Too many ob-stackles in 3rd act

Rating: 6/10 (21 August 2009)

There's a scene at the beginning of O Brother Where Art Thou where a blind seer foresees "many ob-stackles" to be overcome by the three heroes -- a light-hearted slam at the story pyramid version of Aristotelian aesthetics. Act One sets the scene until turning point 1 creates rising action. Act Two builds to a climax and turning point 2. Act Three provides resolution after many ob-stackles are overcome during falling action. Without the ob-stackles, you don't really have a movie, goes the received wisdom. Serious critics will complain about a "lack of obstacles," implying a movie is lame or shallow because it doesn't follow guidelines now taken as gospel.
Many stories just don't need a slew of meaningless ob-stackles to provide a satisfying path. District 9 is one of those stories.
Despite howling plot devices -- fuel that doubles as a genetic virus, a control unit that falls conveniently from the alien spacecraft, a Nigerian criminal who follows the evil genius rules (never kill Bond when you can blather while he unties his hands), pivotal characters repeatedly meeting by chance -- we buy into the suspension not only of disbelief but also of impatience with formulaic laziness, due exclusively to the exotic nature of the set decoration, locale and CGI creatures. Unfortunately, that all falls apart when the hero engages in a standard chase containing so many homage points they're not worth tallying. And in that chase, we encounter, and become impatient with, many ob-stackles.
It's a credit to the set decoration, locale and CGI creatures that with all that I still rate District 9 six stars.