Customer Reviews

District 9 (Single-Disc Edition)

5 star:		(214)
4 star:		(99)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(38)
1 star:		(84)

 

 

At first, the plot and characters in this movie seem quite bizarre, but it eventually becomes apparent that the movie is clearly and faithfully illustrating a theme which is natural to the human condition. That theme revolves around what happens when a minority group lives in the midst of a majority group, with the division into different and opposing groups being established based on their differences in ancestry, appearance, language, diet, and other cultural traits.

In such a situation, the majority group may grow to detest the minority group and unjustly blame them for many of their own troubles, and they may even be tempted to exterminate the minority group (ie, genocide), but their instincts will usually tell them that that's going too far. Instead, the minority group will usually be allowed to continue to exist, but they'll be geographically cordoned off and their rights will be limited, so that they suffer deprived circumstances, including epithets, physical abuse, poverty, exploitation, and crime.

Again, the movie illustrates this (important) theme well, and in a way that there's no question about who the minority group is and the ways in which they're being mistreated. I found the movie gripping, and I suspect that I'll remember it for a long time.

If I have to come up with a negative criticism of the movie, I would say that perhaps some of the violence is over the top, and I wonder if it was necessary to include Nigerians among the really bad guys (given that their reputation is already bad enough).

Nevertheless, I do recommend this movie. It's much better than I expected, and it does its job well enough to warrant a full 5 stars.

District 9 (Neil Blomkamp, 2009)

There is heavy-handed, and then there is District 9, a movie that goes so far over that line it's not even funny. Worse, the second half of the movie devolves into the most predictable buddy-cop flick you've ever seen, despite the fact that neither of the buddies involved is a cop. So given all this, why on Earth did I love this movie as much as I did? Part of it, of course, is the phenomenal effects work (the same reason I get so much enjoyment out of the even stupider Alien vs. Predator), but there's something more to it, and that something is Sharlto Copley, a South African actor making his feature film debut, and who manages to outshine everyone else in this cast.

Quick synopsis: aliens came to earth twenty years ago, choosing to land in South Africa, of all places. The government immediately set them up in a section of the city that rapidly became a slum, District 9. The human natives of Johannesburg are restless, and the government has come up with a solution to pacify them: move the aliens, derogatorily known as "prawns", to District 10, two hundred fifty kilometers north of the city, and thus two hundred fifty kilometers farther away from humans. Wikus van de Merwe (Copley), a bungling but likable bureaucrat who happens to the the son-in-law of the director of the company that runs alien affairs, is put in charge of serving eviction notices. Things rapidly get out of hand, due not only to the inherent racism on both sides, but because there really are some things going on in District 9 that the humans should probably have been wary of. At the core of those things is Christopher (no actor; the aliens are entirely CGI), an alien who just wants to repair their spaceship and go back to their home planet. Wikus and Christopher start off in a weird kind of colorless antipathy, but after a horrible accident causes Wikus to be shunned by the human population and smeared in the media, Wikus and Christopher find a need to work together to get what each is looking for.

What really makes it work, despite the transparency of everything, is Blomkamp and Tatchell's layers of understanding of innate racism. Underneath the painfully obvious exterior and the reactions of the outright racists is the sort of everyday prejudice rampant in the world today, and often not considered as prejudice. More to the point, the screenwriters don't try to pull their punches at the end and offer some sort of facile new-age "can't we all just get along?" mumbo-jumbo. (Come on, you know that would have happened in America.) Copley is able to pull off everything asked of him, both in this regard and in the wider role of reluctant action hero, and that's a pretty amazing thing for a first-time actor. He brings a fine sense of nuance to the role that really allows us to empathize with Wikus, as much as that empathy might make us feel uncomfortable at times.

And the effects! Forget the explosions and big aerial shots of Johannesburg and all that sort of thing and just look at the aliens. Who aren't really there. There's no guy in a rubber suit being augmented by CGI applications here and there; everything you see is CGI. That's an absolute boatload of work, and messing up any single frame could have done the illusion in. Doesn't happen. This is masterful work, certainly the equal of anything done by the top animation studios found in America or Japan, and it's magical. That alone is reason enough to see the movie. (Oh, yeah, and a lot of things blow up.)

