District 9 trys to teach a lesson in humanity while trying to keep up the scifi action.
District 9
starring Sharlto Copley, Vanessa Haywood
directed by Neill Blomkamp
Peter Jackson was supposed to produce a flick about Halo, the much loved video game for Xbox. Neill Blomkamp was set to direct, but the entire deal fell through. But Jackson still wanted to do a project with Blomkamp, so $30 million bucks and a producer slot later, Blomkamp brought us District 9. It is based on a short film he had created in 2005 called Alive in Joberg. Suffice to say, it is an original and more interesting take on a science fiction staple: Aliens land on Earth.
20 years ago, a huge ship sputtered to a stop above the city of Johannesburg in South Africa. It contained a race of aliens that became known as Prawns and they were mal-nutritioned and dying. So, the government created a district to house them temporarily that became known as District 9. Its not certain, but many believe the million plus aliens had no leaders among them, and that thier ship was incapacitated. The district eventually became a slum, and and a hot spot for illegal activites. The humans in the area did not understand the way of life of the Prawns, and become increasingly hateful and suspicious of them. They are restricted form anywhere outside of the district, and are killed by police without hesitantion. The prejudice gets extreme. This eventually leads to government action through to the MNU; the Prawns are served eviction notices, and will be moved further south away from the human populace. Then, things start to get weird.
A member of the MNU named Wikus Van Der Merwe is on the eviction squad, and is sprayed in the face by an unknown substance. He begins to feel sick, and strange changes begin to occur. And without giving much away, he forms an unlikely friendship with an intelligent Prawn who as it turns out may know a way to get the mothership to move again.
The film starts out as a mock- documentary about the situation of the Prawns in the slum of District 9. The portrayel of what would other wise be known as a crime against humanity is shocking and quite realistic. The obvious parallels between the Prawns and other peoples of certain African nations is readily appartent; this movie definitely has something to say about the evils of genocide. After a certain point, however, the film drops the documentary take and rolls into a scifi action momentum. Lots of action, alien weapons, and cool CGI. Then, the last few minutes are again documentary style. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is visually stunning, but I would have prefered a constant feel. Blomkamp should have picked documentary, or classic scifi, not both. It leaves the audience feeling a bit disoriented and unsure of the point of view in many cases.
Furthermore, there were too many plot holes and unanswered questions to overlook. I don’t want to name any because it would ruin the film, but I will say this; if the documentary style had been kept throughout, the unanswered plot questions and holes would have been of no consequence. You can only get what the guy who is running the camera was able to capture, so its okay to allow gaps in continuity. But that’s not the way it happens. The theatrical filming parts broke that knowledge wall, and we see a lot of scenes that would have NEVER been recorded by a documentarian. So it begs the question; if we see these private moments with characters, and these questions are answered, what good reason is there to leave out the rest? And that’s just it; there is no good reason.
The CGI was unbelievable. All of the Prawns were created with CGI, and thier movements, speech, and bodies were seemless with the live action. If you didn’t know anybetter, you’d be wondering if the aliens were real. There are many scenes with close ups of the Prawns, and tons of emotion and character can be seen. This is one of the better movies I’ve seen where there is actually a sense of emotional depth to nothing more than a digital creation. Bravo to the graphics guys; you out did yourselves.
Then there is Sharlto Copley. Besides Alive in Joberg, this is his first acting role. In fact, from what I’ve read, he never even had the ambition to persue an acting career. I’ll have to say I’m glad Blomkamp found him and put him in District 9. His acting was wonderful and very real. It felt like he was in danger when he was, and you can feel how heart broken he is during long distance talks with his wife. We’ll be seeing more of Copley, I’m sure of it. Quit your day job and stick with the acting bit, sir.
All in all, a great and highly entertaining film. Its worth the price of a ticket and will look especially awesome on blu-ray when it eventually comes out. I still can’t forgive the split personality behind the direction and camera takes, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that scifi doesn’t get any better or more original than this. I hope there is a D-10 in the works, and that the film makers take the opportunity to fix the plot holes and answer all of those oddly left unanswered questions.
