Review by Josh Felty
Summer movies are intended to put butts in the seats and entertain; every now and then, they'll actually transcend the usual explosion and CGI-heavy extravaganza and become something else entirely. I've heard a lot of praise for District 9 and how it's essentially an independent film showing Hollywood how it should be done. And to that end, I agree. But this film is something more.
We start out in Johannesburg, South Africa with the arrival of an enormous alien spacecraft mysteriously hovering overhead. I was immediately reminded of Independence Day, in a way; but instead of lavish chase sequences, flashy computer-generated effects, or Will Smith's hammy mug I was greeted with an intriguing documentary style follow-along that was not only eye-opening, but refreshing. Without giving too much away, I will say that (a) there are CG aliens, courtesy of Peter Jackson's highly esteemed WETA Digital and that (b) they are more realistic than most live actors in Tinseltown. You can tell the creators behind District 9 put their hearts and souls behind every frame.
Basically, the mothership has given birth to an entire population of refugee ET's, all of which are down-and-out and about twelve feet tall. These guys really don't have it all figured out. I mean, think about it: they're millions of light years from home, have been trapped inside their dormant mothership starving to death, and are confined to a cordoned-off slum area soon after being liberated from its confines. Aside from the obvious species segregation behind a large wall, there's anti-alien signs all over the city (if you've seen any of the movie's viral marketing this summer, you know what I'm talking about) and even a black market thriving off the aliens' craving for cat food.
Everything starts to hit the fan when our hero, Wikus, is assigned to essentially evict all the millions of inhabitants of District 9, come hell or high water. Wikus works for Multinational United (MNU for short), South Africa's own innerstellar immigration service, ran by his father-in-law. And he sorta reminded me of Simon Pegg from Shaun of the Dead, which isn't necessarily an awful thing. He just has that quirky, geeky British way about him. The truly refreshing part about this film is in its documentary-style perspective, which jumps outside of itself at times to show the private lives of the residents of District 9, rather than just mindlessly trailing the "eviction team". Even more important though, are the many characters you run into in this one, both human and otherwise. You actually find personality in these CG creatures, without a ton of schlocky product placement-inspired cultural references or politically incorrect racial stereotypes.
Also, there's a blantantly apparent social message behind the story as a whole. How would the human race react to having an entirely alien species dropped into its backyard? Would we at first embrace, then eventually oppress and degrade our visitors? And what would our actions say about humanity?
These are just some of the questions this film poses, and I feel it's a noble and amazing subject to tackle, considering many of the socioeconomical ills that befall the entire world. But that's another review entirely. I won't go into too much more of a plot synopsis; not because I'm lazy (which to some degree, I am), but because you should see this movie for yourself. Multiple times, in fact.
I started watching District 9 with a set of expectations and turned off the DVD player with many more fulfilled. This is a movie that Hollywood should take notes on, especially since it cost $30 million to make. It's true that every movie-goer should appreciate movies for different reasons; but I find it hard to believe anybody would walk away from this one without being at least mildly blown away. I will even go as far to say that the film could very well stand on its own, without Peter Jackson's name behind it. It's clever, insightful, and action-packed all the way through. There's plenty of blood and gore for horror fans too, although I don't think the filmmakers intended it to really fall into any particular genre. You could literally throw this on just about every shelf and please the masses for years to come. 8/10