The Tale Of Intergalactic Discrimination Has Never Been Told So Ruggedly (If at all)...

Rating: 7/10 (21 January 2010)

South African director Neil Blomkamp's debut is the ultimate fusion, and homage-payer, to nearly every sci-fi film over the passed twenty or so years, that tells the tale of an alien species stranded on earth and herded in a slum outside Johannesburg. Blomkamp got this opportunity by creating his own five minute live action sequence taken from the, now somewhat defunct, "Halo" film project. Viewed by, and obviously having impressed, Peter Jackson, the New Zealander promptly gave his backing, both in critical and financial terms to his new protégé to create this intergalactic tale of discrimination and very big guns.
Comparing both the aforementioned five minute "Halo" trailer and "District 9" you cannot help but notice Blomkamp's delicacy when it comes to the implementation of special effects into a film. Too often are films overloaded with computer generated effects, both from other worlds and this, that do not convincingly real, despite all the money that is pumped into them. Blomkamp has a keen eye for being able to blend the virtual with the real in an almost seamless fashion, which in a film where half the cast are non-existent "prawns" from another world is somewhat of a key trait in selling the film. Also, equally as noticeable, is Blomkamp's exceptional directing technique when it comes to shooting, but also editing, the high tension action sequences. He knows how to create tension with the use of long tracking shots, interspersed with crisp cuts that, while chaotic, actually keep you up to breast with the geography of an all-out gun fight. Keeping perspective of where your characters are in the grand scheme of things and creating the heart-pounding tension that the audience needs to be immersed, yet follow proceedings, in the world is not an easy skill but one Blomkamp ensures happen with worrying (for other directors of the same genre) accuracy and style for such a young director.
The cast which carries the story is led wonderfully by Sharlto Copley as the bumbling and out of his depth "Wikus Van De Merwe" as he manages to entice sympathy from the audience and then just as suddenly the reverse, without ever making his character unbelievable. The script, which is very well written for a film of this genre, provides Copley with just the right balance of humour, emotion and as many uses of the word "fok"as an actor could possibly hope for. Copley carries the film extremely well, given he is often the only "actor" on screen at any one time and finds himself wonderfully backed up by a whole host of weasel faced antagonists who provoke the right amount of spite and venom from the viewer, despite them never being fleshed out as anything more than clichéd "bad guys".
Book ended by a documentary styled account of the events in District 9, the action during the middle segments romp along at a great pace, yet while on first viewing is enough to engross the viewer, on second there is a slight problem. Initially there is so much going on, so much that feels fresh and unique that you can't help but be swept away by it, but on second viewing you have to question the longevity of a film such as this. While it is undoubtedly a good piece of action-cinema, the sci-fi element demands more than simply big plastic guns that make people explode. Blomkamp creates his own intergalactic apartheid in "District 9", yet never explores the connotations of the why, when and what for. Science fiction is a genre not simply of aliens, but also of philosophy and meaning. If you look at the classics like "2001" and "Solyaris and a great many anime's there is always an underlying meaning or reasoning, something to get the audience thinking about what is being shown on screen, to delve deeper and explore the film as well as themselves. "District 9"'s only failing flaw, is that it fails to explore the separation of the humans and aliens, why they have been separated, what has allowed it to have come to this, why are the aliens being treated with such disregard? Is it simply because these people are the sort of white supremacists that caused so much damage in South Africa? These and more issues are either glossed over or never addressed at all, and I feel that perhaps if Blomkamp had tackled even one aspect as to "why" there was such discrimination, as opposed to the mere one line "justifier" in the opening montage, that it would push the film into epic proportions.
While the criticism of the film is a heavy one, it does not tarnish what is otherwise a superb science fiction action fest that audiences and lovers of the genres can get their teeth into. Blomkamp delivers on the promise that was his online snippet and has now set himself an even higher bar to which to aim his next project at. He has created a self encompassed world that requires no sequels, prequels, tells its story efficiently and drags its audience along for a ride that hallmarks one of the more impressive films, never mind debuts, in quite a while. My only wish is that while the stylised homages to The Fly and Aliens show a director who has knowledge, and command, of the sci-fi genre, the director continues to progress in the right direction and perhaps for his next challenge includes the gut-wrenchingly profound that District 9 finds itself separated from.