Non-Humans Are Prohibited From Reading Further.
District 9 trys to teach a lesson in humanity while trying to keep up the scifi action.
District 9
starring Sharlto Copley, Vanessa Haywood
directed by Neill Blomkamp
Peter Jackson was supposed to produce a flick about Halo, the much loved video game for Xbox. Neill Blomkamp was set to direct, but the entire deal fell through. But Jackson still wanted to do a project with Blomkamp, so $30 million bucks and a producer slot later, Blomkamp brought us District 9. It is based on a short film he had created in 2005 called Alive in Joberg. Suffice to say, it is an original and more interesting take on a science fiction staple: Aliens land on Earth.
20 years ago, a huge ship sputtered to a stop above the city of Johannesburg in South Africa. It contained a race of aliens that became known as Prawns and they were mal-nutritioned and dying. So, the government created a district to house them temporarily that became known as District 9. Its not certain, but many believe the million plus aliens had no leaders among them, and that thier ship was incapacitated. The district eventually became a slum, and and a hot spot for illegal activites. The humans in the area did not understand the way of life of the Prawns, and become increasingly hateful and suspicious of them. They are restricted form anywhere outside of the district, and are killed by police without hesitantion. The prejudice gets extreme. This eventually leads to government action through to the MNU; the Prawns are served eviction notices, and will be moved further south away from the human populace. Then, things start to get weird.
A member of the MNU named Wikus Van Der Merwe is on the eviction squad, and is sprayed in the face by an unknown substance. He begins to feel sick, and strange changes begin to occur. And without giving much away, he forms an unlikely friendship with an intelligent Prawn who as it turns out may know a way to get the mothership to move again.
The film starts out as a mock- documentary about the situation of the Prawns in the slum of District 9. The portrayel of what would other wise be known as a crime against humanity is shocking and quite realistic. The obvious parallels between the Prawns and other peoples of certain African nations is readily appartent; this movie definitely has something to say about the evils of genocide. After a certain point, however, the film drops the documentary take and rolls into a scifi action momentum. Lots of action, alien weapons, and cool CGI. Then, the last few minutes are again documentary style. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is visually stunning, but I would have prefered a constant feel. Blomkamp should have picked documentary, or classic scifi, not both. It leaves the audience feeling a bit disoriented and unsure of the point of view in many cases.
Furthermore, there were too many plot holes and unanswered questions to overlook. I don’t want to name any because it would ruin the film, but I will say this; if the documentary style had been kept throughout, the unanswered plot questions and holes would have been of no consequence. You can only get what the guy who is running the camera was able to capture, so its okay to allow gaps in continuity. But that’s not the way it happens. The theatrical filming parts broke that knowledge wall, and we see a lot of scenes that would have NEVER been recorded by a documentarian. So it begs the question; if we see these private moments with characters, and these questions are answered, what good reason is there to leave out the rest? And that’s just it; there is no good reason.
The CGI was unbelievable. All of the Prawns were created with CGI, and thier movements, speech, and bodies were seemless with the live action. If you didn’t know anybetter, you’d be wondering if the aliens were real. There are many scenes with close ups of the Prawns, and tons of emotion and character can be seen. This is one of the better movies I’ve seen where there is actually a sense of emotional depth to nothing more than a digital creation. Bravo to the graphics guys; you out did yourselves.
Then there is Sharlto Copley. Besides Alive in Joberg, this is his first acting role. In fact, from what I’ve read, he never even had the ambition to persue an acting career. I’ll have to say I’m glad Blomkamp found him and put him in District 9. His acting was wonderful and very real. It felt like he was in danger when he was, and you can feel how heart broken he is during long distance talks with his wife. We’ll be seeing more of Copley, I’m sure of it. Quit your day job and stick with the acting bit, sir.
All in all, a great and highly entertaining film. Its worth the price of a ticket and will look especially awesome on blu-ray when it eventually comes out. I still can’t forgive the split personality behind the direction and camera takes, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that scifi doesn’t get any better or more original than this. I hope there is a D-10 in the works, and that the film makers take the opportunity to fix the plot holes and answer all of those oddly left unanswered questions.