I recently attended a preview screening of District 9, the new movie by director Neill “Halo Shorts” Blomkamp and producer Peter “Mordor” Jackson. The recent trailers for the flick were delicious, and the hype was starting to build steam at an accelerated pace. With what seemed like a $40 basket of chicken fingers and a smallish (supposedly MEDIUM-sized) ICEE I sat down to watch the movie and the Uptown Palladium in Birmingham, Michigan courtesy of the Metrotimes newspaper.
Fear not about spoilers for the rest of this review, as I will do my best to steer clear of anything not already viewed in the trailers.
Before I go any further, I’d like to point out a few notes. The movie is rated R for excessive violence, some sexual overtones, and lots of profanity. I’d also like to say that while the Palladium is an excellent theater, the parents who brought their 10-year old kids to the violent flick and dumped them behind me to kick my seat and talk the entire time should be die in a fire.
Likes
– Story: This is a science fiction movie. Nay, this is a science fiction movie DONE RIGHT. The social commentary, the character development, the plot movement… is all just right. The film’s pacing is developed well, thanks to the flipping between documentary and action movie styles. This is one of the first sci-fi flicks in recent years to take a look at social situations and comment on them, rather than just being a Michael Bay blow ’em up eye screw. The main protagonists, Wikus and Christopher, develop a fantastic bond over the length of the film. Wikus begins as a bumbling unlikely processor and eventually metamorphoses into a heroic protagonist. The script is very much video game inspired in that way, as I often found myself making parallels to a traditional JRPG script.
– Visuals: The low(er) budget costs did not translate into a low-budget appearance. The film is extremely polished and the setting, Johannesburg, is one that movie-goers aren’t used to seeing. This provides for an almost alien setting in itself. The design of the machines and weapons is very, very, VERY inspired by video games. The aliens are nothing exciting to look at, but the way that Blomkamp develops their individual identities makes them almost human in nature. Their movements and reactions are realistic, and if I ever see an alien I’d assume that this is how they move. The dusty setting allows for stark contrasts of color whenever a blue laser is shot off… or whenever a human head explodes and red blood splatters. The muted palette allows for the focus to be more on the emotion than in-your-face computer visuals.
– Characters: I mentioned the characters above, but they are deserving to have more talked about them. The protagonists are endearing, the antagonists are hated, and the symbiosis of the two actually manages to shatter your perception of what is right and what is wrong. Who is actually the ethical party? The humans who are segregating, exploiting, and torturing the aliens, or the aliens that are killing people, causing destruction, and are addicted to the “evils” of the world? There is semblance of sanity in both sides, but morality is hard to come by.
Dislikes
– Insect Aliens: Can we drop the now-stereotypical insect aliens from sci fi movies for a while? Since Starship Troopers re-popularized them in the 90s, the majority of the aliens in recent films have been hive-minded insects. Cockroaches and ants. Trust me when I say that there are other possibilities beyond that, as culture has beaten this horse dead several times over. That’s my biggest complaint with this film… the actual alien design is unoriginal and often bland.
– Leftover Halo: There seemed to be a lot of awkward similarities between D9 and Halo, from the design of the aliens to the weapons, to the ships and mech suits. It almost seems as though this had started out as the Halo film and as that got canceled the momentum was enough to continue making it as District 9. Halo‘s loss is our gain, however.
And finally…
I loved this movie. Leaving the theater I felt was satisfied but not blown away. Since then I’ve had time to let the images, characters, and ethics sink in, and my mind is numbed at how smart the film actually is. Nothing about this film is new. The themes have been done several times before, but Blomkamp mixes them together well in interesting and exciting ways. While this doesn’t earn the title of the best film of the summer (Star Trek wins that award for me), District 9 is a movie that any gamer will love, action movie fans will enjoy, and students will be writing term papers about. I highly recommend seeing this film. Cancel any plans you have today, and go see it!
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