From an actor (Sharlto Copley) who’s never really acted in any other movie, from a director (Neill Blomkamp) who’s never really directed a big budget movie and given the carte blanche stance, from a producer (Peter Jackson) who brought his previous employers to the courthouse (and not for a friendly cup of tea, mind you), from a movie poster (see them here) which spells ’12 year old’s drawing books’, AND from a half past 6 blogger1 (ooh, that’s me!) who’s not that often impressed by almost all the movies these days, District 9 is… here it comes… get ready for it… *takes a deep breathe*… refreshingly astoundingly entertainingly gruellingly thrillingly movingly ass-kickingly simple-yet-mesmerisingly awe-inspiring.
And if those 9 words can’t describe it any better, than maybe I’ll summarise my reaction at the end of the movie in the next 9 words: Probably Definitely the best damn movie I have seen in years.
Everything about the movie felt complete, and not since LOTR, Terminator 2 or Finding Nemo have I spent minutes just trying to figure out the bad parts of the movie, and I just couldn’t.
It’s part documentary, part political, and maybe racial (or should I say Alienial?), part action and part emotional that it’s hard for me to really divide it into it’s own genre — but if I had to compare it to a movie, I’d say that in the end it’s like Black Hawk Down + Gladiator and lots of Aliens.
Thank god the intention of making a Halo movie didn’t materialise and instead Peter Jackson allowed Blomkamp to do whatever he wishes, and though at the beginning you may be forgiven for thinking that it’s just another B-Grade movie that’s a little protracted, however you will be extremely gratified for staying put on that movie seat at the end of it all.
The action sequences will put Die Hard fans to shame, the CGI (though nothing like 2012) is so good, that Hollywood should learn here that less is actually more, and directors *koff-michael-bay-koff* should note that you don’t need hot babes to make a movie lustful, because we have porn movies for that right?
But here, in District 9, there are Prawns instead — a slur that’s given to the Aliens, by the locals in Johannesburg, whom they live in close contact after their mothership descended on our planet (and thank goodness it isn’t another Washington) and then failed to take off, leaving these Prawns stranded among us.
You’ll soon learn how the authorities work behind thinly veiled propaganda (probably in real life itself, but who knows~) for other agendas, and when Wikus (Sharlto Copley) leads a battalion into District 9 in an attempt to get the Prawns to agree to an eviction, that is when the plot thickens and the pace quickens.
Where it goes after this, I shall not spoil much (you can Google and spoil yourselves) but the movie should pick you up well and leave you exhausted from allthe explosions, the voodoos, Wickus’ emotional roller coaster ride and thrilling visual treats.
District 9 is the kind of movie that probably makes you want to leave your seat within the first 30 minutes but then makes you wish for more at the end of it all.
Sure 2012 have gotten all the attention, and deservingly so too, but if I had to put my last $10bucks into watching a movie this year, this is the one ticket that I’ll gladly put my money on — even after having seen it 8 times.
But if you’ve yet to catch it in a cinema near you, and you had a few *ka-chings* in your pockets, then you can catch District 9 in DivX quality here (not free though~).
Mar’s Movie Ratings: 9.3 / 10
Mar’s last word: Since an alien spaceship won’t be descending anywhere anytime soon, the next best thing then is to go watch it.
Recent Comments