Exciting District 9 a Rip-Roaring Spectacle
It has been twenty years since the alien ship came to rest over Johannesburg. While South African citizens have grown accustomed to its presence, during the last two decades they have grown more and more weary of the unearthly visitors living in the refugee camp, known as District 9, resting within their city’s borders.
Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) looks to the skies in TriStar Pictures' District 9
Placed in charge by the government, the privately owned company Multi-National United (MNU) is responsible for looking after the welfare of the alien visitors. They are also responsible for moving the inhabitants of District 9 to a new locale, the humans in Johannesburg done with having these strange creatures residing right next door to them and their families.
But not all is all it seems either with the aliens or with the company supposedly trying to make things better for them. After MNU agent-in-charge Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) comes into contact with a strange, otherworldly device he suddenly becomes public enemy number one. With nowhere to run and nobody to turn to he heads into the heart of District 9 to hide, suddenly finding himself at the center of a maelstrom no one – human or alien – ever cold have foreseen.
Finally. After three months of relatively decent (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), to moderately okay (Star Trek), to blandly forgettable (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator Salvation), to unforgivably horrible (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) big budget Hollywood action-spectacles, here comes TriStar Pictures’ fabulous District 9 to show us exactly what it is we’ve been missing. A compelling mixture of drama, thrills and smarts, this is what exemplary science fiction is all about, and if this doesn’t end up being the box office hit it deserves to be then my faith in audiences still being able to ascertain the difference between crap and quality might just be erased forever.
This is not hyperbole. The directorial debut of Peter Jackson protégé Neill Blomkamp (who co-wrote the script with Terri Tatchell) piqued my interest right from the start with its quirky sensibility, unusual visual esthetic and intriguing storyline. Its obvious racial subtext aside (setting it in South Africa doesn’t exactly make that component subtle), the film is much more than a simple us-versus-them debate. It is instead a magnificent discussion on what it is to be human, the demons that haunt us and the reasons some choose to stand against injustice no matter what the cost.
More than that, the film is also about the continued corporate push for domination that has fueled the sci-fi genre almost from the beginning. There are so many Orwellian and Phillip K. Dick-like influences it is almost impossible to count them all, and for those who think the machine is almost too large to any longer rage against this movie borders on Exhibit A on why they might be right.
Not that anyone should think that District 9 is all strum and drag. Blomkamp does not skimp in the action department, the final third an almost James Cameron-esque rollercoaster that continuously blew my mind. From a siege on a MNU research lab, to a blood-soaked three-way confrontation between mercenary soldiers, warlord controlled militias and a heavily armed Wikus, I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. The tension during the climactic stretch is nearly unbearable, the final moments so strong I marinated them over and over inside my mind long after I’d called it a day.
The film is a little long, noticeably dragging for a short stretch during the midsection. I also can’t say the decision to present the story as a faux-documentary isn’t entirely successful. While sometimes the device works, others it falls noticeably flat, the fact the whole film is shot as one blurring the line between what is part of the narrative and what is third-person observation a little to too much for my complete satisfaction.
Not that any of this matters where it comes to the big picture. Blomkamp and Tatchell have a lot on their minds, yes, but they don’t get so caught up in their own message or in their cinematic ingenuity to forget to make sure the audiences still have a rip-roaring good time. The film rocks to its own unique beat, and while the individual components are maybe a bit over-familiar the way they’ve been assembled is so creatively unique it’s hard not to be impressed. District 9 is the wakeup call I’ve been waiting for, the movie proof-positive Hollywood maybe isn’t quite as clueless as this summer’s dregs might have led us to believe.
Film Rating: êêê1/2 (out of 4)
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