District 9

Synopsis

District 9 portrays a fictional world where aliens have become refugees in Johannesburg, South Africa as the whole world is watching. The aliens are not accepted. The government notices that they started moving to other areas and they aren’t welcomed. People are living in fear of the non-humans. The government is spending so much money to keep the aliens their, but have sanctioned them off in their own district – District 9. The aliens just want to go home, but have no way of getting there after their mother ship stopped right over Johannesburg.

Review

WOW! This is one interesting movie. For $30 million, the computer graphics were impeccable. The aliens looked so real. District 9 had a very deep meaning. I don’t want to give too much away so I’ll just say APARTHEID. I loved going into this film barely knowing anything about it. I just knew there were humans and non-humans and the aliens were nothing to look at. They had a predator type of look to them in the trailer.

28 years ago extraterrestrials came via their mother ship hovering over Johannesburg, South Africa. Humans’ thought a hostile attack would soon follow, or huge advances in technology. Nothing happened and neither came. The aliens became refugees of South Africa and separated from the general population in improvised homes in District 9.

Humans are tired of so much money being spent to keep the aliens and impatience came. A private company MNU (Multi-Natioanl United) has been contracted to take control over the aliens. They don’t give a hoot about the aliens. They just want to know how their weapons work. Everything goes amuck when MNU field operative, Wikus van der merwe (Sharlto Copely) gets sprayed in the face with some unidentifiable guck with alien markings. From that moment forward, it is on and the film goes into overdrive.

District 9 has a good start, middle and finish to the film. I felt like I was the cameraman and had a front row seat to the alien interview. I kept watching my feet as if I were walking through the slums of District 9. Oh yes, a lot of the film is shot as fake documentary style. I felt like I was chilling at home watching CNN news or something. So, this might irk some. I’m use to these styles of movies especially after seeing Quarantine and Cloverfield. I like when a movie makes me feel I'm right there.

I’m sure we will also be seeing Copely in more films. I can’t believe this was his first acting job and just did it as a favor to his friend. Oh my word! I think his director friend Blomkamp just did Copely a huge favor. Hopefully, he likes acting because he will be called on for sure. I loved the character development and arc with the Wikus role. His story alone will definitely help move this film forward onto a sequel.

District 9 is truly going to be talked about for years to come. There are so many movies made year after year and only some I remember everything about. This great film will be one of them. 15 years from now, I’ll be saying… “Oh yes, District 9 was one good movie.” Please be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster. There will be times when you’ll switch teams of who you are rooting for.

This Sci-Fi magnum opus, okay I’m just so excited I’m using crazy words. This Sci-Fi masterpiece has a little bit of everything in its characters -- loyalty, family, love, selfishness, evil and betrayal. It’s a good film you’ll enjoy, however, there are a lot of, “Why didn’t they do this or that?” And there is a lot of jumping around so, be prepared. For me, none of that was a deal breaker. I let it go and went with what I was given -- a great movie.

My Rating ~ 4 Reels

Audience Rating (What's Yours?)