‘District 9′ Review
District 9 (15)
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Vanessa Haywood, Nathalie Boltt, Sylvaine Strike
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Running time: 112 minutes
If this was a clear-cut ‘aliens invade the earth’ film, I would have screamed so loud you’d have heard it over there as you sipped on your lemongrass tea, tapping away on Facebook thinking no-one was watching you. But, thankfully, it wasn’t. I really don’t have time for films that try to tell you what will happen if aliens were to invade the earth – or if the world was going to end in some other fashion. Post-apocalyptic films are really quite boring now, so I am glad to say that this film was different. Very cleverly so.
Based on the idea in Alien Nation where the aliens are enslaved on the mothership, are found by humans and then co-habited back into our society, Neill Blomkamp (with Peter Jackson’s money) takes his crazy CGI ideas and adapts them to fit our screens perfectly. The effects in this film are so astonishingly done that they seem so underdone. Without wanting to sound like too much of a naysayer, it’s a good thing Halo didn’t see the light of day as this project would never have happened. Be sure not to question too much from the get-go and you’ll find yourself pleasantly flabbergasted. So, here’s the premise: an alien spaceship finds itself hovering over Johannesburg one day, twenty years ago, and stays there – untouched or unmoved, until the humans decide it’s time to go inside it.
Upon discovering several million malnourished aliens, the humans decide that they are able to house them on Earth – in slums in South Africa. Now, I know what you’re thinking… sounds a bit like the apartheid in real life. Well, that’s kind of the point, given that the director is South African. I’m not a fan of over-hyped, sensationalist commentaries on the political aspects of our society, but this does well to ever so lightly tease you with it and then only sort of alludes to it again, after sucking you in with the plot twist.
Our underdog protagonist, Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), is a government agent that finds himself torn between doing what others want you to, to doing what is actually required of you – through basic human care and compassion. I’ve never felt so much concern for an extra-terrestrial’s plight to want to go home (well, okay, maybe E.T.) and when you find out how hard they’ve worked to try and make it happen, you only want them to succeed. Blomkamp does something amazing with his fictional creations; he gives them life. Despite them being made from a mechanical-crustacean mix, he gives them heart and he allows them to feel. They are not here to destroy us and they are certainly not trying to conquer us. They manage to make us know exactly what they are saying by a few simple clicks of the tongue. That takes a lot of skill from a director.
Soon enough, you stop questioning the why and you start believing the story. The aliens need to be moved from District 9 to District 10 as part of a massive government conspiracy to do tests on them (or, ‘for their own benefit’). It’s simple; we’re human and we destroy things – more than anything else around us. Copley’s portrayal of a confused, dithering loser is second-to-none; which, for a man that’s not actually an actor, is simply hard to believe. He carries himself through this film with the same amount of bewilderment and frightening honesty you would find yourself to be in when having intercourse for the first time. Given that Van de Merwe is also the only person that can help the aliens, your heart absolutely melts for him. It really does.
Of course, if you did want to question the why as mentioned earlier, you’d find yourself having to deal with a few conundrums – why are the aliens so placid? They can tear us to pieces… but they don’t. You also never find out why the ship arrives over South Africa in the first place, but again, a minor detail. Given that District 9 is more of an extension of the short Alive in Joburg that Blomkamp made four years ago, which Jackson loved, it is safe to say he’s passionate about the whole xenophobic issue and sets his argument out well. Albeit in the form of some terrifying and some very loveable aliens. Watch out for the baby alien – he’s darn cute (and surprisingly integral!).
District 9 gets a well-deserved four and a half from me.
Related Pages:
- ‘Wall-E’ Review
- ‘Let The Right One In’ Review
- Avatar 3D Review
- ‘Wanted’ Review
- ‘Tropic Thunder’ Review
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Comments: 2
6:05 pm 9th September, 2009
So here’s my problem with D9. The script was extremely weak in comparison to all other aspects of the film. There’s no rationale as to why these aliens, who are superior to humans, remain a suppressed race – when they clearly contain the physical & mental fortitude to overtake a lame low-security interim camp. And for 20 years? Please. I’m all for suspension of disbelief in sci-fi films, but this one plot black-hole (among others) is so large and weighty that any D9 good collapses on itself.
