After the hype: District 9 reviewed

I can recall with great fondness the last movie that generally made my jaw drop and my eyes tingle with delight. In Bruges was that movie. That movie I can honestly say hand on heart is the last movie that, as the final credits rolled, left me with a genuine feeling of satisfaction. One that overwhelmed me, made me think about what I had seen, take a few moments to let it all sink in and walk away knowing I had just watched something great. Something that would not feature on my all-time top movies list, but certainly rank highly in the list of movies I love.

District 9 has now stolen that crown, and the coronation cape, and the sceptre and anything else it has coming to it.

I’ll cut to the chase and just come out with it right now, District 9 is one of the best movies I have ever seen and features on my (in no particular order may I add) list of favourite movies of all time.

Yes it is that good. Yes you should see it. NOW. MANY TIMES.

I’m actually finding it difficult to choose where I want to begin with my thoughts regarding District 9. It’s one of those movies that you start out feeling a little bemused by the premise. Yes it is far fetched, very far fetched in fact, but you will find out fast (if you have an open mind) that you get over your ‘bemusement’ and start to let the lunacy of the story capture your imagination very quickly. By the time the movie reaches the last third of its run time you’ll be hooked. I was literally on the edge of my seat, absolutely engrossed by what was unfolding before my eyes. I feel quietly confident that if you meet the aforementioned criteria you will be on the edge of your seat too.

I’m sure many of us put on a temper tantrum as young children in a supermarket and were swiftly grabbed by the arm by our parents who told us sternly to behave. District 9 more or less replicates that feeling, except it’s saying “listen you; I’m not finished with you yet! Here, have some of this…!”

District 9 is a sci-fi movie directed by Neill Blomkamp, a young South African writer/director who, rumour has it, was ‘discovered’ by one Peter Jackson thanks to the short film Jackson saw, directed by Blomkamp, called Alive In Joburg (of which District 9 is a remake of sorts of). Shot in a half-docu/half Michael Bay-esque balls out action flick style, District 9 unabashedly questions what life is like today when aliens landed on Earth (in South Africa no less) and, once deemed to have ‘come in peace’, take up residence among humans. The new residents appear to have some anger management issues and thus are held in shanty towns within a sealed off area of Johannesburg called ‘District 9′. Unfortunately both human and alien races are having trouble living side by side, forcing corruption, violence and mass protests against the new residents of Johannesburg.

Enter Wikus Van De Merwe, a Government employee who has been assigned the task of handing out eviction notices to the residents of District 9 in order for it to be destroyed (and hopefully send the aliens back home). What begins as a routine fly-on-the-wall documentary following Wikus and his task to evict the residents of District 9 makes the most sudden and dramatic of U-turns in to a fight to save not only his own life, but those of the residents of District 9.

Thankfully I distanced myself as far away from this movie as possible during the pre-release build-up and for a few weeks post-release to allow any hype to die off. I went in to it with zero expectations and I’ll admit at first I was a little puzzled about just what it was I was sitting down to watch. I will even boldly go so far as to say I was seconds away from walking away from it. On reflection I am so glad I stuck with it. You may find yourself agreeing with me when/if you watch District 9 that the actual blend of docu-style handheld reportage mixed with the flamboyant lunacy of the plot can be a bit much to take. Perhaps this technique was used to capture the audience immediately; I personally felt it was trying to take itself a little too seriously. That’s what nearly made me switch off. With such a fantastic concept and plot for a Sci-Fi movie, I just wanted it to let go of that seriousness, loosen that strict grip and just let go and have fun.

Mercifully it did.

In EPIC proportions.

You may or may not choose to read on here as what could be construed as subtle spoilers will be found within the following text. If you are still reading, thanks, I hope you enjoyed the movie too!

District 9 quickly evolves in to complete and utter madness. It’s only when you look back at what you just witnessed over the last hundred and a bit minutes that you begin to question if Jackson being on board had an influence on the plot, the direction or indeed the director. There are so many neat little touches to be found within the run time of this Sci-Fi epic. For starters for a film that was shot on a budget of three quarters of a shoestring, the CGI, if a little ropey at times, is absolutely staggeringly great. Favourite CGI touches for me centered around the alien weaponry. Lots of quality blasts and face-shattering explosions abound!

I also enjoyed (what I assume to be) the little nods to obscure genres that made up the theme of the film. The whole concept of ‘New Flesh’ that was such a big theme within the works of pioneers of that genre, most notably Shinya Tsukamoto and his genius Tetsuo movies. Coming back to the Jackson-inspire stuff, I felt at times I found influence and inspiration in the movie from early Jackson works Bad Taste and Braindead. Albeit not quite as crudely done as those early works were, but still handed out to the audience with equal amounts of lunacy and brashness.

But by far, the moment of the movie which, on a personal level, touched me very deeply and made me thank the lord that the film industry was slowly but surely starting to recognize and deliver great works again was the moment the exoskeleton opened up to allow Wikus to climb inside it. Yes it was predictable he was going to get in it, but the way in which that scene was delivered, the way the shot cuts between the exoskeleton and Wikus, that look in his eye making the decision to climb in absolutely won me over. Intentional or not I don’t know, nor do I care. I saw it as a nod to anime/manga greats such as Patlabor and Appleseed. That, as an avid anime fan and a gorger of as much manga as my eyes can cope with, was a moment where I actually screamed “YES!” at the screen and pumped my fist in the air in delight!

As if everything leading up to that scene wasn’t absolute perfection already, the film just unleashes complete and utter chaos of absolutely EPIC proportions. The action simply does not stop. I’m sure many of us put on a temper tantrum as young children in a supermarket and were swiftly grabbed by the arm by our parents who told us sternly to behave. District 9 more or less replicates that feeling, except it’s saying “listen you; I’m not finished with you yet! Here, have some of this…!” BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! KAZZAMMO! BOOM! ZZAP! and so on and so forth until finally the screen fades and the credits begin to roll, the lights come up and you’re left absolutely exhausted but entirely happy and completely satisfied that what you just saw was something the film industry desperately needs more of.

Alas we all know what that is and alas it’s not going to happen. This is what makes District 9 so special. It’s these one-off classics that will still be on your shelf in years to come while the dross that’s churned out of the studio doors week in week out will quickly fall by the wayside and out of the memories of many.

District 9 is a love it or hate it movie. Sure enough it has me and my friends divided. Each of them either loves it or hates it. Thankfully more people I have consulted tend to be in agreement that it is an amazing movie. Hopefully the studio behind this gem won’t push for a sequel (hints of one are thrown in to the movie with gusto). Unfortunately in modern times, when a movie becomes a box office smash a sequel is more or less green lit before the movie has even finished it’s theatre run.

Whether you end up loving it or hating it is beside the point here. As previously mentioned, movies like this come along once in a blue moon. Whatever your personal opinion of it might be, it, along with recent movies such as The Dark Knight and There Will Be Blood for example, District 9 ranks as one of those movies you simply cannot afford to miss for fear of having nothing to talk about when your friends have all seen it and are discussing it.

As for me, I don’t care what anyone else thinks, nor what the hype machine may generate. For me, District 9 is a movie I have absolutely, completely and utterly fallen head over heels in love with. I am proud to nestle it in with the other movies on my all-time favourites list.

District 9 is 99.9% sheer movie perfection.