8.5 Excellent

Ever experienced one of those moments where your expectations for a song, movie, or video game are just average? You’re expecting something good but not fantastic. Of course you’ve experienced this, and if you’re not expecting much from Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, I urge you to watch this simply to experience this reaction. I was very intrigued after watching a trailer of the movie, but wasn’t sure about what exactly District 9 was about. Before learning that this was a film funded by Peter Jackson, I assumed it wasn’t a serious movie; borderline comedy.

Several months ago I began noticing ads plastered on subway billboards and bus shelters with the now semi-iconic crossed out alien reading “For Humans Only”. The ads had no mention of District 9, but displayed a website and a phone number to “report non-humans”. I knew nothing about the movie at the time, so I decided to call the number out of curiosity. It was the first time I heard any mention of District 9. I now had an idea of what the movie would be about, but this was very vague. While I didn’t gain much more knowledge about the film, the advertising campaign by Sony Pictures was viral marketing at its best.

To shed some background on the film, District 9 is based on a 6 minute short film from 2005 called Alive In Joburg. These six minutes of a wonderful short by the director led to what then became 115 minutes of great filmmaking. This film proves that if done very well, there’s still a place for Sci-Fi movies featuring aliens on the big screen. It also shows what can be done with a budget of just $30 million (offered by Peter Jackson).

I won’t go into any detail about what isn’t already obvious from watching the trailers. You’ve seen the billboards; a huge alien controlled mother ship has been hovering over a city in South Africa for two decades and an alien slum exists below it. As you’ll gather a minute into the film, most humans don’t like things they don’t understand, so over the years they’ve grown extremely tired of sharing any Earth with the alien beings.

As far as the look of the aliens goes, these aren’t the generic aliens with large heads, gigantic eyes, and human-like fingers we’ve come to expect in movies and videos games. They’re different here; a bit inspired even. They’re referred to as “prawns” and are a refreshing break from the norm. At first I thought something along the lines of a roach, lobster, and human; but it all works. There are also a few standout characters as during the movie.

Now as far as the movie itself goes, it’s unlike any other Sci-Fi film ever created. It’s an original idea that is executed very well. The CGI effects are what you’d expect from WETA, the people behind the astonishing effects in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The acting is also done very well. There were parts in the movie that weren’t meant to be funny, but people in the theatre couldn’t resist laughing at an accent. It wasn’t bad in any way, but I’m sure it took some people back to Kazakhstan.

Our standards for Sci-Fi films these days are very high, and this one fits in perfectly with the rest of the standout flicks seen by millions worldwide Many emotions were experienced by myself and others around me by the end of the film. Those you’ll have to find out for yourself. I came into the theatre expecting average, but left having watched what I now consider one of this summer’s best. If you want to watch a summer film with a unique story, great visuals, and lots of heart, watch District 9.

 

This beast has been floating over the city for decades.

My girlfriend believes this creature has a "sexy" torso.

It's a winning combination.

Worth Watching? Story Acting Visuals Length Definitely Really good Great Excellect Just right