Review: District 9
Let me tell you a little about my experience at the movie theater before I get into the review. I went with two friends and before the movie started one of the women who worked at theater came up to the front of the room to make an announcement. “May I please have your attention please,” she said loud and clear. But just as she had everyone’s attention a full grown adult male sitting directly in front of me yelled “show me your boobs”. This is the kind of audience I was sitting amongst. The kind of audience that claps and screams anytime someone dies or a random explosion happens. District 9 is not this type of movie, unless you’re the Transformers type of movie goer it can be.
District 9 is an area in Johannesburg, South Africa where alien like creatures nicknamed Prawns are kept. The Prawns are unable to return home and humans want nothing to do with them. Once an organization known as MNU (Multi-National United) decides it’s time to move the Prawns further away from the humans this is the point where all hell breaks loose. Blomkamp’s sharp directing makes everything in this film work from it’s disturbing and documentary like opening to it’s action/adventure like closing, District 9 is filmmaking at it’s finest.
Something else to be noted are the harsh takes on humanity and the film’s political undertone. Shartlo Copley, who plays the film’s protagonist, has truly great moments as he begins to transform into a Prawn (remniscent of Jeff Goldblum in David Cronenberg’s The Fly) after running into a device that is the turning point of the movie. District 9 is a clash of just about everything you’d want in a science fiction film and more. So whether you find the film disturbing or thrilling, or a mixture of both, all of it is relevant and it never falls flat.
Rating: 100%
