District 9 (2009)

A lot of people have been fawning over a movie called District 9, directed by unknown Neill Blomkamp and released by Peter Jackson. Harry Knowles of AICN said that this was "...the most accomplished, provocative and intelligent science fiction I've seen in this new century." Now I have learned to take what the AICN fanboys say with a grain of salt, and this is no disrespect against them, but they usually don't make statements this bold, and I've seen many other people on the Internets raving about this movie.

So of course I had to go see it. It did look good after all, the teaser trailer and theatrical trailer enticing you but giving none of the story away. This is one of the few movies I went into as blind as possible; I didn't read any reviews until after I had seen it, to gain a perspective on what those other critics had thought of it.

The movie's premise, I have to say, is one of the most original premises we have had in a while. Aliens land not over Chicago, New York, D.C., or L.A., but over Johannesburg, South Africa. The movie is not about what the aliens do to us, but what we do to them. In a very well done mockumentary at the opening, the situation of the Aliens are set up, nicknamed Prawns for their crustaceanlike appearance, and because that associates them with bottom feeders. The Prawns are moved into a slum, which shares the movie's title, and live a fairly disgusting life, loving catfood.

The main character of the film is Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an employee of MNU (the company that maintains the Aliens living conditions) who is assigned the task of going through District 9 and getting the Prawns to sign an eviction notice, merrily killing the eggs of the Prawns and arresting/killing those who resist. He has an unfortunate accident which makes him a refugee from humankind.

One might be surprised to learn that this only cost $30 million to make, considering the amount of visual effects are in the film. The Prawns, using the motion capture technology that Jackson's Weta Workshops has perfected, are realistic and exist within the realm of each scene perfectly. You forget they are computer generations and except them as actual beings, much like you did Gollum in LOTR. One Prawn, Christopher Johnson (yes, that is his name) and his son become surprisingly empathetic, and it is one of the movie's great accomplishments.

But alas, this movie is not all that others have made it out to be. While the movie has a terrific set-up and premise, once the movie starts following Wikus' exile it becomes surprisingly formulaic. The villains, and there are many, are so one-dimensional and evil that you can predict their every move (the aliens are not really the enemy, I might add). The fighting and action is badass, to be sure, and is probably the most inventive of the summer, but it goes on and on and on to no end.

And I am getting really, really sick of the shaky camera thing. Jim Emerson, a blog writer for Ebert's website, posted an article titled "Ten Limitations for better movies," and number one on that list was "Get a Tripod." Blair Witch Project (1999) was probably the first to make this popular, though you can most likely trace the origin of shaky cam farther back; the Bourne films kind of made it more Hollywood, and Cloverfield (2008) ushered in a new age of shaky cam. And now I've had enough. Your film will look good even if you don't have it shaking every the whole time. The beginning of the film makes sense, since this stuff is being filmed, but after that I got bored of the shaky cam and wished that it would sit still.

This movie had so much potential to be better then it is. A lot have been recalling Blade Runner and comparing it to that, and while I am not the biggest Blade Runner fan, I think it is a smarter and better movie then this. The movie starts strong, and the transformation the main character goes through is great, but the message of corporate greed is hackneyed, and the movie has the most routine third act for something that started off so fresh and original.

Rated R for Alien/Human swears, a ton of violence, and implied Alien prostitution.