District 9

Pig launched by a Mech Suit.

Now that I have your attention, that’s not the only highlight of this film.
District 9 I think is the type of film I’ve been waiting for in the Science Fiction genre of film making for a very long time.
At a reported budget of only $30 million, the effects in this film could make some of ILM’s stuff seem over rated.
District 9 concerns an alien space craft that appeared over southern Africa, just hovering there motionless for months, until it was decided that we eventually just had to cut in to the bloody thing to see what was inside.
And what was inside was a whole population of aliens; crustacean like in nature; suffering from malnutrition, and just not in a generally good state of health.
Their species are not named, except for the derogatory term “prawns”.
The aliens are relocated from their ship into a housing project of sorts designated District 9; which over time becomes more of a slum than a home for the aliens, becoming infested with crime, Nigerian gangs, and the like.
District 9 is not a pleasant place.
The amount of racism, or “speciesism” toward the aliens is great; signs stating “humans only” and the like pasted in the nearby towns, harkening back to time in American history when blacks and whites had such segregation.
As racial or species tensions rise, the MNU (Multi-National United) is tasked with relocating the aliens hundreds of kilometers away to a new facility, basically evicting them from District 9.
Placed at the head of this effort is Wikus, our main character.
He’s a bit of an ass, to say the least; his regard toward the aliens no more favorable than anyone else.
During the eviction, he becomes infected by alien DNA, and that’s where things go downhill for our main character.
At the beginning of the film, the aliens seem simple, mindless drones…going more on instinct than anything else.
It isn’t until we meet the film’s other main character and his son, that the preconception of who and what these creatures are become blurred.
And dammit…you feel for them; the CGI work put into the performance of the aliens in this film works so well that by the ¾ mark, you’re rooting for them.
Of course, the more that’s revealed about the MNU, the more you start despising the humans, and the lengths they’ll go to just to control alien weaponry.
Not to mention the fear and paranoia humanity displays regarding the aliens, which is probably a sad truth as to how we would actually deal with a true first contact.
This film pulls no punches in the portrayals; one fact that was recently discovered was apparently a good deal of the film’s dialogue became improvised on set, leading to a much more natural portrayal on screen.
That’s another thing; the acting in this film pulled me in; after the basics of the film were established, my suspension of disbelief wasn’t an issue.
The canister of alien “fluid” which infected Wikus at first would probably be what some would call the Mcguffin or plot device of the film; capable of altering human DNA, and powering a spaceship as well.
Normally, this would bug the hell out of me; same way the Matrix of Leadership in Transformers 2 seemed to have as many uses as an infomercial product.
But in this film, it worked; the aliens’ technology is DNA based, leaving open many possibilities for its use and application in the story.
So yeah, this didn’t bug me.
The first half of the film uses a faux documentary style approach, while the second half is a more balls to the wall action film.
But again, to me this works; the flow of the plot dictated that serious shit was going to go down in the second half; and boy, does it really go down…hard.
If the first half of the film sets everything up, the second half grabs you by the junk and won’t let go, making certain to keep your attention as bodies explode, and pigs get launched.
People have called this film gory; and while this is a pretty accurate assessment, it’s not pointless, I find.
I never found it excessive, or too much; it was never there to just make you go “ewww!”
Well, except for the pig launch, but that was more funny than anything.
And by the end, Wikus, who had been such a sniveling little prat, finally sees the light, so to speak, and does the right thing.
So….what do I say?
It’s not perfect; but I’d say it’s a safe bet this will end up being one of the Sci-Fi classics.
You just don’t get a science fiction film like this very often with this much heart.
If they decide to go forward with a sequel, I hope they don’t let the studio interfere.
About the one thing that keeps me from giving it a 4 Zombie Spidey rating is that I wanted to see even more of the main alien character's development, and possibly a couple of answers to their origin.
But who knows? Perhaps that will be explored in a sequel.