Before I get into this blog, normally, I must warn whoever is reading this: this movie is DEFINITELY one you do NOT want to have spoiled for you. If you are planning on seeing this movie, DO NOT READ THE REVIEW. you have been warned.
9 out of 10: Must See!
Director: Neil Blomkamp
Stars: Sharlto Copely
District 9 is the creepy alt-universe drama about a world where aliens exist. Stopping their ship over the city of Johannesburg, South Africa over 20 years ago, these aliens (also called prawns) are put straight into the slums of the already messed up city. Living in a world of crime, hate, and prejudice, the aliens are just society's scum. So it is Wikus van de Merwe's job to relocate the aliens to a different section.... but things don't go as smoothly as they should....
AGAIN: More than ever, I suggest you DO NOT read the following if you are planning on seeing this movie. It contains spoilers. PLEASE, please take my word for it!!!
Okay, so I promise no more giant, bold writing. I'm just trying to make a point.
Let's see here.... District 9. Yes. Righto. Cherrio. ANYWAYS. This movie, as creepy and unexpected as it is, the plot was very interesting.
Here's where we get into it in a little more detail. So basically the first, like, 30 minutes of the movie was filmed in mockumentary form (if you don't know what that means: fake documentary). People who are involved in a giant company called MNU and other innocent bystanders are interviewed about alien presence. They discuss how the aliens shouldn't be here, or should be locked away... they call them the discriminatory name "Prawns," inferring that they are bottom feeders, and demand that they leave. Then it switches to full following of Wikus van de Merwe, a simple, weak man who is in charge of moving all "prawns" to their new location. As he goes through District 9, he evicts hundreds of aliens, however it is revealed that the main reason they are moving aliens is to confiscate the weapons for the better of the government. Then, as Wikus goes into a gangster's cabin, he finds a cylinder of strange liquid, unsure what it's use is. Without any guard or anything, he is accidently sprayed with the black liquid, and ingests it through his mouth as he coughs and breaths.
The next 10 or so minutes is spent following Wikus as really horrible things happen to him... he gets his arm broken; as he tries to arrest an alien, he throws up black liquid; when he eats food, his nose starts bleeding black; probably the worst of them, as he's in his office, he bites his nail clean off; finally, he ends up at home (with a surprise party waiting for him), throws up black on the cake, and passes out. Horrible turn of events, right? Well.... here's the deal... they take him to the hospital, and they decide to check out his arm.... low and behold: HE'S AN ALIEN!!! well... at least his arm is!
The rest of the movie follows Wikus as he copes with his new problem.... the military uses him to test alien weapons against his will; he must run away with Christopher, the only alien that can help him, and he ends up fighting his way to save the alien race.... as he becomes one, of course.
There were many things I loved about this movie! First off, the people playing the characters... Sharlto Copely's record of acting is small. Well, so small that this is his first ever acting role. Well, pretty much EVERYONE in this film has never acted in anything else. It's fantastic because it is so non-distracting! I mean, if Matt Damon was the main character, it would kind of take away from the realism.
Also, the way that the movie is filmed is a lot different than most films. It combines regular film, mockumentary style, news footage, and fake-old footage to get across the point of the movie. Oh, that's the other thing. The point of the movie: This movie accurately shows the decline in society, specifically in South Africa. These people are being treated horribly... living in slums full of crime and sanitation-issues. Plus, everyone who ISN'T in the slums consider them lower beings... well, actually, worse than lower beings... basically aliens. In this case, the aliens are treated so horribly that the camp they were moving to was basically a concentration camp. Discrimination has been such a horrible problem in the history of the human race, and this movie accurately portrays the difficulty this provides for not only humans but "aliens."
It was hard seeing the "hero" of the movie be such an asshole to these non-lifeforms. I mean, you'd think that Wikus would understand where these aliens are coming from, specifically because he's turning into one of them... but he doesn't! He calls them Prawns to their faces, almost screws them completely over, and really only cares about himself. He is not better, he's almost the worst one of the bunch!
Overall, this movie was fantastic: I would not be surprised if they nominated it for an oscar, and in fact I hope they do because it would be totally awesome! I mean, aliens, humans, discrimination, slums: basically already won.... wait, what? Slumdog Millionaire had nothing to do with aliens?? Whatever. District 9: one of the best movies of the year for sure.
0 comments:
Post a Comment