District 9 Review

District 9 is a multifaceted film. It manages to overcome the the recent blandness and one dimensionality that has characterized recent science fiction films, while at the same time retaining all the pure entertainment that those films can provide. District 9 has enough fantastic action scenes to satisfy even the most devoted of the Transformers 2 demographic, but also packs in social and political commentary, an engaging plot, gut wrenchingly emotional scenes, and a fascinating visual style. It doesn't do much that hasn't been seen before, but it combines the best elements of some of the best films in the genre to create a remarkably enjoyable, polished final product.

District 9 opens by ingeniously showing clips from what appears to be a documentary made after the main events of the movie have transpired. This documentary allows the director, Neill Blomkamp to introduce the setting and characters in depth, but retain audience interest. In a short period of time, the audience is treated to a fairly detailed history of the first contact with the aliens and how the relationship between the two species has changed over the twenty years that have elapsed, as well as plenty of character development of the charming and friendly, if somewhat incompetent seeming, Wikus Wan de Merwe (Sharlto Copely). It is so well edited that twenty minutes densely packed with information pass without ever seeming to drag on at all. The various people interviewed, differences in perspectives, interspersed news reports, and sheer interest factor of the information dispersed keeps it fresh, to the point that I was almost disappointed it didn't last longer. In those twenty minutes, the audience learns of an alien race unconventional to sci fi, one that arrived for no discernible purpose, and is not abundantly intelligent. In fact, most of the prawns (the derogatory term given to the aliens) seem rather stupid, as the leaders all died somehow (the documentary suggests disease), leaving only the workers behind. This gives the people of Johannesburg complete control over the prawns' fate. This fate slowly develops into one of slum life, with abundant segregation and oppression as tensions between the prawns and the humans rise, and the natural human tendency to be distrustful of the unknown takes over. The opening sequence manages to give us a good feel for the history of the interaction between humans and prawns, while simultaneously offering up amusing tidbits of information such as the prawns' obsession with cat food. The viewer also learns that the corporation that Wikus works for, MultiNational United, has become responsible for moving the prawns from their current slum (District 9) to a new location further away from the humans population of Johannesburg, and that Wikus is in charge of serving them eviction notices. It sounds like a fairly easy job, but the documentary interviews foreshadow something going terribly wrong.

As it turns out, Wickus comes upon a strange alien tube while raiding a house for weapons, which sprays a brown liquid at him. This is where the film begins to shift gears. Odd things begin to happen to Wikus. He vomits immediately. The an unknown black substance begins to seep from his nose. His fingernails start to fall off. As it turns out, the liquid has started the process of slowly turning him into a prawn. As his body changes, he becomes an extremely valuable piece of biotechnology. The very powerful prawn weaponry only responds to prawn DNA, and as it turns out, the newly mutating Wikus. He is especially valuable to his own company, which deals in weaponry, and wants to harvest his body for its genetic projects. He escapes, which sparks the manhunt, carried out by the vicious Col. Koobus Venter (David James) that persists through most of the remainder of the film.

This results in Wikus hiding in District 9, and his chance meeting with Christopher Johnson and his son, perhaps the only intelligent prawns in the film. Christopher Johnson knew immediately what was happening to Wikus, as he had carefully collected the offending liquid himself. As it turned out, the liquid was both the only way Christopher Johnson could return to his home planet, and the only way he could return Wikus to human form. Together, they launched an assault on the well defended MNU headquarters to try to retrieve it.

As hard as it may be to believe after that description, the plot was both well developed and had a gritty realism to it. A brief synopsis cannot properly capture the numerous emotionally powerful scenes, nor the subtlety with which these elements of the plot were actually introduced. Perhaps the best example of these subtleties is Wikus' racism. He is not overtly racist, and doesn't treat the prawns particularly poorly, in fact, he seems to even be somewhat fond of them. However, it becomes clear numerous times during the MNU eviction notices that Wikus subconsciously views the prawns as much lower life forms, most notably when he gleefully talks about the popping sound that the prawn fetuses make as they burn. This prejudice continues even as Wikus turns into a prawn himself, but is eventually addressed.

All in all, District 9 provides a deep, insightful, and realistic experience, all while competing in entertainment value with the mindless action sci fi movies that appear to be the modern preference. It is equal parts realistic action movie and intelligent apartheid influenced commentary against prejudice, with enough wit and presented in a unique visual style to create one of the most complete movie experiences of recent memory. All of the actors are top notch, with Copely delivering a truly amazing performance despite it being his first major lead role. And best of all the touching ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel, for which many viewers, myself included, will be clamoring.