like they could walk  the Earth. They look all the very real, and add that in with a whole  bunch of action you got a whole bunch of people sitting on the edge of  your seat.
The most powerful aspect of the film is witnessing all the horrible  treatment of refugees. It’s interesting how the aliens are set up,  because you have many conflicting feelings for them. On one hand your  scared of them cause their just so darn ugly, but on the other hand you  feel compassion for them because their treated like crap. This is a  wonderful example of how special effects can work as the hand-maiden to  story telling.
The film has that documentary feel to it and it works well for  awhile, but then by the third act it actually starts to abandon it and  create a very standardized shoot-out scene. I feel like they could’ve  done a better job with how the ending was handled, but it still did feel  right by the end. Much of the dialogue is actually pretty cheesy and  uses a lot of the same lines that I have heard over and over again.
Sharlto Copley who plays the main character does a good job at  playing the sort of anti-hero. He’s never acted before but he seems like  he has acted all the time. At some points you love him and then at some  points you really just want to kill him yourself.
This film is very dark that and it brought up a huge social  statement. It touches subject on immigration, the handling of refugees,  and so many other subjects are brought up and what is done to these  aliens you just feel so emotionally wrenched to.
Consensus: District 9 has some very obvious plot  holes, but is brings up many good points, and will leave you emotionally  distraught with enough action to keep you on your seat amazed at how  real it looks.
9.5/10=Full Priceee!!!

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District 9

Someone said that this was a dark picture, but I wasn’t expecting this. Military abuse of power, forced evictions, lack of emotion toward living beings…what happened to humanity?
Another alien film where the military thinks they are the absolute, supreme power and that anything else is a threat. These pictures are getting on my nerves. Not because of the portrayal of the military, I could care less about that, but rather because these are all starting to turn into the same story. Maybe the next time there’s a big alien film, the government can be the corrupt power. You know, like senators, congressmen, etc. Oh wait, that’s how it is in life!
Call me a bleeding heart liberal, but I just didn’t care for the way everyone was treated in this film. First of all, we have the aliens who are being forced to leave their run down shacks in the slums of South Africa for tents in what can best be describes as a concentration camp. To further worsen things, when these people try to ask why they are being evicted, due to lack of a communication between them and the humans, they are beaten, or worse. As if that isn’t bad enough, the almighty corporation has seen fit to declare themselves the one that decides how much of the alien population grows or not. In other words, any babies they see are aborted, or burned. Don’t even get me started on the way “Christopher Brown” was treated while he was hostage. It truly is a miracle he survived that experience.
This should all be a big surprise, except for  the humans in this picture don’t even seem to care about their own. The gy in charge of making sure the evictions go smoothly foolishly opens some category and is sprayed by something that apparently turns him into one of the “prawns” (but somehow is actually fuel for the ship). I don’t really know how/why that happened but it does. As soon as it is found out he is changing, they whisk him away as if he tried to assassinate the President. His poor wife doesn’t have a clue about what is going on, and can just stand there looking. To make matters worse, they find out that he cane use the alien technology and force him to kill one of them in an experiment. This just isn’t right!
I also wasn’t a fan of the documentary style format this thing took. It is the same reason I don’t care for reality shows, The Office, or Parks & Recreation. The filmmakers may have thought it a brilliant idea, but it just seemed to kill the film. This could have been a genuine sci-fi treat, but instead turned out to be some sort of drama laced hate crime story using humans and aliens.
Don’t get me wrong, District 9 is not a bad film, but for me, it just has too many things that I don’t care for, which took away from the entertainment value. I’m not going to sit here and write that you should avoid this film. Far from it, I think you should see it, but remember that this is not a friendly little alien film. It’s dark and covers a variety of themes not usually associated with this genre. Personally, if you want to see something about a giant ship hovering above a city where the aliens mix with people and are scaly, wait until the end of March when V returns. I can say this about District 9, though. The filmmakers took some chances with this material, and it paid off as this film was pretty successful, but again, it just isn’t my cup of tea.

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