District 9

Who says originality is dead in Hollywood? After being bombarded all summer by sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes, comic book adaptations, and movies based on toys, salvation has come in the guise of a South African sci-fi mockumentary. Neill Blomkamp shows us that sci-fi can be mainstream, that an action movie doesn’t have to be dumb, and that you don’t need $200 million to make a great and visually stunning movie.

The premise to District 9 is simple. Twenty eight years ago, an alien space craft appears over Johannesburg. Unlike every other movie with this plot, these aliens (called “prawns”) are not here to start shit, but rather they need our help. From there, they are hoarded into slums and discriminated against by the native South Africans. Blomkamp grew up in South Africa during apartheid and has admitted that as an influence on D9; the parallels between the treatment of prawns and the treatment of blacks are very apparent. Aside from racism, the film also comments on conglomeration, capitalism, and the military, but can be viewed entirely seperate from these ideals. It is not a message movie, but rather a great movie that also has messages.

Where D9 really becomes special is the faux-documentary style that the first 30-45 minutes are shot in. Using a combination of talking heads, old news footage, and footage of MNU’s current plan for evicting the prawns, Blomkamp creates a believable and realistic world for the prawns to live. The news footage and interviews feel exactly how things would be if there were aliens running around in Joburg. I’ve talked before about how documentaries create a connection with the audience because it feels real and intimate. Blomkamp uses doc style through the first act of the movie to create this connection between characters and audience and makes the audience feel as though they are watching something “real”, even though the movie is far from reality. The doc style interviews reveal information about the prawn back story, but also plot points about the movie’s ending, which is a very interesting technique.

Even once the film transitions from faux-doc into a regular movie, it is still shot in doc style (shaky cam). This allows for the movie to transition between its styles without the switch being to jarring and while still keeping that up-close and gritty feel throughout. This style works especially well when the film cranks up the action around the middle of the second act. After spending the first half creating a world and advancing the plot, Blomkamp shows off his action chops and delivers some of the most satisfying and original action sequences I can remember. I can’t remember the last time my jaw dropped so many times during a set piece.

Blomkamp made his living prior to this as an SFX supervisor and it shows. The special effects in the movie are fantastic. There have been some great instances of CGI in this past year (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen andStar Trek) but D9 one ups the work of ILM with the creation of the prawns. CGI has never looked as good when it is making something fleshy and organic. The Hulk never looks as real as Optimus Prime does. The prawns inD9 look real and interact with their environment as though normal aliens would. I was most impressed with how expressive the prawn faces were. You can read the emotion on their faces; you can tell when they are happy or sad or scared or angry. This becomes pivotal because it makes you care for the prawns rather than have them be a group of wild animals.

The cast is made up of unknown South African actors who all do a fantastic job. Sharlto Copley stands out above the rest because he plays the films protagonist, Wikus van de Werve, but also because he has no prior acting experience. Copley is conveys a very scared and flawed character perfectly and gives a better performance than most Hollywood actors could. The fact that he is an unknown adds to the characters persona as an unassuming every-man who is thrown into an extraordinary situation.

I really can’t put into words how lucky we are to get a movie like this. It is a sci-fi movie that addresses important issues, doesn’t feel the need to spell everything out to you, and has amazing action. Last week, I said (500) Days of Summer was the best film of the year so far. I hope it enjoyed its run, because there is a new best movie atop the list. District 9 is not only the best movie of the year, it is an instant classic that belongs in the conversation when mentioning great science-fiction.