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District 9, the brainchild of writer/director Neill Blomkamp & produced by Peter Jackson, could possibly have been one of the greatest Sci-Fi movies of all time. If only they’d had the courage to follow the amazing work they did on the opening 30 minutes of the movie into the rest of the running time.

As it is, it is possibly one of the biggest missed chances of recent years.

The Plot

In 1982 a spaceship appears in the skies over Johannesburg, South Africa. After being there for three months without any contact or any other kind of activity, the Government take the matter into their own hands and cut their way into the spaceship – only to find a large group of aliens, all of whom are sick and malnourished. Eventually it is decided that these aliens are simple “workers” who’s leaders have mysteriously vanished, leaving them vulnerable and helpless.

For thirty years, these aliens, referred to as “Prawns” by the local human population, have lived in a slum area, dubbed “District 9″ but now the human inhabitants of Johannesburg have had enough and a private company, Multinational United (MNU), are brought in to move the 1.8 million aliens to a new, purpose built camp 200 kilometres outside of Johannesburg.

This operation is headed up by the newly promoted Wikus van de Merwe, who is backed up by a private military corporation brought in to provide the force for the evictions, headed by Koobus Venter. During the eviction process Wilus becomes exposed to a viscous black substance, which unbeknown to him starts to change his physiology from human to alien. This makes Wikus very valuable, as he is the only human able to operate the alien technology weapons, which are keyed to the alien DNA only, and the only hope for Wikus is to take refuge in District 9. From here, the battle for Wikus’ humanity, and the aliens freedom, begins.

Review

Neill Blomkamp, who makes his feature film directorial debut with District 9 does a really good job of bringing an expanded version of his own short, Alive in Joburg, onto cinema and Blu-Ray. The opening quarter of the movie, which has interview segments with the main cast interspersed with archive TV footage of the aliens arrival and the subsequent forced evictions are exceptionally well shot and the CGI aliens are flawlessly integrated into the live action as the aliens are brought realistically to life.

As for the actors, for the most part they are very good. Sharlto Copley, who plays Wikus, is excellent in the main role of the movie, and is possibly one of the best actors throughout the entire thing. He goes from evictor to hunted effortlessly, portraying the conflicting emotions easily through the entire running time. He is without a doubt one to watch, and it will be very interesting to see what he does with the character of Murdock in the forthcoming The A-Team movie.

Unfortunately, there are problems. My main gripes are that some of the story doesn’t really make sense, like the search for the alien fluid taking so long to get the required amount but Wikus wastes loads of it when he sprays his face, so how do the aliens have enough left for what they needed it for? Of course, you can argue that it’s science fiction so doesn’t really need to make sense, but with so much thought going into lots of the story little bits like that do seem to stand out in a big way.

And of course, there is the sudden switch from the documentary approach of the beginning to the more action-orientated last act, which I absolutely hated. I didn’t hate the third act of the movie, as it is handled very well, I just didn’t like the way it fitted with the rest of the style of the movie. I felt let down that such a startling and original beginning was effectively squandered in yet another sci-fi shooter ending.

A real shame, as without that, I feel this could possibly have been one of the best science fiction movies of the year.

The Video

The 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer Sony have used for this Blu-Ray is exceptional quality. The images are crisp and clear, with realistic colours to people’s skin and fine detail amazingly clear – like the fabric of clothes and the beads of sweat on people. The only real distraction from what is yet another reference quality transfer from Sony is the deliberatly aged looking standard definition archive and news footage used at the beginning of the movie.

The Audio

Likewise, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack is equally reference quality. The more bombastic sounds of gunfire and explosions reverberate out of the speakers, and dialogue is easy to hear, but it’s the ambience of an entire living and breathing world that comes from all sides while you are watching the movie that really builds up the experience.

Special Features

Joburg From Above: Satellite and Schematics of the World of District 9 – Interactive Map
Director’s Commentary
The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker’s Log Three-Part Documentary
Koobus Big Gun
The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker’s Log – Chapter 3: Refining District 9
Metamorphosis: The Transformation of Wikus
Innovation: Acting and Improvisation
Conception and Design: Creating the World of District 9
Alien Generation: Visual Effects
CineCHAT – where viewers can send on-screen instant messages to their friends while watching the movie
MovieIQ

My biggest problem with this movie is the fact that they suddenly switched to a pretty standard Hollywood-style shoot ‘em up after the first 30 minutes or so of a fascinating and exceptionally well done mock-documentary opening. It is a well made movie, and certainly a thought provoking story that is coupled amazingly well with state of the art CGI and brilliant performances from the actors, I was just left disappointed by the sudden switch in style and felt that the final act of the movie lacked the impact of the first.

It is one of the better Science-Fiction movies of the year, and certainly worth a watch, but after all the hype and critical reaction I was left feeling disappointed after it had finished.

Posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 1:48 pm under Blu-Ray Reviews by Gareth.

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