District 9 (2009)

4.0

SCIENCE FICTION

U.S. Release Date: 08/14/09

Running Length: 112 Minutes

MPAA Classification: R (Violence, Language)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Cast: Sharlto Copley, Louis Minnaar, Vanessa Haywood

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Screenplay: Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell

Cinematography: Trent Opaloch

Music: Clinton Shorter

U.S. Distributor: TriStar Pictures

Review by: Carter Moulton

2/6/10

I think it’s best to go into District 9 knowing nothing more than its concept. I knew the film was not about an alien invasion but about human-alien relations after their arrival. And I knew Peter Jackson produced—and “presented” (I’m not a fan of the [insert big-name director here] presents” marketing strategy)—it.

So while I won’t get very deep into the plot, I will give you a roadmap. Neill Blomkamp directs his first motion picture in a semi-documentary style with interviews and handheld cameras. Notice “semi,” because interweaved in this documentary is a very traditional filmmaking style—which isn’t a bad thing in this case. Blomkamp’s decision to switch from one style to the other might sound distracting when described, but, breathe easy, he makes it work connectively—and smoothly.

The film’s main character is Wikus Van De Merw (played effectively by newcomer Sharlto Copley), an employ of Multi-National United, a company contracted to monitor—sometimes by force—the human-extraterrestrial relations in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the mother ship hovers overhead.

Blomkamp’s film has a sociopolitical agenda—one that includes commentary on racism (the film was banned in Nigeria), capitalism, and unwanted infiltration—that isn’t hard to find but isn’t hard to ignore either. To put it blankly, you will see how inhumane humans are to…non-humans, but you’ll never roll your eyes at its explicitness. It’s because of the explosions.

Photo © TriStar Pictures

With a budget of $30 million (compared to Star Trek‘s $150 million and Avatar’s rumored $300 million—both films are nominated alongside District 9 for Best Visual Effects at the this year’s Oscars), Blomkamp, Jackson, and company must be financial geniuses. By casting a troupe of no-name actors, tightening the story so that it features fewer characters, and other penny-pinching methods, WETA Workshop was able to provide the film’s aliens with impressive insectile attributes and grungy, rather than glossy, surfaces. The alien weaponry (often causing the aforementioned explosions) is eye-popping—lightning clouds, pulses of anti-gravity, or, the most effective option, spontaneous zaps of smithereens-inducing electricity—most closely resembling guns you’d hope to see in the next installment of the Halo video game series (Halo: Reach).

District 9 almost becomes mindless toward the end with all of the action—I’ve heard people say, “you can tell when Peter Jackson takes over,”—but this isn’t a case of Transformers, in which you can tell when Michael Bay takes creative reigns from executive producer Steven Spielberg. Speaking of Spielberg, there’s a very Spielbergian quality to District 9 regarding our emotions and how we react and sympathize during the film’s runtime.

The ending of Blomkamp’s film appears at first to be a fizzler, one of those hazy “we weren’t sure how to end this good idea of a storyline"; however, it’s in the final shot of District 9 that we are reaffirmed of its quality. It’s a very unconventional way to end a science fiction blockbuster—and I wouldn’t want it (the shot and the film) any other way.