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Title: District 9
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Parents, there is graphic violence and language. Recommended for ages 17 and up. |
Who says all the best summer blockbusters are made in America? Filmed and funded in South Africa (with special effects made in New Zealand) comes the creation of “District 9,” one of the most inventive science fiction films in years. The advertising has made it a point to point out that Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson (of “Lord of the Rings” fame) has produced this film. While I’m sure Jackson’s involvement was crucial in selling the movie to an American audience the real star of the show is first time director Neill Blomkamp. Formerly a director of commercials and music videos, Blomkamp has made an unusual science fiction action film that looks murky, grainy, and feels like a documentary. In an twist of fate, this actually makes the movie feel more real then it would had it looked shinny and glossy.
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Hopefully an Academy Award nomination for Best Director is in his near future. As for the story it revolves around aliens who have visited Earth. Unlike most aliens in Hollywood movies though these aliens are there by accident and want to go home. Problem is they don’t have any fuel to do this, so the South African government creates a safe haven for them in the form of District 9, where the aliens dwell for twenty years. Over the years political unrest forms and starts a civil war between humans and aliens. The conflict appears similar to what appears on the news every other week on African conflicts and feels just as real. I guess the protagonist of this thing is supposed to be Winkus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), who is an employee of MNU Department for Relations with Extraterrestrial Civilizations.
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Tasked with evicting the aliens from District 9 he accidently comes into contact with a fluid that starts turning him into an alien. Shunned from society he befriends an alien named Christopher and his son (whose name I don’t remember). Their relationship would be that of friendship if social problems didn’t stand in the way. From reading what I’ve just written chances are you can get a taste of what a smart movie this is. Though aliens do kill humans in this movie they do so out of fear and defense. Otherwise they aren’t interested in killing us; they just want to go home. If I had some disappointment it’s that the film becomes more action oriented and predictable near the end.
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The action sequences we get are well done and never boring but...I don’t know, it just seems considering how smart the rest of the film is there could have been a more intelligent way to resolve all this. Still, I’m impressed we got the film at all. All the actors speak with a thick accent and the locations are foreign. Plus with the unique look of the film I was surprised this was a success at all. But this just proves to me that while marketing can sell bad films like “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” to mass audiences, at the end of the day people will flock to see more daring films provided the quality is there. Hopefully “District 9" will encourage more creativity in Hollywood rather then more robots.
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