District 9

Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9 is one of the new breed of film makers that are inspired by the great sci fi genre of the 70s-90s and the age of video games.

Watching District 9, I couldn’t help myself by seeing so many references to past films and video games. Just to name a few, the most obvious being ET The Extraterrestrial and Half Life even a bit of HALO, which Blomkamp was chosen to direct before the film went over budget in it’s pre-production phase.

This movie might be about stranded Aliens on Earth… but that’s where the similarities end. Oh, but there might be some fingering if you look closely.

I’m actually glad that Blomkamp didn’t have Halo as his first feature film. The weight of all the pressure of headlining Microsoft’s big seller and a $300M budget would be too much for the then 27 year old.

I think Sharlto would’ve preferred being Master Chief than pussy Wikus Van De Merwe

Now 29, he’s able to make a film based on a short he made which got him noticed in the first place (besides the dancing Citreon C4 commercials). District 9 is a feature adaptation of his short, Alive in Joburg.

With the same concept, aliens living amongst  humans as refugees, Blomkamp is able to fill the screen with issues on prejudice, racism, specism and the inhumane actions that people do to each other. Most disturbing to me in the film was a scene during the Mockumentary section of the film where the MNU (some sorta weapons and alien-humanitarium group) were extraditing the aliens and they found a lava nest. I felt sick hearing people in the cinema laugh at how they’re killing these lavas. (They’re not HUGGERS you sickos!)

They told me if I kept quiet, I get some human loving

The tone of the film actually starts off quite light hearted and comedic with the semi-documentary of District 9. Within a span of 10 minutes, the audience is drawn into the world of aliens living in South Africa for 20 years. Effective… but also a cheat and also I feel throws the momentum of the film a bit as it jumps from mockumentary to narrative to news reports.

Star Power for the WIN!

Blomkamp throws in all these different film techniques and angles that I felt was also a bit too much at one stage. There was even a DOOM style FPS view in a few frames and the angle that I don’t particularly like, the camera that points at the person’s face and follows them around, which I’ll call “Drunk Cam”, as that’s when it’s usually used.

Sign here and get a free cheeseburger

The film’s pacing was perfect, (besides the mocumentary section) I was on the edge of my seats for the nearly 2 hr movie with a bit of The Dark Knight nostalgia at one point. It was especially entertaining when they factor in inter-species sex which people at the cinema had a great time laughing (or secretly fantasizing about).

This was as far as they could go with inter-species sex jokes in the 80s.

Bottom line. Go watch the movie. And with Peter Jackson’s name on the poster, I’m sure it will get quite a lot of non-sci fi goers to see it too. I know it got my girlfriend to go.

I should kill all you humans for back stabbing me. Especially that jerk Wikus!

Man my hair smells - just like em’ prawns.