District 9 Review
District 9
Directed by Neil Blomkamp
Written by Neil Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell
Released: August 14, 2009
FS Verdict: Mockumentary meets sci-fi and the results will knock you off your seat. Amazing film experience, skip GI Joe and Time Traveler’s Wife and go see it!
Summer 2009 started with Star Trek and Terminator: Salvation. One month later we got Transformers 2. Tucked away in the hundreds of millions of marketing dollar madness was another science fiction film: District 9. Star Trek was great, kudos to JJ Abrams. But Terminator and Transformers made me question my movie going experiences. Do these studios really think the audience is this stupid with these terrible films? Looking at the worldwide gross of these films, I’m guessing the answer is “yes”. District 9 has managed to quietly sneak into the theaters this weekend with a modest 30 million dollar budget. It also managed to possibly salvage a mediocre summer of movies. District 9 is an audience pleaser on all levels. You’ll laugh, you’ll squirm, you will be on the edge of your seat. Director Neil Blomkamp in his debut will no longer be an unknown. Peter (Lord of the Rings) Jackson wisely has a “Presented By” credit in this film. He obviously saw the talent in Blomkamp that needed to be unleashed on the masses.
The trailer here is all you need to know going into the film. If you need a synopsis:
Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them. Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare – they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA.
This sci-fi film is the first I’ve seen in years that actually has a brain. It’s socio-political awareness is not subtle, but you are not hit over the head with it. There are many shades of apartheid, racism, genocide, and Middle Eastern conflict throughout the alien-human “conflict”. The aliens just want to go home. The humans will not allow them to. Blomkamp delicately balances the seriousness of the internment districts with action and humor within it. The film cleverly intermixes documentary footage, interviews, news reports, and security cameras to give the audience an immediate pull into this world. This technique holds the suspense while moving the story along.
Another newcommer, Sharlto Copley, is an actor to watch in the years to come. He blends comedy and awkwardness into his anti-hero role. He makes very human decisions (see: mistakes) throughout the film but you are desperately rooting for him throughout. His character actions are all in desperation which make the film that much more pleasant of a surprise. You simply cannot take your eyes off this character.
Go see this film and experience it with as little back story as possible. August no longer looks like the dumping grounds of summer movies (District 9, Inglorious Basterds).
Corey @ FS
