District 9
By Dan Hudak // hudakonhollywood.com
Is it worth $10? Yes. Hudak gives it a ‘B’

There’s nothing subtle about “District 9,” an instantly gripping, up-tempo action movie that imagines aliens and humans trying to peacefully co-exist. The action is tense, the story is interesting, and the visual effects seamlessly integrate with the documentary-style photography. This is abrupt, in-your-face filmmaking, and effective in that it immerses us in the story and keeps us captivated throughout.

Writer/director Neill Blomkamp does, however, find trouble when his movie becomes an overt allegory for United States foreign relations in the Middle East. If you play along, and substitute “aliens” for “Iraqis,” the movie may take on a deeper meaning. But the energy is too intense for most to want to think about the real world, and why should you while watching such escapist fare? The hidden message is distracting and unnecessary, and takes away from a story that works perfectly fine without sociopolitical commentary.

For 20 years, aliens have lived peacefully among humans in an area called District 9 inside Johannesburg, South Africa. Unsure of what to do with the 1.8 million aliens, government leaders have placed control of their handling to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company that only cares about the aliens’ advanced weaponry.

At the center of the tale is Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a low-level field operative charged with moving the aliens from District 9 to an even grittier slum. In the process of evicting aliens from their homes, Wikus contracts a mysterious virus that begins to change his body. As he slowly becomes an alien, MNU hunts him down in an effort to extract his newfound DNA, as he is now the key to unlocking alien technology.

Peter Jackson (the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy) produced the film, and Blomkamp shares Jackson’s ability to tell a compelling story with great urgency and efficiency. Blomkamp also used motion capture animation (recording an actor’s movements into a computer, then animating the character) to create the aliens, similar to how Jackson created Gollum and King Kong.

Indeed, the visual effects of all the aliens, their ship, weapons, etc., are  impressive, especially when combined with the realistic feel of documentary-style footage. Inexplicably, though, Blomkamp all but abandons the documentary feel half way through and the movie becomes a full-fledged action/chase pic, leaving one to wonder how much more different, original and creative it could’ve been if it stuck to its documentary format. 

Some may argue “District 9” works because of its social message. Fair enough, though I think it works in spite of it. Yes, movies are always a reflection of the society in which they’re made, but a bit more subtlety in its theme of fairness and equality would’ve been more true to the movie’s formula for success.

Did you know? The project came to fruition after Jackson’s adaptation of the video game “Halo” – which Blomkamp was supposed to direct – fell through. Blomkamp then pitched a feature-length story based on a low-budget short he made a few years earlier called “Alive in Jo’burg,” and new plans quickly fell into place.

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