Rating of
3/4
Power to the Prawns
Chris Kavan - wrote on 08/16/09
Although it has all the hallmarks of a traditional sci-fi/action/drama District 9 manages to mold these traditional notions into something new and interesting.
Set in South Africa, Neill Blomkamp uses his own experiences to craft a tale of literal alienation using extraterrestrials instead of fellow humans. After their spaceship kind of stalls above South Africa the aliens, referred to as "prawns" for their tentacled mouths and shell-like appearance, have been stranded in the slums for 20 years, and the surrounding humans (save for some Nigerians who want weapons) are getting fed up.
The prawns are treated like dirt, so the Multi-National United led by Wikus van der Merwe arrive to appease the situation. In reality, they're evicting the aliens to a far-away camp away from cities and humans where they can disappear peacefully. Unfortunately for van der Merwe, a faceful of alien fluid means he'll be sharing a lot more than just words with the prawns. Like an arm. This also means he's a prime target for the MNU and gun-toting Nigerians who need him to work the alien weapons, which won't respond to humans at all, only prawns.
The prawns, of course, only want to get back home, because who wants to live in a world where the best part of your day is a can of cat food and people torch your eggs and shoot you for fun. Oh, and secret medical experiments - those are never any good either.
The camera style is part documentary, part cable news and part super fast cuts ala Jason Bourne. It can be annoying at times, but I never found it too distracting and at times made perfect sense. It starts off slow, but it gets intense towards the end. The action really ramps up when the alien weaponry comes into play. Humans start looking like watermelons at a Gallagher show. It is pretty violent - even if most of those blowing up totally deserve it.
I also like the fact there are no big names here - it helps make it feel more real. Big names can help a film, but in this case going with the unknowns help sells it. On the other end of the spectrum, the aliens themselves don't look fake. Weta Digital comes through in making an alien race that looks original and believable.
The problem in District 9 isn't in story, characters or action - but rather lack of information. Whether it was intentional or not, there's never any explanation of why this huge spaceship stopped at earth or is just kind of hovering there. After 20 years, you would think we'd make some headway - horrible experiments and all - in decoding the aliens.
Also left alone is why an alien population over 1 million strong just goes along with forced poverty and cat food when they have advanced technology. Even pacifists can only take so much. Even with limited access, you would think they could take over and hold their own against our pitiful forces.
Anyway, I'm glad to see their are still original ideas out there. Sure, this is just alien apartheid, but it's better than an umpteenth Saw sequel or yet another TV show-turned big screen movie.
