Starring: Sharlto Copley
Rating: 3 stars (out of 4)
District 9 is a very good, but not great, sci-fi film in which the final 30 to 40 minutes are filled with non-stop action that pays off a rather slow but necessary buildup explaining both the events of the film and the characters (what few there are). It was supposedly shot on a low-budget, although you really can't tell from the effects, which are excellent, and is also shot documentary-style, with talking head interviews from "historians" discussing the events in the film as part of the past, alongside documentary footage of the main character, Wikus van de Merwe, and how he shapes these events. It's a slightly well-worn conceit but it works in this instance and the entirety of the film is riveting, even if the first hour kind of drags while the viewer waits for more action, and more interaction with the aliens. Read on for the full review, but while I don't spoil anything, stop reading now if you want to go in completely fresh.
Aliens are the key feature of the movie -- ugly, Predator-looking aliens who are given the slur "prawns" by the population because they, well, look like giant walking prawns. They are disgusting, and frightening, but not necessarily violent. And that's all I'll say on the subject. They came here aboard a massive mothership some 20 years ago, a ship that hovered over and came to a stop above the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. (I love that the film takes place there, rather than NYC or Los Angeles, and the foreign touch elevates the film in my opinion). Anyway, after 3 months of nothing happening, government helicopters boarded the ship and found a million aliens huddled together, malnourished and starving, almost like cockroaches. They are transported to earth and settled into emergency shelters to feed them, but the shelters become permanent, much to the chagrin of the citizens of Johannesburg, who come to resent the presence of the "prawns" in District 9, either because it's become a slum or because the aliens can become violent when they escape, or simply because of "racism," which in this case is, I guess, Earthism. As a result, the South African government has hired a military contracter named MNU (read: Blackwater) to move the million aliens to District 10, which is 20 miles away from the city.
That's the backstory, as it is, and that's all explained in the first 10 minutes or so, and while it does leave a lot unexplained, it's enough to go on as we begin to follow along with Wilkus, on his first day running the relocation operation in District 9. I read a review in the USA Today that describes Wilkus as sort of like Michael Scott from The Office, which is just about the most perfect description one could give. Wilkus is 100% Michael Scott, which sort of works against the film at times (since Wilkus, like Michael, is a bit too bumbling idiot to carry the entirety of the film), but it also makes him endearing despite his somewhat evil role and it gives the film a good character on which to pivot as the events of the plot unfold. In an early scene, Wilkus is sprayed with an alien liquid of some type and as a result becomes a bit of an enemy of the state, wanted by his MNU overlords, along with a Nigerian gang working within District 9, and of course, the aliens who need the liquid for their own purposes. Wilkus is really the only major human character in the entire movie, besides a few too-broad "bad guys," which is a huge risk that, like I said, gets a bit too "Michael Scott" at times, at least in the first hour. But South African actor Sharlto Copley does a masterful job with the role, and the last thirty to forty minutes are a redemption of not only the character, but the film itself, as Wilkus fights to save his own life, and perhaps the world as well.
Peter Jackson produced the movie, but it's first time director Neill Blomkamp (of South Africa) who wrote and directed the effort, and while the film is missing a little nuance and could be stronger in the first hour, he effectively pulls off a seemingly complicated plot and wonderful effects with relative ease on a small budget and does it all convincingly. Based on the previews and the outstanding buzz for the film, I expected a lot going in. And for the most part, he delivered.
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