Science Fiction has had a bit of a revival this year. First we had Moon and now we have District 9, from first time director Neil Blomkamp.
Aliens arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa of all places and they park their extremely large ship over the burg. But they don't bother getting out and wandering around. So in their wisdom the government decide, after 3 months of waiting, to cut their way into the spaceship. They cut their way in and find over a million aliens, all mal nourished and in appalling condition. The Aliens (or prawns as they locals call them) are provided with land and housing and quickly they turn the place into a slum, which is rife with crime, cat food and tyre eating! After 20 years of the public getting increasingly pissed off with the Aliens, the government and the company that is set up to manage the Aliens, MNU (Multi-National United) decide to evict them and move them further outside of the city. Wikus Van De Merwe (played by Sharlto Copley) is the man given the task of handing out the eviction notices. In the process of handing them out (accompanied by militia at the same time) he discovers a canister that sprays him with a black liquid. From here on in, he starts turning into…yes you’ve guessed it, one of them! He needs a cure, can he find it? Will an Alien help him or will he actually turn into a prawn? Will the humans be able to get the Alien weaponry to work? And so on!
District 9 was made for $30 million, and it never shows to be honest. Ok, we don't get to see too many aliens in one go, which is a bit strange considering there's nearly 2 million of them. But besides that, the whole thing is gritty and incredibly well shot. Those of you who are not a fan of the hand held camera (Bourne movies and so on) may get a touch of the old motion sickness, but it adds to the overall look and grit of the movie. The Aliens, the space ship and the slums all look very convincing and combine all this with news footage and archive footage ala Cloverfield, District 9 is a very fine piece of work. Sharlto Copley is superb as the lead character, and the rest of the cast are adequate enough.
There's a decent pace to District 9 and for the majority of the movie, it does really keep you on the edge of your seat as bodies are liquidised, heads go flying and Aliens down catfood in the gallons. You also start to feel a little bit of sympathy for the Aliens which is testament to some great story telling. This is a superb debut for Blomkamp and a very refreshing and original movie for 2009, given that we have had so many remakes, rehashes and reboots. Overall District 9 entertains constantly and this is certainly one of the best movies of the year!
Aliens arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa of all places and they park their extremely large ship over the burg. But they don't bother getting out and wandering around. So in their wisdom the government decide, after 3 months of waiting, to cut their way into the spaceship. They cut their way in and find over a million aliens, all mal nourished and in appalling condition. The Aliens (or prawns as they locals call them) are provided with land and housing and quickly they turn the place into a slum, which is rife with crime, cat food and tyre eating! After 20 years of the public getting increasingly pissed off with the Aliens, the government and the company that is set up to manage the Aliens, MNU (Multi-National United) decide to evict them and move them further outside of the city. Wikus Van De Merwe (played by Sharlto Copley) is the man given the task of handing out the eviction notices. In the process of handing them out (accompanied by militia at the same time) he discovers a canister that sprays him with a black liquid. From here on in, he starts turning into…yes you’ve guessed it, one of them! He needs a cure, can he find it? Will an Alien help him or will he actually turn into a prawn? Will the humans be able to get the Alien weaponry to work? And so on!
District 9 was made for $30 million, and it never shows to be honest. Ok, we don't get to see too many aliens in one go, which is a bit strange considering there's nearly 2 million of them. But besides that, the whole thing is gritty and incredibly well shot. Those of you who are not a fan of the hand held camera (Bourne movies and so on) may get a touch of the old motion sickness, but it adds to the overall look and grit of the movie. The Aliens, the space ship and the slums all look very convincing and combine all this with news footage and archive footage ala Cloverfield, District 9 is a very fine piece of work. Sharlto Copley is superb as the lead character, and the rest of the cast are adequate enough.
There's a decent pace to District 9 and for the majority of the movie, it does really keep you on the edge of your seat as bodies are liquidised, heads go flying and Aliens down catfood in the gallons. You also start to feel a little bit of sympathy for the Aliens which is testament to some great story telling. This is a superb debut for Blomkamp and a very refreshing and original movie for 2009, given that we have had so many remakes, rehashes and reboots. Overall District 9 entertains constantly and this is certainly one of the best movies of the year!
