Nerd Mentality

MOVIE REVIEW: District 9

Posted August 16th 2009 by Frankie Aguilar.

Summer films are always hard to gauge. If they're not an action packed popcorn movie, or another lazily written chick flick, they tend to not be worth watching. Does the fact that a movie has a Triple-A acting roster, non-stop action and a gigantic budget automatically make it a good movie? The way this summer, like most summers, has gone you might be forced to believe so. Rarely do we get a film with substance amongst the hugely budgeted blockbuster movies gunning for our summertime dollars. And so few of these movies make it to a wider audience. But if you attach Peter Jackson's name to a project it's bound to stir up some interest, even if he's only producing. Jackson arose from the ashes of an abandoned Halo film, and with his directing protege Neil Blomkamp, set out to create what would become District 9. Expanded from the short film Alive in Johburg which was what brought Blomkamp to Jackson's attention, District 9 is much more than your standard sci-fi film.

Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, District 9 opens with interviews of people about our first contact with alien life. A large alien craft has landed over Johannesburg, and the fear brought about by its prolonged inactivity mobilizes the South African military into breaching the space ship. What they find inside shocks and surprises them. Inhabiting the ship are thousands of sick and starving aliens, and pressure from the rest of the world forces the Johannesburg government into housing and caring for these creatures. They are placed in an area the becomes known as District 9, and what was supposed to be a safe haven quickly becomes slum. The people that surround the housing come to despise the aliens and begin to call them "prawns", derived from their appearance; a name that quickly becomes their sole description.

Sprinkled in with the interviews and news footage that creates the setting and plot of this movie is documentary footage of a man that becomes the focal point of this situation. Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is a field official at MNU tasked with serving eviction notices to the residents of District 9. He brings the film crew with him for some on the job shots, and this serves as the first part of the movie. Wikus is our link to this world so much like ours, and though Copley's acting resume is one movie longer than mine, his exceptional portrayal of Wikus makes it all the easier to understand that world.

The story is a new way of looking at a timeless flaw in human nature, the fear of things different. Wikus is a willing part of a machine that perpetuates this fear for its own profit, and not until he begins to understand the cruelty brought down upon these beings does he begin to change. This is what makes this character relatable, unlike most sci-fi characters that tend to be super heroes or something along those lines; Wikus is an ordinary guy just trying to move up in the world. And Copely plays the character to a T. He begins the movie as a nervous yes man who gets excited when he's handed a bit of power, and by the end of the movie is a completely re-invented more in the mold of a classic sci-fi hero.

Playing co-protagonist to Wikus is the alien race as a whole. These "Prawns" are characterized as animalistic drone-like creatures with no aim or purpose. But Blomkamp feeds enough character into a few of these aliens to truly show the depth of there race. The aliens, which are completely computer generated, are modeled and rendered perfectly. For those of you who judge a summer flick solely on its special effects, or pray at the altar of Industrial Light and Magic, don't let the understated commercials you've seen on TV sway you. Until you've seen the aliens in motion interacting with each other and the environment you can't truly appreciate their subtle excellence. The aliens' eyes are amazing and convey a wide variety emotions, and I know that sounds like something corny you'd say to a girl, but one of the best shots in the movie is centered on a set of aliens' eyes.

The pacing of this movie might catch some people off guard. Like I mentioned earlier, this summer hasn't been filled with movies that intend to make you think. Even those of you who have never heard of apartheid will recognize that this movie is hinting at something more real life than aliens. At times the movie suffers under this crutch because truly it's an action film with a wonderful story, and the allusions and metaphors tend to stagnate the flow.

The action sequence will keep those of you who were interested in the story on the edge of your seat, and re-awaken your friends that thought Transformers 2 was the greatest movie of all time from their dialogue induced sleep. It's throughout this sequence that you can see the true extent of the special effects work done by Peter Jackson's effects team. Much like the CGI in the Lord of the Rings movies, the models and environmental effects are toned down and realistic. This along with the use of hand-held style camera shots, and the interweaving of interviews attempt to keep this movie as believable as a movie with aliens can be. Blomkamp also used footage from real life African conflicts to create greater cohesion, and added the aliens into the footage when applicable.

This movie has a message, there is not doubt about it, but don't let the critics trick you into believing that this is a self-righteous reminder of apartheid by Blomkamp, a South African himself. This is more of an examination of our fear of others in general than any specific event. Regardless, the message whether you get it or not is presented wonderfully. We are represented by a good natured but flawed man who rises from his misconceptions to redeem himself through understanding and sacrifice. This film has a little bit of everything in it wrapped in a neat sci-fi package.

Hopefully this does well at the box office because if a movie like this can stand with the rest of the summer giants, maybe more studios will take chances on fresh original ideas. Conversely, I hope that the studio doesn't seek to cash in on the success of this movie and make a sequel, because while this movie left a lot unanswered, I believe that's part of what makes it so awesome. This movie has a running mystique that keeps you from getting settled in the a normal movie watching groove. It's a little graphic at times, and you will hear the F-word pretty constantly, but it's not gratuitous because if you were in that situation you'd probably say the same things. All this makes for a must see film, and makes Neil Blomkamp a director to watch for.

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