District 9 Movie Review

Believe the hype, you will be hard-pressed to find a movie this year as thoroughly enjoyable and outright entertaining as District 9. Neill Blomkamp's sci-fi-mockumentary hybrid is turned up to "11", and delivers a solid, entertaining spectacle that glues your eyes to the screen then kicks your ass hardcore.

All hyperbole aside, District 9 is a terrific film, full or imagination and technical prowess in equal amounts. The story begins as a documentary, that brings viewers a little up to speed about the situation involving these aliens with mysterious back stories that are never fully explained. The ship arrived over two decades ago. It hovered over Johannesburg, South Africa. Contact was finally made, and the aliens began coming to the surface. Not knowing what to do, the South African government officiated an agency (The MNU) to maintain and deal with problem.

The aliens are referred to as"Prawns" because of their appearance. The prawns are separated from the general population. They reside in an area known as District 9 (title)! The prawns spend their days in these tin shanty slums, rummaging through garbage, eating cans of cat food (which they love), and being exploited by local Nigerian gangsters. Given more time, I'm sure they would produce a Slum-prawn Millionaire, but this is not the movie to do it.

When the movie begins, it has been decided that the prawns are to be relocated to District 10, an area far away from the city. Leading the eviction notification to the aliens is the newly appointed Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copely, looking Bale-like but very effective inhis own right). It is while he is completing this task when a story begins picking up speed, and I think you less you know about this movie the better. In fact I may have already said too much.

The movie starts and doesn't let up. It begins as a documentary, and almost plays out like an episode of the Office. As things begin to get interesting, the film takes its own point of view, while still retaining the aesthetics of the documentary genre. The shaky cam doesn't feel forced, but fits the storytelling. The different bits of footage, from news reports to security cameras, just enhance things. And the FX of the prawns blends almost seamlessly with the environments, and the actors react well to things that I believed were actually there. It has action you can follow that's intense AND inventive, in addition to characters you care about and want to know the fates of. The FX work and camera are in synch so well, my only thought was "This is the movie Cloverfield should've been!"

The movie also has a wonderful attention to detail. I feel that there are volumes of information on each of the characters and the world at large, stuff like how they got around the language barrier with the prawns, and all sorts of other nerdy sci-fi geek stuff that will never be shown on screen. It's not important to know these details, but feeling confident in knowing the filmmakers know the answers to these questions makes the film go down a lot easier.

I haven't even gotten to the not-so-subtle but not on-the-nose rascist undertones, or the ridiculously cool video game design of the alien weaponry. It's all juggles so well with the confidence of a director who knows what he wants for the story he wants to tell. Peter Jackson did well in allowing Blomkamp free reign with the film. It looks like it cost ten times whatever the low budget is. Creativity and passion clearly take this movie far, and the experience radiates off the screen directly to the audience.

Everything about this film is ridiculously awesome. It has enough to satisfy hard core sci-fi geeks and drooling fanboys, as well as casual viewers looking for a fun rollercoaster ride. It's the kind of movie that people complain they don't make anymore. Click Here to Contribute your Own Review.