DISTRICT 9
Directed by: Neill Blomkamp
Written by: Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
This film is easily the top movie of the year. There’s not many words that can describe how good it truly is. Amazing, spectacular, astonishing, and phenomenal just don’t quite seem to do it justice. Movies like these make me realize the power of filmmaking and why I want to be involved.
Just to be safe:
Synopsis:
A psuedo-documentary look back on the presence an alien species that came to earth, and whose ship remains dormant above the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. The story follows Wickers Van Den Merwe (an agent for MNU, a government agency that deals with the aliens) and his recently appointed mission to formerly relocate the population of aliens, or “prawns”, currently living in fenced in slums below their ship to new government built camps in order to supposedly better house them.
Cinematography/Special Effects:
Amazing! The documentary style introductions set a reality-based tone to the film. I was blown away by the authenticity of the vintage film and stock-based footage, that only seemed to add to the feeling of this being an actual event. Once the action gets going, you are immediately sucked in. The suspension of disbelief is never in question. Considering the content and subject matter, that’s quite impression. There are plenty of gorgeous skyline shots of Johannesburg and the ship. The creature animations our some of the best I’ve ever seen. Truly amazing how far technology has advanced. I felt the prawns’ movements and actions were super-realistic. Whoever acted as the motion captures for them deserves an Oscar. There are some wicked cool effects with the alien weaponry. Again, making it seem that if they were real, that’s what it would be like.
Rating: A
Acting:
Surprisingly good despite being an all foreign cast. No overacting, showboating American Super-Action stars here to muddle a great script. Sharlto Copley does a superb job representing the main character, Wickers. His performance is as captivating as any role in a multitude of sci-fi pictures. His relation with the CGI based creatures is blatantly convincing, making me feel that there was an actually person acting out the creatures’ parts on set.
B+
Direction:
Never hearing of Neill Blomkamp, I would have to say that this is a good indicator that this is an extremely talented individual. His ability to present this story as if it were an actual event is unprecedented (perhaps the only thing coming close to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT). The story is executed to perfection. The acting is spot on. There are huge amounts of special effects that don’t get in the way of the action and only seem to augment the story and performances of everyone and everything involved. And at the end of the day, he wasn’t making a film about aliens. He wasn’t making an action film. He wasn’t showing the execs at Microsoft that he could do a HALO film. He is telling a story. And it’s got a lot of heart and a lot of guts. That takes a talented director to pull all that off.
A+
Music/Score/Sound Design:
Another astonishing feat. Beautiful score that accentuates the brilliant emotion of the film. Good selection of music to set the tone of the action and chaos of the film. Excellent sound design. From the alien weapons to the prawn dialect, there are no shortages of creativity and visionary design.
B+
Script/Story:
Unique. Inventive. Intriguing. Dramatic. Emotional. Sensible. Depth. Artful. There’s a lot that can describe this story. I love stories about aliens. And I love thinking about first contact and how we would relate to unknown life forms. This presents an interesting take. It’s not “we come in peace”. It’s not a “hostile takeover”. It’s about a group of living beings (who have, some how, got here and want to go home) versus the greed of humanity.
A+
This has to be a movie everyone goes and sees. I know I’m presenting a lot of positivity here because I’m such a fan of the Sci-Fi genre, and I‘m very excited to get another masterpiece (right up there with ALIENS and T2). However, it’s really a great film with a lot of excitement, drama and masterful special effects. The story has heart. It makes you think. It makes you feel. It makes you wonder. Those are all signs of a great film and this is certainly that.
Overall Rating = 9.6/10.0
I was a little dissapointed that the 3rd act has little to no resolution, and maybe one too many people exploding. (that got a little silly). Also, the blatant setup of a sequel (District 10) felt like the compromise the studio made to cash in.
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