District 9 (2009)

District 9 (2009)

Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell

Directed by Neill Blomkamp

           

            If I had to review District 9 in one word, it would be “Octopus.”  If I had to review District 9 in two words, they would be “Fucking” and “Amazing.”  I just like the word “Octopus.”  Luckily for you (and me) I don’t have a limit to the amount of words that I can use.  So, let the reviews begin!

            What are you looking for in a movie?  Do you want humor? District 9 has that.  Do you want action? District 9 has that too.  How about drama?  Yup.  District 9.  This was the movie that pretty much took the world by storm this past summer, and there is a valid reason for its success.  This movie is just plain great.

            In District 9, our “protagonist” is named Wikus Van de Merwe, and he is played marvelously by Sharlto Copley, a native of South Africa.  I put the word “protagonist” in quotes because, honestly, for about half of the movie, Wikus is just downright dispicable.  You’ll hate him, but in the end he does a 180.  Wikus is the newly in charge of the Johannesburg branch of MNU (Multi-National United), a munitions corporation.  Wikus is tasked with the job of evicting over 1 million “Prawns” from the slums of Johannesburg and moving them into a new refugee camp.  Prawns are an alien race, sent here from an unknown planet.  When their spacecraft arrives, it just sits over Johannesburg until the humans cut into it.  When they get inside, they discover hundreds of sick aliens.  In an attempt to help them, they take them out and set them up with homes in the city.  When fights begin to break out between the Prawns and the Humans, the Prawns are sectioned off into ghettos, called District 9.  At first, the humans are very nice to the Prawns.  They even give each one an individual name.  However, naturally, there is a huge backlash against the Prawns.  There are also militant groups that live inside of District 9, making money off of the Prawns, selling them food, weapons, etc.  During Wikus’ attempt to evict the Prawns, he comes in contact with an alien chemical that slowly begins turning him into a Prawn.  Together with Christopher Johnson (a prawn), and Johnson’s son, Wikus must fight for a cure, while being pursued by MNU.

            There are essentially two parts to this flick.  Act I, which is a story of mistaken identity gone hilariously wrong, and Act II, the sci fi action movie.  In Act I, we’re introduced to Wikus.  Now, I think it’s worth mentioning that Wikus is played by Sharlto Copley, a non-actor.  Literally.  He had never acted before this.  He was a friend of director Neill Blomkamp and Blomkamp used him in the original short film that inspired this full length feature.  He ended up doing spectacularly well in this movie, and he’s now set to star in the (unnecessary) film remake of The A-Team.  Copley is amazing.  The narrative of this movie is told in a very unique fashion, and it helps with our getting to know Wikus.  At the start it’s a little bit disjointed, but the flick is told kind of like a faux documentary.  There are talking head interviews (talking head interviews are what they do on The Office when the cast is looking at and talking directly to the camera, or what they do on The Real World, when the cast does the same thing) interspersed with real time, non-documentary style action.  The thing is, it’s not really told sequentially.  For me, this wasn’t a problem, in fact, it really helped me enjoy the story more.  For my girlfriend, who has a permanent summer home on Jupiter, it was confusing.  If you’d like help better understanding the story – the talking heads take place AFTER everything else, but the talking heads featuring Wikus take place BEFORE everything else.  What I really like about this movie is the transformation of Wikus (and I’m not talking about the physical transformation).  I love the fact that in the first 30 minutes, Wikus is a complete douche.  You absolutely hate this man.  And he does some pretty disgusting things.  But in the final 30 minutes, you really feel for the guy.  He does a complete turnaround, and I think this is due competely to Copley’s performance.  There’s a scene near the end where Wikus is talking about his wife that nearly brought me to tears, and the fact that a sci fi movie can bring me to tears is an accomplishment in itself.  There’s not much in the way of supporting cast here, save for the bulky bald guy who plays the evil mercinary.

            Also worth noting here are the special effects.  Although this movie was made for only $30 million (I think it’s sad that I had to use an “only” before I said $30 million), I think it looked 100 times better than Transformers 2.  The news footage style really helped to mask the shoddy CGI.  Christopher Johnson was well-realized, and I especially loved the little character quirks on the Prawns.  Christopher Johnson had some sort of sheet metal permanently attached to his head, and there was one alien that wore women’s lingerie, which I thought was a great touch.  Also, the alien weapons were frakking awesome.

            District 9 is one of my favorite movies from 2009.  Not only does it have snarky social commentary, it’s also a genuinely affecting story.  If you missed it in the theaters, then you should definitely check it out on Blu-ray, because this flick was badass.  I’m gonna give it a 9/10.