"The Fly" meets "Schindler's List," but with Aliens

Rating: 4/10 (6 January 2010)

"District 9" is one of the most ambitious films I've ever seen. The trailers and previews make you think you're going into an alien war with the human race, but very quickly "District 9" is more about humans controlling aliens and not so much about war, well, for the first half at least. The film opens with a great mockumentary style approach explaining this epic event that took place in 1982 where an Alien aircraft stopped and hovered over a city for three months without moving. What ensues is pretty innovative stuff. Interspecies prostitution, humans understanding the language of the Aliens and vice versa, racial discrimination (Aliens are treated similar to African-Americans in American History) and the sales / trading of illegal weapons.
The Aliens (which might be an offensive term) are put into concentration camps similar to actual historical events. We are brought in and around District 9 by the main character, Wikus, who just got a promotion at MNU and has to notify the prawns (the aliens) that they are getting evicted. This has to be done legal, you understand, and they need the prawns signature. It's hard to wrap your head around this liberal government trying to treat these aliens like humans, or at the very least, equals, while humans treat them like the Nazi' treated the Jews or whites treated the blacks during a time of segregation. Once you do that you're left with the main character getting sprayed in the face and making a Seth Brundle ("The Fly") like metamorphosis, and then betraying his country and joining forces with aliens. Pretty corny, pretty cheesy and pretty dull.
The first half of the film is mildly good, with an incredible opening sequence, but gradually turns into a dull movie about people you never care for and Aliens you can't possibly care for. "District 9" goes from innovative to heavily influenced to a standard, brainless shoot 'em up action flick, but with aliens. As I sat and watched the final third of the film (I became very impatient with the film) thinking, "I don't care. I don't care about anyone. I don't care how this thing turns out. I just don't care." I was surprised by my reaction because I was mildly blown away by the opening ten minutes of the film.