District 9 Movie Review

[ken]

The movie is really good. As bad as they was treated if they had landed here in the States it would of been much worse.

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Review in a Hurry: Gamer hearts were broken when Rings lord Peter Jackson and his South African protégé Neill Blomkamp failed to mount a big-budget Halo movie. But it was all for the good, as they quickly moved on to this powerful, striking bit of smaller-scale sci-fi about alien bugs cordoned off into South African ghettos.

The Bigger Picture: Adapted from the director's short Alive in Joburg, District 9 depicts a near future in which aliens have arrived but appear dazed, aimless and unable to get their spaceship back home (it is strongly implied that they're antlike worker drones who've been separated from their colony leaders).

Dubbed "prawns" due to their perceived resemblance to bottom-feeding crustaceans, the newcomers look like giant, scary crickets and croak like that freaky ghost woman from The Grudge, so they're rather swiftly segregated into their own shantytown, the titular District 9. But even that proves too close to home for the paranoid citizens of Johannesburg, and as the movie begins, a plan to relocate the aliens yet again, this time to a more remote tent city, is set into motion.

Give any filmmaker $30 million to make their first feature with Peter Jackson as the producer, and chances are they won't do too bad a job. However, Blomkamp delivers way more than merely "not bad." Shooting in South Africa and utilizing the digital animation skills he's been learning since childhood, the director has created a memorable work that's likely to stand alongside the sci-fi classics.

He has also made something that looks a lot more expensive than it actually was, in part by using no-name actors; the lead here is Blomkamp's childhood friend Sharlto Copley, a newcomer to the big screen who won't be unknown for long.

Copley plays Wikus van der Merwe, a dorky bureaucrat who's in charge of serving eviction notices to the aliens, a profession made doubly dangerous by the fact that there's a brisk trade in illegal alien weaponry between the prawns and Nigerian voodoo gangs. When he accidentally comes into contact with some strange fluid, Wikus begins to mutate, his DNA gradually changing to that of an alien. The government swiftly becomes interested...since all the alien weapons are DNA-activated and no human has ever been able to use one until now.

Betrayed by his own side, Wikus makes an uneasy deal with an alien named Christopher Johnson (motion-capture performance by Jason Cope, who also did most of the other aliens) to steal back the rest of the dangerous fluid in exchange for a cure.

During the course of things, Wikus must go from totally pathetic nebbish to full-on hero, a challenging arc made even more challenging by the fact that there was no scripted dialogue in the film and Copley had to improvise it all. That he makes it look so effortless bodes well for his acting future.

Jackson's influence can be seen in some of the played-for-laughs carnage that ensues, but Blomkamp's vision is his own, and this auspicious debut will undoubtedly make a few studio executives regret killing Halo.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Having "tribal" vocals on the soundtrack every time something sad happens onscreen is a rotten cliché, and one we hope Blomkamp shakes off in whatever he does next.
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I want to go see this.

[fadeout001]

OK I went to this film about a week ago and to be honest it deserves all the reviews it has been getting. This film was incredible.

The story isn't your basic film story laid out all neat and tidy with lots of explanations as to what is going on. Instead the film is a mix of documentary type film making mixed with hollywood blockbuster film making. While this may seem weird at first the story really works this way. A few other films that you can compare it to, sort of, are Gia and .45 Though they are not perfect comparisons it may give you a better idea.

The story begins with news footage of the Alien Craft getting to Earth and you get a very small background explanation of how you get "District 9" and how the world deals with it but that is all the explanation you get. The entire film is made as if you were living in that world all your life.

The story is great, albeit, a bit confusing on your first watch as they put so much into it. The characters are extremely believable, the dialogue is kept very real and flows extremely well. The graphics are absolutely amazing and considering every alien is CGI you can't even tell they don't belong there even in the middle of the bright and sunny backgrounds of the film.

It should also be noted that this film was made to be an allegory of the South African Apartheid Government rule and the atrocities committed by said government. It also has a subtle message about humanity as a whole needing to work on accepting things that are different and not making judgments or believing we are better than others. Though for all the political aspects the film was made for; none of it is every stated directly, it was not put in so blatantly that you could tell why the film was made, instead it is so subtle that if you didn't know what the original intent of the film was you may never even pick up on it.