Comments: 1
9:34 pm 9th September, 2009
So just because someone is bigger and smarter means they’re going to try and conquer the earth? There’s more humans, and humans have more guns. Quite simply, the Aliens wouldn’t stand a chance.
Or you could argue that morals come into it? Just because someone’s bigger and smarter doesn’t mean that they don’t have a sense of right or wrong. Not to mention that not all Aliens will have been breaking the rules, just a select few. Would you start a war because a criminal got killed for breaking the law?
Comments: 2
4:17 pm 11th September, 2009
Right. And all the alien weaponry that was a part of their technology is part of a peace-keeping force? Obliterating particle beams?
But you make a good point. It’s true that their morals might have been different than humans – that would have been a great detail. And that’s just it – and why the script was weak. Nothing like that was identified – explicitly or implicitly. It would have made the story that much deeper if something like that was touched upon. It would have still made the weaponry/mechanized force hard to justify, but it would have extended the narrative leaps and bounds.
Comments: 1
8:58 pm 12th September, 2009
I cannot wait to see this since it is a sci-fish box-office hit. If you look back on the past few years of movies, there are not so many that fall into the sci-fi genre. Secondly, its hard to find sci-fi movies that don’t just waste your time… I mean, this movie clearly, from this review, and other opinions I have read takes a different approach, a different stance… which is always a good thing.
Maybe Tarantino should take a stab at something like this, because I always love his movies, including the newest Inglorious Basterds.
-Eric
Comments: 25
4:53 pm 14th September, 2009
I’m pretty sure I’ll be disappointed by this, even as a massive sci-fi fan. But there’s no way I’m going to be able to resist going to see it.
Thanks for the write-up.
Comments: 1
7:04 pm 2nd October, 2009
i have been reading lots of reviews and need to start commenting in order to clear up some of the misunderstandings.
ive read so many (usa) reviews about the “unbelievable main character” and the “fake accent” and to any south african Wikus is 100% typical of our own red neck those-who-never-apply for passports true blue south african. we all know lots of south africans who speak and act and (unfortunately) think exactly like wikus.
there is a huge problem with nigerian violence, scams and drug trafficking in SA and the locals have been protesting about it. Our malawian gardener who comes to us once a week always gets himself robbed by nigerians when returning to the townships, we have opened a bank account for him so that doesnt carry cash anymore. Our friends in JHB had their son killed because a nigerian gang kidnapped him and asked for a ransom, which our friends paid for, and they killed him anyway. So yes, its very very appropriate to include them in the movie.
The ruwandans, mocambiqueans, botswananas, malawians and all manner of neighbouring africans who have flocked into SA are corralled into the worst parts of every township and are called “aliens” locally. District 9 is much more about current xenophobia in SA than the old apartheid theme, and anyone who reads informative newspapers about world news would be aware of that.
Racism? Well the white guys are depicted as the baddies and the black guys in MNU are the nicest humans so the racist card is not that clear.
I find it amusing that people who would walk out of a movie only 20 minutes into it can write reviews and have any sort of intelligent opinion. The director clearly states that he didnt need to patronise the audience by explaining every little angle and leaves much to audience.
A good movie is one that gets people thinking and talking and this movie sure does that !! Good movies are patronise and makes it easy, but a good movie that shakes things up and gets us to pay attention.
I understood the brilliance of the movie when seeing it the second time and so much fell into place that I couldnt take in the first time because it was so intense.
Hopefully the academy will do their due diligence and try and understand the social and criminal context, the accent and ignore some of the super ignorant reviews that have been written by folk who cant understand a movie unless it spoonfeeds and stars Will Smith !!