writers: Neill Blomkamp, Teri Tatchell
starring: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope
genre: Action, Sci-Fi
District 9 has been the sleeper hit of the summer and the best sci-fi film of the year. Now finally coming out in Greece. Many still don’t know of the existence of the film, but has greatly benefited from good word of mouth. Anybody into sci-fi, video games and would want a glimpse of how a Halo film could have been District 9 is your ticket to paradise.
The story takes place in S. Africa with the uneventful arrival of an alien mothership. After tense confusion and agony from the government for the mothership’s arrival and sudden stop over Johannesburg they board the ship and find aliens to be refugees seeking help. For unknown reasons to what happen on that mothership or why they came to Earth they are given refuge on the land of Earth. Now 20 years have past and all the aliens or prawns as they are called by humans are locked up in District 9 like a concentration camp in poor in-alien environment. Now after violent protests from humans for their hatred of the prawns and the alien’s refusal to live in these conditions they will be moved to supposed better camp. This all handled by private firm with private goals which we will learn. In charge of the move is one of the most unlikely heroes in Wikus (Sharlto Copley) who by the end of the film turns out be a sweet and unlucky chump that shows his true colors and utter unfortunate luck.
First let me give a little back-story to the film and the director. Neill Blomkamp had a couple well done short films, one that eventually was made into a feature District 9. But by those short films Peter Jackson of the Lord of the Rings fame was so impressed that he put him in charge of turning the videogame Halo into a film. But after that went through studio hell, Jackson felt that he still owed Blomkamp and helped him turn the short “Alive in Joburg” into District 9.
What I loved about this film is the sense of realism. Everything is presented faux-documentary manner and everything that is presented you never question. Also a lot of problems the film introduces correlate to some of the problems our world has. May it be refugees, treatment of minorities and other cultures, evil mega corporations looking for profit, human testing, the list goes on. This a gifted story that stays realistic, smart, edgy and still managers to stay serious having incredible visuals and action sequences.
Now about the geeky elements of the film. The effects are phenomenal. With a mere 30 million budget and with a brand new effects company handling the work, they managed to show a whole world, weapons, explosions, and spaceships in great detail. Blomkamp also handles all the action sequences to a great limit of amazement. This guy in the coming years will become the go to guy for anything genre oriented. Also in the film people die by the handful. Heads explode huge guns rip threw people, battle suits all of this makes into a superbly cool film.
By the end of the film you should have watched one the easiest sci-films to get into and one of the most visually intense films of the year. Blomkamp has a bright future ahead and shows here that he was chosen correctly for the job of Halo even if it didn't go through. Now I just hope that one day I can also see District 10 and see more of this wonderful world and anything else to from the visual mind of Neill Blomkamp.
Review by Paul
District 9 has been the sleeper hit of the summer and the best sci-fi film of the year. Now finally coming out in Greece. Many still don’t know of the existence of the film, but has greatly benefited from good word of mouth. Anybody into sci-fi, video games and would want a glimpse of how a Halo film could have been District 9 is your ticket to paradise.
The story takes place in S. Africa with the uneventful arrival of an alien mothership. After tense confusion and agony from the government for the mothership’s arrival and sudden stop over Johannesburg they board the ship and find aliens to be refugees seeking help. For unknown reasons to what happen on that mothership or why they came to Earth they are given refuge on the land of Earth. Now 20 years have past and all the aliens or prawns as they are called by humans are locked up in District 9 like a concentration camp in poor in-alien environment. Now after violent protests from humans for their hatred of the prawns and the alien’s refusal to live in these conditions they will be moved to supposed better camp. This all handled by private firm with private goals which we will learn. In charge of the move is one of the most unlikely heroes in Wikus (Sharlto Copley) who by the end of the film turns out be a sweet and unlucky chump that shows his true colors and utter unfortunate luck.
First let me give a little back-story to the film and the director. Neill Blomkamp had a couple well done short films, one that eventually was made into a feature District 9. But by those short films Peter Jackson of the Lord of the Rings fame was so impressed that he put him in charge of turning the videogame Halo into a film. But after that went through studio hell, Jackson felt that he still owed Blomkamp and helped him turn the short “Alive in Joburg” into District 9.
What I loved about this film is the sense of realism. Everything is presented faux-documentary manner and everything that is presented you never question. Also a lot of problems the film introduces correlate to some of the problems our world has. May it be refugees, treatment of minorities and other cultures, evil mega corporations looking for profit, human testing, the list goes on. This a gifted story that stays realistic, smart, edgy and still managers to stay serious having incredible visuals and action sequences.
Another element of the film is the acting. Everybody plays there role perfectly. From Jason Cope who plays a journalist and voice of one of the main prawns to the military head officer that plays his part real bad ass. But the show stealer is Sharlto Copley. This guy is a real find and a natural. Already after his performance here he got a part in the A-Team film. And just to understand how good he is, in the scenes where there raiding the Prawns home's his dialogue is pretty much all improvised to perfection. He's that good.
Now about the geeky elements of the film. The effects are phenomenal. With a mere 30 million budget and with a brand new effects company handling the work, they managed to show a whole world, weapons, explosions, and spaceships in great detail. Blomkamp also handles all the action sequences to a great limit of amazement. This guy in the coming years will become the go to guy for anything genre oriented. Also in the film people die by the handful. Heads explode huge guns rip threw people, battle suits all of this makes into a superbly cool film.
By the end of the film you should have watched one the easiest sci-films to get into and one of the most visually intense films of the year. Blomkamp has a bright future ahead and shows here that he was chosen correctly for the job of Halo even if it didn't go through. Now I just hope that one day I can also see District 10 and see more of this wonderful world and anything else to from the visual mind of Neill Blomkamp.
Personal Rating:
Review by Paul
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