So, yes, it does have flaws, and it's certainly not the second coming of Star Wars that so many have proclaimed it to be, but is it enjoyable and worth seeing? Without doubt. *** ½

District 9 is something that perhaps no one saw coming, and ends up being the absolute best movie of the summer hands down. Produced by Peter Jackson and helmed by Neill Blomkamp (the director Jackson hand picked for the shelved Halo movie), District 9 depicts an alien race that came to Earth on an emergency basis a couple decades before hand, and have since become refugees in a violent slum in Johannesburg. Bureaucrat Wikus (Sharlto Copley) is charged with serving eviction notices to the alien "prawns", and through a mishap, ends up undergoing a horrifying transformation that makes him a wanted man by everyone. As he and a prawn dubbed Christopher Johnson become unlikely allies, things begin to really kick into high gear. Beginning as part mockumentary and part satire on apartheid, District 9 takes its time to become a bloody full-blown action/sci-fi opus that stays with you long after the credits are done rolling. What also helps make District 9 so good is that you truly never know what is going to happen next. The sheer unpredictability of the film helps make it so magnetic, and newcomer Copley manages to be hateable, likable, and sympathetic all at the same time as his character continues to develop and change (literally) as the film goes on. All in all, District 9 is an incredible science fiction film that features equal parts action and heart, and in a bloated summer full of empty blockbusters like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe, and the like; it is indeed refreshing to see something like this on the big screen. Do yourself a favor, don't miss out on District 9.

I see a lot of reviews that comment on the movie District 9 itself. However I believe that the reviews should be talking about the Blu-ray disc itself and not the content of the movie. I have a 32" TV and the blu-ray quality looks great on it. There is no grain and the movie looks like what it's suppose to look like: High-Definition.

The humans look sharp and the color is well defined on the edges. The prawns (the aliens in the movies) stand out because of the higher detail that the Bluray Disc ensues.
I can't comment on the audio because I had to listen through my crappy TV speakers but it's suppose to default to lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix.

Going by the disparity in reviews, it seems that this is either a love or hate it type of movie for people. One thing that I have noticed, however, is that the people that trashed District 9 can't seem to spell or form coherent sentences very well.

District 9 is one of the most thought provoking movies that I have seen in years. I'm not sure what the American viewing public has degenerated into these days, but some of the comments here sadden me. This movie examines the human condition in a very unique way. Yes, it is very graphic and can be disturbing. There is no nudity or sex however. There is no pandering to audiences. It is powerful and pulls no punches. I have heard comparisons to Blade Runner, another favorite to many sci-fi fans. If that type of a movie is your cup of tea, District 9 will blow you away. It succeeds on so many levels, please give it a chance. Despite being an action based movie, District 9 is for intelligent viewers, not Michael Bay movie lovers. District 9 is a strong 4/4 star movie.

Sometimes the best way to describe a situation is to come at it from the side. Rather than comment directly on what is happening, use an allegory to describe a situation and discuss it. Such is the case with DISTRICT 9.

Set in the not too distant future, the story is pieced together at first via news footage and interviews, later on depending on the standard filmed story. An alien spaceship hovers over South Africa, motionless in the air. A team is dispatched to enter the vessel and they discover a breed of alien that seems a cross between an insect and a crawfish.

Called prawns due to their bottom feeding nature of scavenging for food, the folks of Johannesburg treat the aliens with a combination of fear and resentment. The story continues as we learn of the aliens settling into an encampment of their own, a shanty town that houses both aliens and a group of Nigerian thugs who trade weapons and run their own crime ring out of District 9.

Enter Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an employee of MNU (Multi National United). A Halliburton type group of weapons dealing/mercenary styled executives, they've employ both soldiers and Wikus types, office workers who believe in what their doing with no clue what goes on behind the scenes. Wikus is put in charge of a plan to relocate the "prawns" from the shanty town they're in to a new location built with huts for them all.

