District 9 Review

There's a lot to like, but there's almost an equal amount to dislike in some instances as well. Is this a detriment to the film or is it still interesting enough to check out? I'll attempt to answer that question. (Warning, spoilers abound!)

Twenty years prior, an alien ship appeared on earth, hovering above Johannesburg, South Africa. Since then, aliens have lived on earth, confined to the slum known as District 9. In the first half of the film, Wikus Van der Merwe, the main human character, is tasked with clearing District 9 of all of its alien inhabitants. The corporation he works for, Multi-National United (MNU) has declared the alien race, nick-named "prawns" for their bottom feeding ways, too dangerous for Johannesburg. The prawns, therefore, must be moved to a distance further from the city. The citizens of Johannesburg have had enough of the aliens as well, as the prawns have inadvertently (mostly) caused social unrest and civil strife on a monolithic level for residents of the city.

The first half of the film is presented docu-drama style. Wikus is followed by a camera crew as well as MNU soldiers/mercenaries as he attempts to evict the residents of District 9. The second half takes place after a momentous turn of events, as Wikus is made an outcast and must ally himself with an alien, given the name Christopher.

This is where the film loses me. Things devolve into chaos and cliche, as Wikus and Christopher storm the MNU facility, and take back an alien Macguffin. Scenes begin to fall back on too many action cliches and the film loses sight of the brilliant first half, as well as most of the excellent social commentary.

One of the things about "District 9" that I appreciate is that the film doesn't talk down to its audience (for once a mainstream movie does this), but I am still left with a few vital unanswered questions. Why is only one prawn actively seeking a way to get home? If the prawns are so intelligent and able to build spacecrafts and advanced weapons, why do a majority of them seem so base and stupid? Why did they just not tell the humans in the first place, 20 years ago when they landed, that they would need an amount of time on earth to fix their mothership? Where are the other intelligent prawns besides the Christopher and his son?

I find it difficult to get behind the prawns as characters, because every time one of them does something smart, I see two others fighting each other or murdering something or digging through the trash for a snack or a decoration to put on the wall. But I guess the same could be said of humans. I totally get there's a satiric layer to the film wherein the prawns are compared to and perhaps share some of the experiences of the victims of apartheid. I see that. But I still have difficulty getting behind them, as well as Wikus at various moments, as protagonists. Don’t get me wrong, Wikus is a somewhat likable guy and his being forced into an extraordinary circumstance can be heart-wrenching. He's given a job he can't possibly do, and there's a definite feeling that he's been set up to fail. In this way, he's sort of the classic Peter Jackson (who produced) protagonist. But he’s just so goofy, naïve, and sometimes stupid that it’s difficult to root for him.

Still though, it's one of the few summer movies this year to actually take a chance on something, and for this, I can wholly appreciate the good more than the bad. It really is something different, especially compared with the usual summer dreck. I immediately compared the film to Cloverfield, but even that's unfair. Cloverfield, love it or hate it (and I generally fall into the hate it category), isn't as fleshed out of an idea as this obviously is. Some compare the film to Starship Troopers as well. I didn't draw this comparison until after I'd seen the movie, and it makes sense in retrospect. But it's still a very different film from either of these.

I will say that I enjoyed the film on the whole. There's a very hand-made feel to it that's difficult to replicate in other summer movies that have $150 million dollar budgets and A-list actors. I definitely recommend seeing it, because films like this need our support. It's a hard-R sci-fi film with many original elements and it's obviously been lovingly crafted by the director and crew. I say give it a shot and check out "District 9." Chances are you will be glad you did.