Weekend Bites: Crazy Russian Travels to "District 9"

- Posted by Rusty

Review: "District 9"
My Rating: 3 ½ bites [out of 5]

Seen the brilliant, misleading trailer? Or the catchy “For Humans Only” marketing campaign (like the picture below)? Good, now go see “District 9”. That’s as simple as I could make this review — this is one of the best things I’ve seen in theaters in a while (minus “(500) Days of Summer, of course, but that’s a total 180 from this film). It’s an intelligent, all-around-pretty-awesome action film, and it still packs quite the emotional punch (my biggest criteria for these types of films). Not bad for a movie I knew nothing about until only a few months ago. Even more impressive for a $30-million alien flick (roughly 1/5 of what “G.I. Joe” cost) from an unknown, rookie director (Neill Blomkamp) and a first-time film actor (Sharlto Copley, Blomkamp’s real-life best friend). It might be a tad overhyped by this point, and I think the violence borders on overkill, but this is still a strong, very well-made movie…and the debut of some impressive new talent. Keep your eyes out for this director-star combo—we should expect some very good work from them in the future…

First off, let’s tackle that pretty cool backstory. About 20 years ago, a giant spaceship hovered over Johannesburg, South Africa (anyone else love the fact that it doesn’t take place in America? How much we want to bet that if a studio made this film, we’d see all the action in, like, Chicago?). The South African government broke their way in, and found the aliens (bug-like beings called “prawns”) starving and slowly dying. With a swift effort, they rounded up all the prawns, and put them in an isolated, guarded, dreadful slum called “District 9”.

Hmm…shades of apartheid? Absolutely, but this is a film smart enough to not beat us over the head with that; yes, the allusion is there, but co-writer/director Blomkamp never loses sight of the story, and the end result goes deeper than just that brutal chapter of South African history. Good science-fiction is never really about the robots, the aliens, or the monstrous creatures, but rather what it reveals about us as human beings. This film is no different — through the relationships with the prawns, Blomkamp emphasizes our inherent mistrust of anyone different, our misguided tendencies to dominate over those we feel are less worthy, to strip beings of their basic human rights following some viciously moronic, racist ideologies. The treatment of the prawns is something we’ve done before, and not just in South Africa (regarding them as inferiors, bordering them in dirty, god-awful slums, sending them to concentration camps following “the will of the people”) — except that we’ve done those things to fellow humans. Chilling, right? It only takes clicking, bug-like aliens to show us how we’re capable of treating each other. And all of that is before the true action even kicks in.

Did I mention that this is a kickass action film? For those who love social commentary, you’ll have that in spades. For pure action fans, trust me, you’ll get something great out of this too. As a guy who loves both, “District 9” was almost the perfect science-fiction story.

In a clever, documentary-like fashion, the film starts off with Wikus Van De Merwe (Copley), a worker for the massive private company Multi-National United (MNU), and his assignment to relocate all the prawns into the specially-constructed District 10 outside of Johannesburg. See, the people are tired of the aliens in such close proximity, so the government designed a “special camp” outside the city where the prawns would be “better off.” Except not really — the new location is really like a concentration camp, and, even though the prawns are supposed to get a 24-hour notice before eviction, MNU decided to speed the process up by serving them their eviction notices…and transporting them the same day. Wikus is a fascinating character to follow through all this. He’s dweeby, maybe not the brightest, but he sure gets along with everyone, and, deep down, he probably means well. But he’s also a bit of a weasel. He cares about alien rights, but only to an extent. He would much rather get the job done for MNU, even if it means sidestepping those pesky legal issues. That is, of course, until Wikus accidentally touches some alien matter. And then…

Well, you’ll just have to see the movie. No way in hell am I spoiling that here! Let’s just say things take a very interesting turn as we launch into the final hour.


As Wikus, newcomer Sharlto Copley is phenomenal — what an amazing debut. Considering this is his first professional acting gig, Copley goes through a powerful transformation in this film, and it’s completely believable the entire way through. This guy’s the real deal, and he should be a around for a long time. There’s one particular scene of him on the phone with his wife which just killed me — it was acted so beautifully, with such real, heartbreaking feeling. I’m not even the type who cries at movies (It’s weird to me too, no worries — just think of it as one of my few manly qualities), but this was the closest I came to that in a while.

