First time director Neill Blomkamp brings us what is perhaps the most talked about dark horse sci-fi film in years. This is not your 250 million dollar Transformers Two with one-two-three punch of an established cartoon brand, Steven Spielberg producing, and oh yes – Michael Bay. Punches four and five, the ones that make you cry a litter later, are of course the impossibly hot Megan Fox and the ever quirky Shia Labeouf.

While District 9 does have the sizable genre clout of producer Peter Jackson, the overall story of the making of District 9 is well on its way to becoming mythic geek lore:

 “Did you hear? They made it for only 30 million dollars!” “He was a commercial director and Peter Jackson hired him for Halo! When that fell through they decided to do this based on his short film!” “The lead actor isn’t even an actor! He’s Blomkamp’s good friend and old producing partner – they hired him based off of test footage!”

 Well the story of the making of this film is remarkable indeed. In fact, it’s my reason number four to see this movie. Of course when the buzz get’s loud enough on a movie (this film had a 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes on Thursday nights midnight opening) dissenting opinions become all the more controversial. Armond White’s inflammatory lambast of District 9 brought the buzz in the blogosphere to a near fever pitch this week. Understandably so, this is without question a great action film, and one of the best sci-fi films of this year, running neck and neck with Duncan Jones’s Moon. In fact what these two, relatively high concept films (Moon more so than District 9), have in common is that they are essentially intimate character studies, with remarkable lead actors. Moon paints its portrait in a slightly more complex and subtler manner. But both films revolve around one man (ish in Moon) being tested to limits of their will to survive and their moral reasoning.

 For me, District 9 stops just short of meeting its own potential as a classically great science fiction film. Classically great sci fi offers one of two things, and in the best case scenario both; a unique insight into the current political climate and/or some reflection on the collective subconscious, our shared psycho-mythology. This film does neither, and it is hard to say for certain if it really wants to-my guess is not. The seemingly intentionally contrary film critic Armond White is correct about one thing. This is not a film that will leave you with any great insights about Apartheid or any social, political or cultural phenomena for that matter. Then again, no one promised it would. Director Neil Blomkamp mentioned that the thematic backdrop for the story was influenced by his childhood in South Africa during the height of Apartheid. However, he did not say that the story itself would delve deeply into this subject, or its layered causes and effects.

This is a story of one man’s journey of reckoning with himself. It is a rare thing when a film can take a man from being the (albeit hapless) oppressor of a…species, to its momentary hero without overblown sentimentality and moralizing on one end and cartoonish characterization on the other. Where this film succeeds in spades is its portrait of an ordinary man in beyond extraordinary circumstances. It creates a world for him to live in and a vision of his character with sheer brilliance; depth, ingenuity, humanity and simply one of the best performances of the last several years in any genre. And this brings me to reason number one that you should see District 9.

1)      Character: By far, the greatest thing that District 9 has to offer is its main protagonist Wikus Van De Merwe, played to perfection by the greatest non-actor actor of the century Sharlto Copley. Wikus is a man you can, if you are honest, relate to in his moments of ignorance, pettiness and selfish brutality. A man you desperately hope you would become (er, as a woman if you are one, like me) in his moments of redemption, self sacrifice and loving simplicity. He is ever and always fully human, a great ironic twist of the films. When he is petty and small, he is still oddly likable, when he is a coward, it is understandably so. Though it is painful to feel with him, for him and in a deeper way, as him. His trajectory to the heroic is as organic and believable as it is thrilling and extraordinary. He is one of the greatest created characters in film that I have seen and an extraordinary marriage of actor and script. (IF and only IF you have ALREADY seen District 9 – see him in a much smaller role in the original short Alive In Joburg I have posted below)

Unfortunately, we never really are given much insight into the additional characters in the film. The antagonists: which include MNU (Multi National United the organization Wikus works for), Wikus’s father in law/MNU boss, the leader of the military team for MNU, and the Nigerian gang lord who drains any wealth off the District 9 slum – are all painted in dastardly broad strokes. The central alien character, Christopher, is equally broad as an all around decent er guy, which in some ways, the filmmakers had to do to make it at all possible for us to relate to him. Even Wikus’s wife is a fairly simple character. However, the dynamic journey and growth of the central character in this film more than makes up for the somewhat lackluster attention the additional characters were given. Perhaps it was a necessary consequence of delving that deeply into one man’s journey in what is otherwise an extremely fast paced action movie.

