In a summer that seems to be filled with over-produced, brainless films like Transformers 2, GI Joe and X-men Origins: Wolverine, District 9 is an extremely intelligent and refreshing movie. I would tell you that it is the first film in a long time that has had me watching it with mouth agape in pleasure and awe, but I would be lying as I’m pretty sure I had the same expression watching parts of both Star Trek and The Hurt Locker. The same goes for the childish grin that I had during the latter half of this movie, and yet neither of those films had an effect like the “prawn’s” lighting gun and the subsequent sploosh of red where there used to be a human. The execution of what could have been such a cheesy bit of CG but was so spot-on in practice that I never tired of it.
I think this speaks to something of what made this flick so good. Yes, there is a lot of CG in District 9. There is an entire race of beings completely of CG, including some of the protagonists. Yet none of it seemed superfluous, something that can easily happen in big blockbuster movies that seem to be just excuses for big fight scenes between CG robots or humans in robotic suits. The prawns are not Jar-Jar Binkses, they are sympathetic victims and and opressed minority. As with all the good modern sci-fi movies that have used such effects, they have to be employed for the benefit of the story or characters, otherwise the resulting film ends up feeling empty.
The cinematography helped a great deal in making these CG characters seem completely believable. District 9 is shot in a style where the entire film is a framed around a documentary summarizing the events. It starts and ends with interviews with some of the people who were observers to the entire incident, and is interlaced with security camera footage and gun-cams, and yet director Neil Blomkamp realized that doing the entire film in this style would be off-putting, and most of the action and major plot scenes take place in a normal film style, focusing on the main character Wikus van der Merwe. Wikus is a middle management man in the private military corporation MNU which has been charged with evicting the aliens from their current district to move them to another camp. The history of this alternate world is filled in smoothly within the frame of the documentary, explaining as much as the humans seem to know about their mysterious guests and leaving the rest open to interperetation by the audience. At the risk of spoiling anything I will stop with the plot discussion there, but will say that it was entirely engrossing for the length of the movie.
The main character of Wikus was, for the most part, an unlikeable, close-minded, narcissistic bigot, but he worked for the part he played in the film and the events. They briefly show some people who seem to be on the side of the aliens, protesting outside the camp, but everyone else in the film shows nothing but contempt for the entire race and so Wikus is not playing the “hero on the side of good”, but is a believable person with misconceptions and prejudices. Wikus sees every single alien as a criminal, and while being filmed for the documentary, he is entirely preoccupied with looking good for the camera, often asking the unseen cameraman to cut out scenes which will make him look bad. As a character he was perfect for the message of the film, and exposes many of the feelings that the population of the city and his company hold against these unwanted and unwilling intruders.
District 9 is a gritty, dark and intelligent film, but one with enough action to satisfy the summer blockbuster crowds. Everyone should see this movie, especially in a good theater. It is a great summer movie, a fantastic scifi film and a great first feature for director Neil Blomkamp.
