District 9

District 9

Neill Blomkamp, pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Peter Jackson should also receive some praise too for giving this guy a chance and sticking his own neck out there for Blomkamp.

District 9 fully immerses you into a dark and gritty science fiction film that also passes itself off as an action film as well. D9 handles balance between the social commentary and the violent action scenes extremely well. The movie isn’t easy to watch because of the harshness of some of the abuse scenes, but I enjoyed the movie a lot.

For a mere 30 million dollars, D9 has some amazing special effects. I was fully convinced that there were actual “shrimp-like” creatures walking around and interacting with humans. Every part on the creatures’ faces seemed real. Even though their faces are animated through CGI, you can fully understand their expressions.

There are two aliens that really stand out and are very convincing. They are a father and son team, and I liked them a lot. They’re the characters that you’ll be cheering for.

And, that brings us to the main character Wikus Van De Merwe. Wikus is probably one of the most unlikable main characters I’ve ever come across. He’s not that smart, and he willingly takes part in the harmful acts against the aliens. At the beginning, he is a middle management idiot that is truly a douche bag and asshole. You will hate him, but a certain thing happens to him and it changes everything about his life inside and out. He sort of becomes a hero.

Sharlto Copley does a wonderful acting job as Wikus, and keep in mind this is his second movie. I hope to see more from this guy.

The first 15 minutes will give you an interesting insight into the 20 years of history leading up to the current events in the movie. The news footage looks authentic and I half expected to see some familiar newscasters in the opening.

There are a few pacing problems in the middle of the story. I found myself bored with certain scenes right in the middle and felt they could have been edited down a bit. However, the last act makes up for it. I also didn’t like the musical score. It felt too New Age for my taste. I would have preferred a John Williams type of score, but it wasn’t a bad score.

Overall, I enjoyed watching this movie. It felt like something completely new and fresh. It was hard to watch certain scenes, but it still was an intriguing look into an alt-Earth. Neill Blomkamp did an outstanding job in this gritty film.

Grade: B+

Reminds me of V.