District 9 - 2009

[innersouth2020]

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Mandla Gaduka

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Summary: Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa's District 9 as the world's nations argued over what to do with them.

Patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens' welfare - they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens' awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable - he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9.

My Review: Make no mistake that you are not watching a movie with any big headliners to its credits and in fact, I had not heard of any of the actors at all.

The format of the movie reflects more like a post event documentary then a story being told as it is happening. The motion is continuously cut to interviews of "experts" on District 9, and those directly involved with the main character Wikus, as they chart the events as if historians.

Without knowing what the movie was about prior to seeing it, and only having seen the trailer, I have to admit I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for the story to finally reveal itself. This for me did not come till the film reached its three quarter point and some action sequences kicked in. The dialogue is a combination of South African accents and subtitles translated from a series of clicks that the aliens communicate with.

I am still not totally sure how I should rate this movie and not sure you should rush out to see it, though its format made for completely different viewing. If there is a sequel to this movie, and I am hoping there will be, then I am already imagining World War 3/Universe War 1.

[MarkH]

I saw this last week. It was boring....very boring, it felt like the movie would never end!

[sydney25]

I have just endured this and found it the biggest try-hard film I have seen for years. To call District 9 bland, dull and boring would be an understatement and would not do justice to how bad I found the film. Please save your money and do not watch this film in the cinema or on DVD. It really is not worth it. Around two hours of my life I'll never get back...

[randomer909]

Aww really, I was looking forward to it :/

[TheSeane]

Hmmm... Haven't seen it and now I'm not sure if I want to see it after that review.

But go see Inglorious Bastards!  It's AMAZING!!!!

[Lisa2408]

I've seen this movie and was very disappointed.
Just after films like "Lord of the Rings" and "King Kong" I expected more.
The film was a documentary rather than an action film.

[MarkH]

But go see Inglorious Bastards!  It's AMAZING!!!!

I agree!

[Lisa2408]

Hmmm... Haven't seen it and now I'm not sure if I want to see it after that review.

But go see Inglorious Bastards!  It's AMAZING!!!!

Inglorious Bastards I saw when I was in the hospital. I can not understand that when people are killed in a bestial way, cheers came from the audience. I think the movie just disgusting.
Sorry, that's my opinion about this film .... he glorifies violence and only legalized the war and the torture of defenseless people.

[Eric]

I have to respectfully disagree. I thought District 9 was one of the best movies of the year. I'm not typically a fan of the faux documentary style and I wasn't a fan of it here, but I didn't see that it hurt the movie. It was just a narrative tool.

It was a good sociopolitical commentary, offering a lot of food for thought without being preachy - while the most direct metaphor was to South Africa's history of Apartheid, it could easily have applied to any slum in the world, with allusions to our own treatment of native Americans or black slaves, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, etc.

I especially appreciated that it had one of the most realistic depictions of aliens ever, exhibiting behavior that was often genuinely alien for a change, and didn't fit easily understood human values and motivations. We can theorize and guess about the aliens underlying sociology, but the movie leaves it deliberately ambiguous.

The main characters were complex and three dimensional, and everything about them was delightfully nuanced. The primary alien character, Christopher, was so believable as to forget that you were looking at CG. Sharlto Copley was fantastic playing the flawed protagonist Wikus.

And to top it off the movie concluded with the coolest Mech battle ever done by Hollywood, doubly impressive that it was in a low budget film.

I'm actually kind of surprised at the negative comments here based on my own impressions and given how well the movie has been received by everyone else I've talked to.

I can't wait to see what director Neill Blomkamp does next.

[sydney25]

I have to respectfully disagree. I thought District 9 was one of the best movies of the year. I'm not typically a fan of the faux documentary style and I wasn't a fan of it here, but I didn't see that it hurt the movie. It was just a narrative tool.

It was a good sociopolitical commentary, offering a lot of food for thought without being preachy - while the most direct metaphor was to South Africa's history of Apartheid, it could easily have applied to any slum in the world, with allusions to our own treatment of native Americans or black slaves, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, etc.