Going door to door to get their required signatures for the eviction notices, Wikus and his group face everything from attack to verbal confrontation with the "prawns". Unbeknownst to him, one alien is in the midst of formulating fuel to power a shuttlecraft to leave the planet. Wikus confiscates the fuel but accidentally is exposed to it. As the film progresses, Wikus personal DNA begins to alter and he starts to take on the aspects of the aliens, watching as first his hand changes into a claw and moving forward.

Of course MNU sees this as an opportunity since the weapons they confiscated from the aliens won't work when held by a human. It seems there is something in the genetic make up of the aliens that causes the weapons to work. Wikus becomes a guinea pig of sorts, used to make the weapons work and kept away from friends and family in a science outpost.

Fearing for his life, Wikus escapes and seeks out the alien he encountered with the vial of fuel for help. He discovers what it was that changed him but also the fact that the only fuel left, the only way for him to receive help, is to recapture the fuel container at the research station he was in.

Should the pair be successful, Wikus may be able to be changed back, the alien return to his home world with his young son and the "prawns" finally be treated as something other than outcasts. A battle between the mercenaries employed by MNU and Wikus in a souped up mechanical suit add some action to the tale as we wait to find out what the future holds for all involved.

The story about the mistreatment of those that are different from us is universal to every country in the world. Perhaps that accounts for the popularity of this film when it was released. As Wikus becomes one of them, he is exposed to their treatment and how they are perceived. By becoming one with them, he learns in the process and his outlook on his life and the world around him changes.

As with all great science fiction films, the story is the centerpiece but the surrounding portions add to the whole. The special effects are magnificent, offering us a look at an alien life form that looks as if it is right there, shot on camera without the use of effects. It makes the story all the more believable. And the performances by stars that are relatively unknown in the US make them seem real as well. While grounded in sci-fi, the film makes it seem as if it's taking place now.

Slow going at first, we are given a look at a world we think we known inhabited by creatures we do not. It takes a bit of time to learn about them as well as about ourselves. And in the end, the story we witness makes us think a little bit more about how we react to others. At least let's hope that those who see the film do.

*****WARNING: KEY PLOT POINTS REVEALED IN THIS REVIEW*************************


The great thing about the thoroughly original and entertaining sci-fi film District 9 is the way that it takes our preconceived notions of what "alien" films are and completely turns them upside down. This is no mere story about humans fighting it out with a vicious race of creatures bent on world domintation. No, District 9 is something different.

The movie focuses on a violent slum in Johannesburg, South Africa populated by aliens who arrived on earth 30 years ago. In order to contain any diseases they migh be carrying, the government rounded the aliens up and forced them to live in an internment camp in order to keep them isolated from the citizens of the city. Over time the camp has grown into a ramshackle community full of crime and poverty.

It is into this slum that the film's main character, Wikus (a remarkable Sharlto Copley) enters to serve eviction notices to the inhabitants who the government plans to begin moving to a larger, less accommodating place of residence. Things take a turn for the worse when he comes into contact with an alien substance which causes him to begin transforming into an alien himself.

The bulk of the film follows Copley's character as he goes from an insensitive, spineless buerocrat to an alien sympathizer who ends up fighting against his own government which is trying to harvest his alien body parts in an attempt to operate the creatures' weapons. It is amazing to watch Copley as his character transforms from a cowardly self-opportunist to an angry, resourceful fugitive who does what he has to in order to survie and finally into a friend and ally of the misunderstood and mistreated aliens.

There are parallels drawn to apartheid, segregation and even the AIDS epidemic that put this film a cut above most other summer action flicks. In the end though, District 9 is at its heart, an adrenaline filled, edge of your seat thirll ride. The fact that it is also smart and surprising is just icing on the cake.

