By Malice Intended
Some films are a collage of different elements from many various genres in order to create something new and unique. Such efforts are rarely successful, and often result in disjointed and erratic films. It takes true skill and vision to bring seemingly disparate elements together into a coherent whole.
District 9 takes a familiar story and puts it in an unlikely setting. 20 years ago, a massive alien spacecraft appeared in the skies above Johannesburg, South Africa. The ship stalled, and the inhabitants found themselves stranded on earth. They are relegated to a government camp known as District 9, where overcrowding and squalid living conditions turn the camp into a giant slum.
A private company agrees to take charge of the situation, implementing a plan to evict the aliens and move them to a new camp. Spearheading the operation is field operative Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley). Accompanied by heavily armed military personnel, Wikus enters District 9 to give the aliens 24 hours notice of eviction. While doing so, he uncovers a piece of alien technology that changes everything.
The most striking thing about District 9 is its technical precision. It’s an amalgamation of many filmmaking techniques and plunders just about every resource imaginable. This approach could have resulted in a patchwork quilt of a film, but writer director Neill Blomkamp achieves a balance that makes it all flow together very nicely.
Blomkamp’s sure-handedness is evident in every aspect of the production, from the visual effects to the editing and shot transitions. The opening act is done in a pseudo-documentary style, using news broadcasts and interview footage to show the situation as though it is actually taking place. The effect is a bit disorienting as it throws images at the viewer in rapid fire succession. The second and third acts settle into more traditional storytelling techniques that are a bit more accessible to casual viewers. The transition between the two styles is barely noticeable. The film uses one approach to establish the premise, and another to tell the actual story. Blomkamp’s method is deliberate. He shocks us to attention, and then guides us through the strange world he’s created.
The FX work is rich in painstaking detail but it never calls attention to itself. The CGI is as seamless and convincing as has ever been done, from the giant ship looming ominously in the background to the aliens themselves. The bipedal creatures are dubbed “prawns” due to their shell-fish like appearance. Astonishingly, no practical effects were used to achieve the illusion. The “Prawns” are completely computer rendered, even in tight close up.
Anchoring the film is a frantic performance by Sharlto Copley as Wikus van der Merwe. Wikus is a more complex protagonist than we are used to seeing in films of this type. To say he is a “reluctant hero” would be an understatement. 
He is clueless, insensitive, cruel, self-serving and at times even cowardly. None of these characteristics are the least bit appealing, yet Sharlto Copley manages to make Wikus both repulsive and sympathetic. He exhibits many of the same flaws and frailties that exist within us all to varying degrees. That Copley and Blomkamp manage to make us care about such a morally questionable character is no small feat.
If District 9 has a shortcoming, it would be its reluctance to truly address any of the issues it raises. The plight of the prawns is clearly meant to mirror the system of Apartheid that existed in South Africa for years. Certain scenes raise intriguing questions, but these avenues are left unexplored. It doesn’t make an overall point about race or class discrimination. It simply uses it as a backdrop for the action.
District 9 is a successful experiment. It pushes the envelope in new and shocking ways, yet it manages to retain its entertainment value throughout. It takes us through some truly bizarre territory but does so in a familiar and satisfying way. Though it falls a bit short as social commentary it succeeds admirably at engaging the imagination and tugging on the heart strings. It gets the blood pumping, and immerses the viewer in a world that is ugly and horrifying, but endlessly fascinating.
Out of 5
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I saw this movie last night and although it was “out there” I enjoyed it very much… my date didn’t.
This movie will be on my short list of favorites! Blomkamp’s ability to create such a realistic world using the different media styles (documentary, live cable news footage, security cameras, as well as the ominiscient perpective) is truly masterful. I was thoroughy intrigued by this movie, and it has absorbed much of my thought since seeing it. The creepy alien-weapon testing scene, as well as the activities in ‘bio-lab 1’ prompts the viewer to assess the ethics behind animal use for scientific study. I am not against this, but the use of beings that are non-human, yet more advanced than us, for this type of research was unsettling. Arthur Clarke addresses this issue in his early novel The Deep Range. District 9 is a masterpiece!
good review of a great fucking movie.
the sfx were perfect.
the tech was exciting and FUN.
the kid alien running that shit was APPEALING as hell.
gonna watch it again tonight.
I love this movie, my kids loved this movie. There hasnt been a movie this good since, well, I guess since Saving private Ryan. Bravo to the makers, actors and director!