I especially appreciated that it had one of the most realistic depictions of aliens ever, exhibiting behavior that was often genuinely alien for a change, and didn't fit easily understood human values and motivations. We can theorize and guess about the aliens underlying sociology, but the movie leaves it deliberately ambiguous.

The main characters were complex and three dimensional, and everything about them was delightfully nuanced. The primary alien character, Christopher, was so believable as to forget that you were looking at CG. Sharlto Copley was fantastic playing the flawed protagonist Wikus.

And to top it off the movie concluded with the coolest Mech battle ever done by Hollywood, doubly impressive that it was in a low budget film.

I'm actually kind of surprised at the negative comments here based on my own impressions and given how well the movie has been received by everyone else I've talked to.

I can't wait to see what director Neill Blomkamp does next.

Eric, thanks for sharing your view but I think you must have seen a very different film from the one I suffered and endured as I got none of that from it and sadly found nothing to praise. I guess it really is horses for courses 

[Eric]

Well, I respect your opinion and you're certainly entitled to it, but I'd encourage you to give it another shot. it does have a 8.5 on IMDB and a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. The consensus is that it's one of the best sci fi movies of the last several years at least.

[Alex]

Eric, you've got it spot on here mate.

I am not by any stretch of the imagination a fan of the sci-fi genre, but District 9 was easily one of the best films I've seen in a while. Great characters, very well shot and great visual effects for such a low budget production. Plus, the underlying meaning and social commentary as Eric said really makes you think. If you're going to see an action movie, you're going to the wrong thing, not to mention the fact that it's never been advertised as an action movie at all.

[Dan]

Thats Tarantinos Style. People like it or not. --> I like it.  

I thought it was meh. WWII is so overused that you have to be really good and really different to be interesting.

Iron sky might be up to the task, let's hope!

Edit: Trailer!

Iron Sky teaser - Space Nazis attack!

[Karla]

Just watched this film with Stuart.

I had no preconceptions of what it was going to be like, and often that's a good thing so you can judge the movie for what it is, not what you were hoping for.

It was a genuinely original and fresh film. It's such a pleasure to find something new like this rather than yet another formulaic Hollywood movie. It left me stunned and films never normally do that for me.

I completely understood what it was about, and I concur with Eric's take on it so I won't bother repeating what he said. Sci-fi traditionally is more than just action in space. The genre is normally used to try and say something about our current society and this film certainly did that.

And even though I didn't originally care for the main character, I found it quite surprisingly tense following the events that happened to him and ended up really rooting for him by the end of it. But then I think that's the point. There's a message in that film about ignorance and belittling and underestimating those who you do not understand.

[Riot.EXE]

Just watched this film with Stuart.

I had no preconceptions of what it was going to be like, and often that's a good thing so you can judge the movie for what it is, not what you were hoping for.

It was a genuinely original and fresh film. It's such a pleasure to find something new like this rather than yet another formulaic Hollywood movie. It left me stunned and films never normally do that for me.

I completely understood what it was about, and I concur with Eric's take on it so I won't bother repeating what he said. Sci-fi traditionally is more than just action in space. The genre is normally used to try and say something about our current society and this film certainly did that.

And even though I didn't originally care for the main character, I found it quite surprisingly tense following the events that happened to him and ended up really rooting for him by the end of it. But then I think that's the point. There's a message in that film about ignorance and belittling and underestimating those who you do not understand.

Yeah pretty much.  I had seen the movie when it debuted in American theatres, and I loved it.  I think the problem was how the movie was advertised, showing all the "actiony" parts and editing them to make the movie out to be something it wasn't...so then when people went to see it, they were like "what the fuck is this?" and got bored because they were expecting more action (read: people/aliens shooting each other the fuck up in bloody CG glory).  Unfortunately, a lot of movies fall victim to this, and a lot of people end up hyping themselves up for something that isn't what it seems to be, regardless of whether or not the film in question is genuinely good or not.

OR!

Peoples attention spans got too damn short over time and didn't even bother trying pay attention anymore.

OR!

People didn't get it.