District 9 makes no apologies for being a straight-forward heavy-handed allegory for South African apartheid, hence the probability of a malfunctioning extraterrestrial mothership that just so happens to appear hovering in the skies over Johannesburg of all places on Earth and marooning a non-human race of aliens which are quickly given the derogatory slur "Prawn" because of their resemblance in appearance to our planet's indigenous crustaceans and are quickly "relocated" from District 9's shantytowns and slums as history begins to inevitably repeat itself. The film starts off as a mockumentary with realistic brilliance and abruptly shifts gears toward a conventional plot-driven science fiction story that recalls sociological themes of racial prejudice explored in past science fiction films like Alien Nation and Enemy Mine. There really aren't any likable humans in this film at all, not even the "anti-hero" Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) who comes off as a complete bureaucratic tool only interested in (literally) saving his own skin... and that's really the whole point, isn't it? That from the alien's point-of-view their impression of the human race is one of a predominately vile, greedy, despicably self-serving species whose ulterior motive is profiting from the knowledge and technological "acquisitions" that contact with an advanced alien race might bring us and the consequences when first contact goes horribly awry and Director Neill Blomkamp explores these shameful and seemingly unredemptive human character flaws with profound existential brilliance.

The "Prawns" are the most "Alien" looking aliens in cinema this side of H.R. Giger's Alien or Stan Winston's Predator and refreshingly features some of the best use of seamlessly integrated CGI seen in cinema in recent years. The more inhuman they appear only reinforces our irrational fears and anxieties to their seemingly non-hostile intentions and our tendencies towards racial animosity. They communicate to us only through a strange audible clicking sound that constitutes their linguistic structure similar to the native South African Bantu and the apparent semantic language differences, cultural customs and communication barriers rapidly deteriorate any hope for peaceful coexistence between our species. For example, the Prawns don't understand legal jargon like "eviction" making their ignorance to our common laws easy targets for bureaucratic exploitation and authoritarian subjugation.

It would be interesting to see if the Prawn who identifies himself only as Christopher Johnson would keep his promise to Wikus. After all the deplorable things we did to his kind though why should he? Perhaps that is what ultimately separates them from us and in spite of his race being atrociously segregated, brutally tortured and inhumanely experimented on comes back in three years to District 10 to free his people and help poor Wikus out of moral sympathy and compassion, universal traits that are seemingly lost upon the native human inhabitants of this planet.

After The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong, Peter Jackson was handed the keys to a Halo movie. But work starting on The Lovely Bones (due out December 11, 2009) and the possibility of The Hobbit in his future, Peter Jackson opted to produce and wanted to pass directorial duties to an unknown South African director named Neill Blomkamp. With an unknown director known only for his short films, commercials, and special effects work and a reported $150 million budget for Halo the producers and studio balked at the idea of Blomkamp directing. After Halo fell through, Jackson offered Blomkamp a $30 million budget to direct the film of his choice. The result, a feature length version of Blomkamp's first short film Alive In Joburg called District 9.

District 9 starts as a documentary. Thirty years ago an alien ship came to a halt over Johannesburg, South Africa. After emptying the ship of it's inhabitants, the government segregates the aliens from the humans into a dirty third world camp called, you guessed it, District 9. The aliens who looks like a cross between insects and crustaceans and are referred to as prawns are forced to live in squalor and filth in rickety shacks and have to dig through trash for food or trade their advanced weaponry to Nigerian gangs for cans of cat food (their preferred food). Unfortunately, everything in District 9 isn't as it should be as the humans want them moved even further away from society, so a plan goes into effect to move the prawns even further from society into District 10. A group of officials from a government contracted firm called Multi-National United (MNU), led by Wikus Van De Merwe (newcomer Sharlto Copley) is sent into District 9 to give the prawns eviction notices stating that they have 24 hours to vacate District 9. During the course of their project, though, Wikus accidentally has some mysterious liquid sprayed in his face which has some devastating effects.

District 9 could quite possibly be the best movie I've seen all summer, my only regret is that it didn't come out sooner. It starts out as social commentary dealing with apartheid, the humans take great pleasure in treating the prawns as less than human, shuffling them around, berating them, and even burning down shacks that contain their eggs. It's this sociopolitical relevance that really causes this movie to rise above it's sci-fi peers. On top of that, the movie is shot with a real documentary feel, this adds to the gritty reality of the movie. You believe this is happening because it feels like a documentary you'd watch on the History channel.

