District 9 - Spoiler Free Sci-Fi Movie Review

Written by Martin Dolan

District 9 is a science fiction movie with something new, unseen before. Or is it?

There are certainly some parallels between the sci-fi movie District 9 and apartheid in South Africa, but the point is not labored. It is much deeper than that, which gives this movie a breath of fresh air and some realism.

An alien spaceship arrives over Johannesburg and in stark contrast to your usual Hollywood formulaic rubbish, nothing drastic happens. In fact the movie is set 20 years after it arrives. The people of earth are not fighting for survival over an alien oppressor. The pentagon don't need to call in their specialist secret team that even the president does not know the existence of. There is no nerdy misfit or previously discredited scientist to save the day with a sci-fi gizmo at the last minute with seven seconds left on some digital countdown. It's not even set in America!

Holy crap - this is something new.

...Or is it?

In a way it's not new. It's something we have all seen before, heard before, even experienced before. Just in real life, on the news, in the newspapers. Not so much on the big screen.

District 9 has a 'documentary' feel to it, which mostly lasts through to the end. When it does drop in and out of that style, it does so in an unnoticeable way, and leaves you deep in the moment.

The main character, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is an 'everything by the book' small fish swimming in a vast sea of bureaucracy. Not inherently evil, but in a way through his inaction. To be honest, he is a bit of a prick.
Empowered through nepotism he is given the task of moving the aliens from the District 9 slum to the even less desirable District 10. Out of sight, out of mind. The aliens are referred to as 'prawns' as the humans see them as bottom feeders, scavenging for food (especially cat food), and like an infestation of insects, the humans just want them gone.

Under South African Law, every alien must be served with an eviction notice.

Wikus is attempting to serve and have each alien sign a copy of the eviction notice.
A telling scene when you see what will count as a signature.

During this task via an accident, the life of Wikus is changed for ever.

Selfishness is a big theme, with all but one of the characters possessing that gene in spades.

Synopsis - From the studio and a bit of a spoiler so you might want to skip this bit..

Twenty years ago, an extra terrestrial mothership appeared above the earth. Humans waited for a hostile attack or giant advances in technology. Instead they found a stranded refugee group of non-humans, possibly the last survivors of their own world. As the world's nations argued over what to do with them, the creatures were relegated to a ghetto area - District 9.

Multi-National United (MNU), a private security company, and also the world's largest arms manufacturer has been contracted to oversee the visitors. MNU'S real goal is to discover the secret to the activation of the alien's powerful weaponry that requires their DNA. Tension between the non-humans and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins converting his own 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 the non-human technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide - District 9.

From Producer Peter Jackson, creator of Lord of The Rings, comes the thrilling new action sci-fi feature, District 9 - the directorial debut of Jackson's protégé: the groundbreaking commercial director Neill Blomkamp.

The only human character really given any depth is Wikus, and my only criticism is some of the others were shallow, the 'bad guy' a bit cartoonish, but apart from that and a few plot 'questions' - not big enough to be called 'plot holes' it was an enjoyable movie, and an important one.

On a Technical standpoint, District 9 scores very high.

The aliens were very realistic, as was the whole movie with its gritty dusty documentary style - indeed the empathy I felt for the aliens hit me very early on.
The special effects are used where needed and with restraint - again I will emphasize the realism, with which comes quite a bit of gore in places. One particular effect was amazing I will leave that for you to discover the wonder that is the 'arc' gun!

A music score nearly unnoticeable yet extremely effective

It complemented District 9. Other directors and producers take note - the movie 'Team America - World Police' had the song 'America -F*#k Yeah!' to get a point across. You don't need a musical baseball-bat to bludgeon the audience with!
District 9 does not try and ram different emotions down your throat through a musical score.

The visual effects, music and sound are there when they need to be and pack a punch when they do. I will need to upgrade my subwoofer when I buy this on DVD.

District 9 was not always meant to be

It rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the 'Halo' science fiction video game to movie project. Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson could not get 'Halo' off the ground due to bickering between movie studios and Microsoft. Jackson then gave financial support for Blomkamp to turn his short film 'Alive in Joburg' into a feature.

This could well be a good thing as I am yet to see an outstanding video game to movie crossover. I do think that the game-to-movie crossover of 'Bio-Shock' has a strong chance of being good - if it ever happens. At least someone please save us from the movie studios that recently bought the film rights to the video game 'Asteroids' and the 3D kids toy 'View Master'.

District 9, should be on your must see film list, and irrespective of being a science fiction lover, it is one of the best movies I have seen all year - 9 out of 10 !

District 9: Sci-fi movie trailer for extraterrestrial Refugee camp D-9 and Alive in Joburg

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Tags: Movies Trailer Review Video District 9 Halo UFO or Alien

Comments (4)

4 Friday, 04 September 2009 22:51

jav

Being that the alien weapondry was so advanced and could only be operated by aliens, which is why the military was interested in wikus, Why didnt the aliens use these weapons against the humans or at least against the gangsters.

Saturday, 05 September 2009 19:03

Martin Dolan

The aliens are sort of like a insect hive, that have lost their "queen" and so have lost their sense of organization and direction - like a hive of bees when you remove the queen, they just fly around aimlessly.

3 Friday, 07 August 2009 02:13

Sharon E. Dreyer

Thanks for this article and sharing. I'm very interested in seeing District 9, but have seen both good and bad reviews. Guess I'll just have to see for myself.

Check out my first and recently released novel, Long Journey to Rneadal. This exciting story is a romantic action adventure in space.

2 Thursday, 06 August 2009 12:27

Fiona09

So is it a documentary or a movie? looks sweet

Thursday, 06 August 2009 12:31

Martin Dolan

It's a movie, that is sort of shot like a documentary - - it is full of action, suspense.. if thats what you are worrying about - edge of your seat stuff from start to finish Wink