A good premise that slightly drifts

Rating: 7/10 (9 March 2014)

Starting as a mockumentary about the arrival of aliens to South Africa, the film is a clever take on the problems of immigration and the issues facing integration of different societies. The main actor portrays the pen pushing Wikus with the charm that should be attributed to a mid level bureaucrat. He enjoys his job, he has a beautiful wife and he's just trying to get on with his life, despite the fact that most of the people he works with see him as a mid level bureaucrat. Without his performance this film could have been a lost cause, yet his emotions keep the film together. Filmed in South Africa, there are clips of people on the streets that are reminiscent of apartheid videos from the eighties, and the activities of the Nigerians in the film resonated with South African colleagues. This could have been a more accessible way to deal with race and culture to a generation for whom apartheid is in the history books. Then you have the second part of the film. The aliens have weapons that make human weapons look like catapults, and the producers are not afraid to show them off - in all their visceral fury - making the latter part of the film more like a horror film. Yes, the violence may be needed, it just feels over done to the point of comedy (think the 1987 Robocop). If this film is about apartheid, then this violence is simply scaled; one man against the system, using the weapons at his disposal to make a difference (as opposed to many people with smaller weapons). Yet, that also sits at odds with the helpless nature the aliens portray through out the film. They're shown as starving and cowed by the humans, but they're physically stronger than the humans and there doesn't look to be any indications there was any struggle when they landed. Yes, the aliens could probably have taken over the planet with their fire power, yet at the same time it shows the humans to be more monstrous than the visitors. An entertaining film, with some hard hitting messages and the expectation of a sequel