On top of that, the acting is superb as well. A special shout out must be given to Sharlto Copley who has no acting experience and had no previous acting experience and had no intention to be an actor prior to Blomkamp's short film, Alive In Joburg. His character Wikus is seen in nearly every scene of the movie and you really feel for him despite his early despicable acts in the movie. You always feel for him and you always root for him, and while that can be attributed to great writing, it takes a great actor to really pull that range off.

The real winner in this movie, and what really blew my mind, though, are the special effects. I don't normally mention budgets when reviewing a movie, but here I think it's important. To give you an idea if you were to look at the other action movies to come out this summer you would see that X-Men Origins: Wolverine cost approximately $160 million to make, Terminator Salvation cost about the same, and Transformers 2 cost about $200 million. On the other side of the spectrum, if you look at comedies, Funny People cost $75 million, and last years Zack and Miri Make a Porno cost $25 million. Hell, back in 1991, Terminator 2 was originally budgeted at $77 million but went way over budget. The point: this movie had as many special effects as, say Wolverine, and cost less than a third of that to make and looks 10x better. Remember, all of the prawns, except the dead ones laying out on tables, were shot completely with digital effects and they all look photo-real. This movie easily looks like a $150 million plus movie.

All in all, I'm really hoping this movie starts a new trend among studios: more original movies. I highly recommend you check it out in theaters, but before you decide to take your kids remember that this movie does earn it's R rating. It has way more than it's fair share of cursing, and exploding bodies (that alien technology will get ya every time). If you have a chance to go alone, or don't mind your kids seeing gore and hearing multiple f-bombs, I suggest you see it now and not just wait for this movie to hit DVD.

5/5

District 9 is a refreshing break from the slew of mediocre big-budget sci-fi action flicks produced by Hollywood every year. Made on a tiny budget of $30 million by South African director Neill Blomkamp, it's amazing what he and his crew have been able to accomplish for so little money (comparatively speaking). The story is tightly woven and wonderfully acted by Sharlto Copley, a South African actor who plays the protagonist, Wikus van de Merwe. Blomkamp knows that the story drives a film, not the CG. The CG aids the storytelling, but shouldn't take center stage, something that many of the $150+ million Hollywood CG stinkers forget (ahem... G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen). In D9, the CG (provided by Vancouver-based SFX house Image Engine) is perfectly blended into the environments and feels natural and realistic. It never sticks out or takes you out of the sense of immersion.

The story is about an alien ship that came to Earth 20 years ago and stopped over Johannesburg, South Africa. There it stayed motionless until the government sent in cutters to open up the ship, where they found a race of cricket-like beings huddled in squalid conditions. Leaderless, malnourished, and numbering over one million, they are given refuge on Earth and confined to slums on the outskirts of the city. Rife with crime, poverty, and violence, District 9 is policed by a private military contractor called MNU (Multinational United) and controlled by a profiteering Nigerian warlord/illegal arms dealer and his thugs. At the beginning of the film, Wikus, whose doofy appearance and demeanor is reminiscent of a young Peter Sellers, is tasked with evicting the alien residents of District 9 and relocating them to another settlement. During a search for contraband, without giving away too much of the plot, Wikus makes a discovery that changes his life, turning him from an MNU agent into a reluctant hero.

Visually, the film has a very coarse look. As widely publicized, the story is based on South Africa's struggle with apartheid, and was filmed in an actual township in Soweto to give the film a dirty and gritty sense of authenticity, using handheld Red digital cameras to heighten the documentary feel. The story is smartly written and the themes of corporate greed, racism/xenophobia, poverty, and corruption are not hard to believe. Replace the alien refugees with humans and you can find this kind of squalor in many parts of the developing world, like we saw in Slumdog Millionaire (India) or City of God (Brazil). Crime in South Africa is rampant and it's one of the most dangerous places on Earth in real life. Some of the alien weaponry is very cool and people explode like watermelons. Limbs get severed and there is a good amount of violence and gore in the film, so be forewarned if you are sensitive to such imagery. The climactic showdown at the end is also very exciting and well done.

Stated influences for the film include the Alien and Terminator series, Robocop, Predator, and others, so if you enjoyed these films, you'll probably enjoy D9. Highly recommended for the sci-fi fan.