The explosions, the slimy bugs, the mechanical battle suits, the laser beams — well, they all look good, but we've seen the like before

Rating: 6/10 (23 December 2009)

There is nothing wrong with making an alien movie. There's nothing wrong with making an action movie either. And there's most certainly nothing wrong with combining these two elements togetherunless you stress the wrong points too much and the good points not enough. And that was the case, for me anyway, with "District 9." This is by no means a bad movie, but it contains too much of a been-there, done-that feeling and it's a real shame because the movie's premise contains some strong imagination and a surefire promise, but it doesn't quite deliver. As an action movie, it fulfills its purpose, but as a science-fiction original, it struggles a bit.
I loved the plot of "District 9." Twenty years ago, an alien spaceship the size of a city descended over a city in Nigeria and then suspends there for two decades. Scientists manage to get onboard the ship and discover a civilization of intelligent, but helpless insect-like creatures. After the local Nigerians refuse to live with the creatures in peace, they are moved to District 9, sort of their alien ghetto, I guess you could say. The man in charge of District 9 (Sharlto Copley), while trying to serve an eviction notice on the aliens, becomes infected by one of their chemicals and very slowly begins to transform into one of them and thus becomes the subject of a vicious manhunt led by a bug-hating colonel played by David James.
Unfortunately, the promise of the premise amplifies the disappointment, I'm afraid, of "District 9." From this plot, we expect a strong, original, imagination-packed modern-day science-fiction classic. And during some parts, it displays those qualities. But the filmmakers made a mistake. Instead of developing these truly fascinating elements, they decided to in the end just degenerate the movie into a standard action movie where blood is sprayed and things blow up with no point and with no purpose. And as a result, we get that been there, done that feeling. The special effects? They're as good as they could be. This is just the sort of movie to see with surround sound. The pyrotechnics and CGI are absolutely fabulous with very few faults. But then again, good special effects in Hollywood is simply a package order. The explosions, the slimy bugs, the mechanical battle suits, the laser beams—well, they all look good, but we've seen the like before.
What would have really made this movie wonderful would have been to explore the nature of these aliens, for they are a lot more interesting (and a lot more likable) than the stereotypical characters that populate the cast. The movie does take the liberty of giving them some development, but not nearly enough I'm afraid. It just tends to resort to blowing things up and painting more CGI on the screen.
Another thing that bothered me was that there were no interesting characters. Sharlto Copley does a fine job playing the protagonist, but he's left to moan, weep, and curse instead of fleshing out what could have been a fascinating character. He doesn't have any real connection to his wife or to the aliens or to the bad guys, who I'm afraid, are so stereotypical that they might even be insulting. There was one character in particular, a Nigerian played by Eugene Khumbanyiwa who simply drove me crazy. And it's okay, I suppose, to have a menacing-looking Australian play the bad colonel, but to have everybody in his command be vulgar-happy Australians might also generate some disappointment in the audience.
Once again, "District 9" is not a bad movie. It has some strong action scenes and if that's all you're looking for, you won't be disappointed. Me, I was wanting something a little more powerful with a little more imagination. I want Hollywood to realize that although audiences can enjoy an action movie, they can enjoy one more if it focuses on more than just blowing things up and showing off the latest special effects package in ILM.
Rating: 2.5/4