2)      Performance: Sharlto Copley is incredible to behold in this role. He deserves every award for acting available. I hope to see him in rich and complex roles for years to come. Nuff said.

3)      Storytelling: Neil Blomkamp creates an interesting twist on a classic Sci Fi yarn: aliens come to Earth. Yet in this film, they are not here to teach us about peaceful co-existence, blow up New York and Paris, or kidnap and experiment on us. Rather there is something deeply believable, so oddly realistic about the twist this film takes on this classic tale. At a certain point in the film you feel that the evolution of the alien’s existence in our world is almost inevitable. Take the nature of these aliens and how, well alien they are to us, add to that the nature of human beings and a tragic course seems set in motion.  As far as style is concerned, Blomkamp chooses to tell his story in a way that respects and honors a genre he clearly loves, while bending that genre and bringing a new level of the filmic realism to his science fiction film. He has an extraordinarily well executed mixed documentary and narrative style, one which lends itself perfectly to truly thrilling action sequences.  He feels like a filmmaker’s filmmaker, one who is willing to play with style and technique and that is always something fun and exciting to watch.

4)      The story of the story: Now this may not be a motivating factor for everyone. But as a bonifide film geek, it certainly is for me. I celebrate the extraordinary nature of the making of this film. I find it remarkable and an act of destiny that Peter Jackson, one of the great filmmakers of our time plucked a relatively unknown filmmaker out of said relative obscurity and gave him the chance to direct a massive blockbuster (Halo). I find it a further act of fate that the Halo deal (happy accident) fell through to give us this film. I am in awe that they made this film for what is, again,  in relative terms a miniscule budget of thirty million dollars and that the CG is just as impressive as any sci fi film I’ve seen this summer, if not more so. Finally, they showed great courage and incredible discernment to hire Sharlto Copley “non – actor” to play the lead role in this film off the test footage he shot for his friend Neil Blomkamp. Again, one of the most extraordinary performances I’ve seen this year. I say go, and celebrate miracles where you find em’! 

5)      The action: I am combining action and effects into one category for our purposes. The CG is as I have said, impressive. The action is well handled, exiting, genuinely nerve wracking and intense. Once things start moving, they do not stop. There is no rest for Wikurs and no rest for you, the audience. Because the filmmaker has built a trust of integrity with us the audience, one truly believes that we do not know where things are going nor where they will end up. This is a very rare feeling for an action movie. One that increases the stakes in spades. In addition, because of the humanity of the lead character, each moment is infused with indecision, panic and deeply felt exhalation in moments of victory. This film is, among other things, a truly great action movie.

Finally, here is something to avoid in going to see this movie. Don’t think too much about it before hand. Don’t find out too much about it before hand. This is where I did myself a disservice in going to see this film. I read a great deal about it, saw 7 minutes of footage from the film (with rather large spoilers) at comic con, talked about it and otherwise anticipated the film for months prior to its release. As such I went in with a great deal of preconceived notions about what I was going to experience, and impossibly high expectations for the film. Allow this film to be what it is, to unfold naturally, and to tell the story it wants to tell without the burden of expectation. Go in to see a great summer action/sci fi film, and come away with what you like from its offering. Let this be the last review you read before you see the film (wink, wink ;D). If you have seen the film – check out the short film it is based on,  Alive in Joburg, posted below. It is very interesting to see where they came from and compare it to where they went.

While I do highly recommend you go to see it, I rate this film an overall A-

As always, I’d love to hear what you think so please post any comments below.

–  Roth Cornet