A Bit Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (10 November 2012)

An alien mother ship hovers over Johannesburg, South Africa, for several months without any contact being established. Finally, humans manage to get inside and discover almost 2 million sick and malnourished "prawn-like" aliens. They are resettled on the outskirts of the city and soon their compound begins to resemble a slum. Eventually, the decision is made to relocate them further away and an armed group is sent in to evict them. Trouble immediately follows. So much for the basic plot. That said, at first I wasn't really sure what to think about this film. It has some parts which are extremely slow and some of the action was almost equally boring. The special effects were very good. Some of the best I have seen in awhile. However, apart from the acting of the lead character, "Wikus Van De Merwe" (Sharlto Copley) the overall acting was pretty much non-existent and quite honestly failed to impress me. Even so, from what I understand it was nominated for 4 Academy Awards and won the Saturn Award for "Best International Film". It has also made over $115 million. So apparently there are a lot of people who liked this movie. And while I didn't necessarily dislike it, I just couldn't bring myself to get that enthused with it. No doubt many will disagree with me and that's fine. Be that as it may, this is one of those films that audiences who love CGI and action will probably really enjoy as it has both in spades. So if that's the case then I would strongly recommend this movie. But for those who like science fiction with a more "human element" then it's possible that they may find it to be a bit disappointing.