Yes There Shall Be a District 10
Written: Aug 27 '09 (Updated Aug 28 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: no-name actors and hand-held camera shots really give the film its documentary realism
Cons: The aliens looked a bit hokey, hand-held camera shots were a bit much in places
The Bottom Line: A solid 4.5 sci-fi stars
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| criteeker's Full Review: District 9 |
District 9 is one of those films that I didn't want to know anything about before I saw it - other than the few previews I saw. My step-son came home and raved about the film, so my wife and I had to see it.
Going into the film I expected it to be a human versus alien war on Earth type of thing in the vein of "Independence Day" or "War of the Worlds." In fact it's not at all like those films.
Basically, an Alien mother ship winds up hovering over South Africa and all the aliens (or "prawns" as they're called) really want to do is go home to their planet. For the most part, they're an obedient species with their own dialect, but the humans have decided to keep the prawns in confined rural but desolate areas with restricted human contact. Sounds like a cross between a concentration camp or what the US did to the Native Americans. I say that because throughout the film, you really get the sense that humans just don't know how treat other races very well at all - apparently we have never learned from the past. It really brings up feelings of prejudice and all-around crappy human behavior. Not very pretty at all.
The prawns seem to have lost the ability to maneuver their ship back home so the humans have started to rule the prawn's captive lives. They survive a brutal shanty-town existence eating butchered animals and canned cat food. Nice diet. The decision to make the prawns crave the cat food came from one of the producers who used canned cat food to bait hooks when fishing for prawns in Vancouver.
Some of the more ambitious prawns have ideas of escape and conjure up some pretty ingenious and advanced weaponry while in their years on Earth. These weapons are pretty amazing considering they resemble those from the video game "Ratchet and Clank" - seriously. Enter the MNU or Multi-National United and their field ops supervisor Wikus Van De Merwe played by South African newcomer Sharlto Copley. He's kind of a nerdy family man in charge of keeping order within the prawn camp District 9. Wikus is in charge of getting eviction notices delivered and signed for so that the MNU organization can move the prawns to the tent-city designated District 10 - further away from the humans.
Trouble occurs when on a routine search of the camp, our hero ingests some "mystery fluid" and starts an odd metamorphosis. A change that forces a friendship of sorts between one of the prawn leaders, his mini-me son and our hero Wikus. Recently, my wife and I have commented how many films show actors vomiting on camera. It seems to be a trend and this film is no exception. It's always a real crowd pleaser. I would suggest pausing any snacking during this sequence of the film.
Director Neill Blomkamp brings us a very gritty style of filmmaking that totally works. In fact, the film was based on his childhood in South Africa during Apartheid. The forth-time director and writer decided to employ the talents of minor league actors or actors new to the craft - actors most of us have not ever seen. In fact, this is Copley's second film and first for the actress playing his wife in the film, Vanessa Haywood. This tactic is pretty clever because it really lends a sense of realism to the project. We're not watching some huge star who ruins the escapism of it all. On another note, I have read a lot of complaints about the jerky hand-held camera work in this film. I took it as a gritty documentary style that really puts you in the action. Other people took it as a sign to complain about nausea. I never felt nauseous at all. I did feel like I was immersed in a video game though. A game complete with lots of action, aliens and robotic attack units ala Robocop. In fact, if you mix elements of Robocop with the grit and look of "28 Days Later" that would be a description of the look and feel of District 9. Interestingly enough, after the feature film (based on the Halo video game series which was to be directed by Neill Blomkamp fell through) producer Peter Jackson approached Blomkamp and offered him $30 million to make whatever he wanted.
All of the shacks in the shanty-town of District 9 were actual shacks that exist in Johannesburg. In reality, they were to be evacuated and the residents moved to better government housing - paralleling the events in District 9. The residents had not been moved out before filming began. The only shack that was created solely for filming was the lead prawn's (Christopher Johnson) shack.
With respect to the look of the aliens, I think the CGI is pretty decent - they way they move and the expressions they give. But their overall look is a bit hokey. They resemble large crustaceans, thus the name "prawns."
The mission (for our hero and his two new-found prawn friends) is set (somewhere in the second act) and the story becomes a non-stop action assault on the MNU headquarters. Will our hero get healed? Will the prawns get to live out the remainder of their days back home? Will there be a sequel called District 10? For sure...and I can't wait.
One of the better science-fiction films I have seen.
A word to parents with younger children: There is scattered violence in the film including gunshot deaths, complete obliteration death by alien weapons and scattered swearing...so proceed with caution. However, there are no nudity or sex scenes.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Sneak Preview at My Local Theater
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Pacing
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