Review of District 9 (2009) by Diego T — 11 Jan 2014

Although District Nine is definitely a good entry in thoughtful sci-fi, I take offense when people say it's the "Greatest science fiction film of all time." It's certainly fantastic visually, and it's thought-provoking (occasionally), but it doesn't quite add up to a truly legendary entry for the genre. It's not very long, which prevents it from having much character development, and it's not particularly memorable. I just saw it, and already it's begun to slip out of my head. This is just not a movie that sticks with you.

The most memorable part of District Nine is, unfortunately, its tagline: "There's a lot of secrets in District Nine." The rest of the film is somewhat haphazard and doesn't live up to the expectations one might have after hearing all of its hype. The film is set in the near future, when aliens have arrived on Earth but have been crammed into an enormous ghetto in South Africa. And here's a major issue I have with this film: It's not very subtle in its 'social commentary'. It bludgeons the audience over their heads with apartheid allegories, and no, it's not a coincidence that this was set in South Africa. Some movies can deliver their message subtly, but District Nine is not one of them. Also guilty of this: Avatar. And that's not a compliment. "MILITARY BAD. TREES... GOOD.".

District Nine stars Sharlto Copley as a case worker for the aliens, who has to go around and tell each and every alien that they're being evicted from their slums. Again, this is pretty blunt commentary, but it's also ridiculous. Sorry if I don't fully buy extraterrestrial evictions, but I guess that's just me. As he goes through hovel by hovel, he comes across a strange black goo that he accidentally gets on his arm. After that, he begins to slowly change into an alien.

I did enjoy the alien transformation part of the film, as it was pretty original. Most science fiction films deal with how awesome it would be to blow up alien races, not what it would be like to become them. Unfortunately, I have to lump it in with Avatar AGAIN in this category... don't get me wrong, District Nine is clearly the superior film, but I couldn't help but sit there saying "Shit... he's going to start saying 'I see you' to the prawns." It's probably a hang-up that I and I alone have, but whenever a movie feels even REMOTELY like the enormous pile of shit that is Avatar, I tend to take away a few points.

Also, the final third of the film finally negates the interesting premise and occasionally heartbreaking scenes in favor of good old fashioned KABOOM KAPOW BLAM BLAM BLAM WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Yeah, it's more than a little over-the-top. Now, some films can make this kind of thing work, as you expect it from them. If the final part of D9 had Arnold Schwarzenegger show up, it would all feel perfectly squared away. Unfortunately, the level of mayhem that it delivered upon was unprecedented and (after watching some really good and intelligent sci-fi) unwelcome.

Fortunately, District Nine makes up for most of its flaws with its off-the-wall premise, Neill Blomkamp's stylish direction, and a handful of truly amazing scenes. When Copley gets his full alien arm, he is brought in by the military to test the prawn's weapons, as they can only be fired by prawns. They force him to test one of the guns on an alien, and it's a dramatic and powerful scene that really shows (in my mind) what humans would do if aliens actually visited us. Yep, we'd probably harness their weapons and then use them to blow 'em all up. I have no doubt.

Final Score for District Nine: 7/10 stars. It's immensely overrated, but that doesn't stop it from being some truly awesome science fiction. It's easily one of the best films from the genre made in recent years, along with Source Code and Looper, but besides those two, it's not really going up against much. Pacific Rim? Please.