However, as much as I loved Wikus, he’s really only half of the emotional center of “District 9”; the real soul belongs to the most unexpected source. At some point in the film, Wikus teams up with Christopher Johnson and his young son…but, bland name aside, Christopher is a prawn, likely the smartest one of the bunch. While a good chunk of the prawns are angry and prone to violence, Christopher is kind and intelligent, and his relationship with his son is the true heart of the film. There’s another scene with Christopher, trying to calmly explain to his son that they’re about to be relocated to District 10. Just watch those eyes, so full of pain and defeat, as Christopher tries to make the concentration camp sound “better” and more comfortable than the dirty shack they have right now. Another brilliant scene, and who would’ve thought that two aliens having an intimate conversation could work so well, on a purely emotional level at that? Or that it’d ring so true to some of the grave injustices inflicted on actual human beings (in addition to space-bugs)?

I won’t spoil much else, but take my word that Christopher has a plan, and putting that plan into gear launches the last 40 minutes of the film, which also happens to feature some of the best action sequences of the year. Those who find the first hour or so kind of slow, just sit back and enjoy these final sequences — the pacing never lets up, and this is some overall exceptional, thrilling work. I mentioned the movie’s budget a while back, and while $30 million is probably more than I’ll ever see in my life…for an action movie, particularly a CGI-infused science-fiction one like this one, it’s virtually nothing. Think of it like an independent film — a “Garden State” for the “Transformers” genre. The special effects are also seamless, and wonderfully used — the prawns look realistic, and the eyes (they really have no mouths, just tentacles) completely life-like. The spaceships, weaponry, and, most of all, that mothership hovering over Johannesburg are all very impressive as well — this is quite the achievement in many ways.

I do wish the film was less violent, or at the very least more subtle in how it portrayed it. Yeah, you could say all the splattering body parts and exploding humans were part of the story, but it still felt a bit gratuitous. That’s pretty much my biggest complaint with the film. My friend, Linda (who did the amazing, ridiculously cool profile picture for our coming-soon revamp), keeps making fun of me, because her and I are on different spectrums. She loves her tasteful violence, while I go for the more mushy, touchy-feely stuff. “District 9” really has both—it works very well on a touching, human level (pretty cool, right? Even though the aliens and Wikus are pretty much the most humane characters), but it doesn’t hold back on the gore front. It could work for many, but I think a quieter approach to the carnage scenes would have made the film more powerful, and given it a much more lasting (and scarier) impact.

I haven’t mentioned producer Peter Jackson at all (who gets the fancy “Presents” credit which opens the movie), even though his involvement probably got this picture made to begin with. If anyone remembers, a few years back, Jackson hand-picked Blomkamp to direct the mega-budget “Halo” movie. That, of course, fell through—I would guess the studio wasn’t too comfortable hiring a first-timer to direct their video-game epic. But, I don’t know about you guys, I’m really glad the “Halo” movie never happened — if it did, we would’ve never gotten “District 9.” Blomkamp is a smart filmmaker, understanding the need for an engaging story and characters we genuinely feel for (much like his mentor, Mr. Jackson). It’s a treat to see someone as big as Jackson supporting an absolute unknown, but he believed in his talent…and he was very right. I can’t wait to see what Blomkamp does next. If “Halo” actually comes together (and that might very well happen, since, as of now, “District 9” is a profitable hit), in Blomkamp’s hands and under Jackson’s watchful creative eye, we should be in for something great.

I can’t get in too much more without revealing some of the film’s interesting developments and clever little twists, so I’ll just say this: that final shot is perfect. Simple as that—moving, bittersweet, and just plain perfect for the end of this story. I heard Peter Jackson coyly mention a sequel to this film, and even though I shrugged off the idea at first, the ending leaves a sequel wide-open…and, damn it, now I really need to see more! If they approach it in a fresh, interesting perspective (which I’m sure these guys will), I’ll be there, first in line, ready to see what they come up with. “District 10”? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m very up for another trip into this world.

So, to sum all this up, without any more babbling on my part…go see “District 9.” It may not be for everyone (especially the squeamish), but if you make it through, right up to that lovely parting shot, you’ll see exactly what I mean — you’ll be as crazy about the whole experience as I am.



Images courtesy of Wingnut Films and Sony Pictures.