All things considered this film deserves to be called "The Must See Film of the Summer". You definitely won't be sorry if you go choose to see this film and if you see it with friends this is a film that inspires group reactions and will be something you can definitely talk about after.

All in all I give this film a 9/10 only because I think they might have tried to throw to much at you at once. Is this film worth seeing in theaters . . . Yes!! Definitely Yes!!! Would I recommend seeing this in theaters . . . That Depends. The film is amazing but unless you can keep up with about 20 different images popping up quickly back to back as well as quick and vital comments being said along with those images then I would say No. if you can or have friends that can then I would say Yes. If you are going to the movies and don't think there is anything good out really then this is a film that will surprise you.

Now while I think this film is worth seeing it would be better on DVD where you can rewind, absorb, and really follow everything that is going on. I barely kept up with the main story line, only caught about half the background plot that motivates everything within the main plot, and I was completely lost on who most of the characters in the film really were and what their purpose was. Out of everyone introduced I was able to follow 5 people who apply solely to the main plot.

The film seems to be built this way and why you can't catch everything you can come out of the film feeling like you understand what happened and what was going on. Everything that I missed or that friends of mine missed are critical and vital for understanding the world and the drive behind the plot but it seems the movie was made with the intent that you should watch it multiple times.

You should also be fair warned that this film does contain some graphic and gory scenes so if you are squeamish consider yourself warned.

If you want an extremely detailed plot analysis review sadly you won't get one, at least from me. In my opinion this is a film that you can not write a detailed review about without ruining the entire film for the person who has not seen it. It also covers so much and goes into so many different details that it would be hard to try and cover them all anyway.

[vj1974]

I agree with your assessment...excellent movie, extremely realistic and very graphic. That said, most of my firends did not like it very much, but admitted that it was very well done. A must see for a treu movie buff..4 stars!

[Chief]

Nice Review Fade, Thanks

[bobcat123452003]

Great movie. Recommend you see it.

[gilmerman]

I agree with you 100%. The fact that the actors were not Hollywood stars did not in the least distract, after the first 5 min.. I was surprised to enjoy a movie so much, with out big name stars. I found that I placed myself on the side of the visitors to earth.

[LonoXIII]

A good summary from my experience was "Alien Nation, except rated "R" and done by HBO". Pertinent topic, interesting edit and direction, and good scenes and acting. Definitely the best movie I've seen all year.

[xrnzaaas]

I've just seen the movie and loved it. Best sci-fi I've seen in years, especially if compared to many crappy PG-friendly/idiotic sci-fi films of the last decade. Frankly I can't remember the last sci-fi movie I've enjoyed this much. 28 Weeks Later maybe if you count a global virus infection as science-fiction and not horror.
Oh, and I didn't miss the typical Hollywood cast at all. It was brilliant what they did to the main character, even though you could suspect how it would end.

[vaibhavmodia]

It's a good movie....i really enjoyed it...

[limba]

Excellent movie. Great effects but with a good story. I hope they make another one.

[petruccio]

Have you SEEN the on-line news articles out there today?

Nigeria is raising hell in the media because they feel the movie "slanders" ordinary Nigerians by showing them abusing, eating, and sleeping with aliens....Public figures and Politicians throughout Nigeria are calling for SONY Pictures to remove any reference to "Nigeria" from the film and threatening that they will bar the movie from being shown in Nigeria unless they comply. SONY Pictures replied that "...the Nigerian Film Commission approved the film in it's enirety", and oh yeah, "...by the way, we've already screened it in Nigeria several times"

That's just too RICH

I mean...WE all know it's just a movie....right?

...and WE don't really think that Nigerians abuse, eat or sleep with aliens...DO we?

I mean really now...if the average citizen of the world can figure that out...then why is it such a hard concept for the public and political figures of Nigeria to grasp?


Oh...good movie...go see it...and laugh at the pompous Nigerian politicians while you do!

[Jaimel]

Valuable information.

[bob2579]

I saw this movie and i have to say even though the version i saw was horrible quality, it seemed like a pretty good movie. It was slow and i hated how *SPOILER* the camera was following the guy around the first have of the movie like it was cloverfield, but other then that it was interesting, but gross. The battle scene at the end was epic though

[sadrose]

Valuable information.