What planet is this?

I love science fiction movies. They give the opportunity to let loose your imagination and the possibilities are endless. It's a genre you have to approach with an open mind and suspend your disbelief to truly enjoy and appreciate it. I could go on for ages about Sci-Fi movies from the 30's to this generation, but that's for another time. Today, I'd like to talk about a certain sub-genre and a certain movie from that sub-genre. It's an alien movie and a pretty unique one.

District 9.

I know it's more than a year old and most of you probably already seen it, but hey, I'm not here to talk about all the new movie releases, there are other sites for that. For those of you who didn't see it go and do so, or read on at your own risk because I'll give away a few things. In other words: SPOILERS.

Here's the story:

In 1982 a massive alien ship parks above Johannesburg, South Africa and just chills there for three months without giving any sign of activity. After a team enters the ship and find more than a million starving and beat down insect-humanoid aliens, they relocate them in a camp named District 9. Two decades pass and in 2010 the government hires a private military company, the Multinational United (MNU) to relocate all the aliens to District 10, another camp far from Johannesburg. Of course the MNU aren't so eager to help because they're such nice guys. District 9 is the home of alien weapon technology. Problem is, the weapons can read DNA signs and they only work in alien hands. The official reason behind the relocating of the aliens, is that the people can't stand them anymore near Johannesburg, protests and riots break out with violence and all that "good" stuff. The task is not so simple, because the alien inhabitants of District 9 don't really think as individuals, more like a hive. Only a very very few aliens are capable of fully individual thinking and can make intelligent, consistent decisions. Not to mention the Nigerian arms dealing gangs that settled in the district.

This is where our main protagonist comes in the picture, Wikus van de Merwe an Afrikaner bureaucrat. He's appointed by the head of MNU and his father-in law to lead the whole relocation operation. His job is to make the aliens sign the eviction papers, confiscate any weapons or other illegal stuff, and do whatever to settle things without violence, even use deadly force provided by the MNU soldiers. That's not hypocritical at all.

Here's the spoiler part: an unknown alien liquid sprays over him while he's searching a shack, he gets ill and starts to turn into an alien and he has to seek refuge in District 9 after he escapes from the MNU research facility where they experimented on him. The liquid turns out to be the fuel for the alien ship that an alien named Christopher Johnson gathered in the past 20 years. The only hope for the cure for Wikus is to help Christopher get to the mother ship. Now I won't spoil the ending, let's just say it's pretty epic and moving.


My opinion:

This movie rocks plain and simple. It's so unique, even by Sci-Fi standards. I love how it switches things up, making us humans the bad guys. If you really think about it, things would probably play out the same way in real life because, well... we're selfish assholes. We can't get along with our own species, how could we do so with a whole new intelligent one? Especially when they're at our mercy. It's a masterful statement on xenophobia and social segregation a mirror we should look into.

I like how they shot the film, I really dig this whole mock documentary style. The first half of the film is filled with news reports, handycam shots, but not to the point where the action becomes a messy, shaky closeup filled blur like in a bad Micheal Bay movie. The second half was shot like a more traditional movie, so it balances out well.

The guy who plays the lead, Sharlto Copley is a complete new face to the movie world, this was his first major role in a feature film and he does a wonderful job. He really makes the character come alive, he's believable in the role. At first he's your typical bureaucrat, white shirt with tie guy, a little awkward, shy and whimpy. But as the film goes by he becomes more and more of a badass and it's a believable change, you really see how he gets more desperate and determined at the same time. Wikus is a really human character and Copley pulls it of flawlessly, probably because nearly all of his dialog and acting is improvised.

I want to mention that this movie had an unbelievably low budget, around 30 million dollars. In comparison, Avatar's budget was 237 million $, Terminator Salvation cost 200 million $ and Transformers RotF also needed 200 million $.

The reason I mention this is because District 9 looks better than any of the above mentioned movies. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I never seen such convincing and real looking CG in my life. It's a thing that you can make super colorful and high definition blue aliens on a fluorescent planet or giant robots unconvincingly beating the shit out of each other. It's a whole other thing to actually make it look and feel real. The amount of detail is mind blowing, you really have to see with your own eyes. It doesn't even need all the bullshit 3D or tons of special effects to make it look better than it actually is. The reason why it looks so good is that it's not perfect. Everything has flaws just like in real life, nothing is crisp clear or too gritty, nothing is too shiny or plastic like, everything looks as it should look. The aliens are organic, the mother ship looks like it's made out of metal, everything feels natural and convincing.

I really recommend this film to all Sci-Fi lovers it's a must see. If you like social commentaries you should also see it. If you like eye candy and action I also recommend it. Just go see the damn movie whatever taste you have and whoever you are. You won't regret it.