Science fiction with smarts

Rating: 8/10 (10 April 2010)

In so many ways District 9 is not your typical science fiction film. For starters, a South African slum is certainly not your typical sci-fi setting. It's a unique location for a unique story. And that story is presented in an unusual fashion, initially a mockumentary of sorts with more straightforward storytelling as we move along. It may take a little while for the viewer to become comfortable with the rhythm of the piece, things are a little disjointed at the start. But eventually the story kind of settles itself down and the viewer can then settle in and enjoy the ride. And a thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking ride it is. You won't see many movies quite like this one and in this case that uniqueness makes it rather special. A first-time feature film director, Neill Blomkamp, with a limited budget, takes a cast of unknowns and creates a near-masterpiece. There are some things here and there to quibble with but overall the film works wonderfully. And Blomkamp deserves so much credit for that as this is a film which for so many reasons could easily have gone off the rails entirely. The potential was definitely there for this to be a complete mess. Instead it is a rousing success. That a first-time director pulled this off is somewhat mind-boggling.
As our quasi-documentary tells us at the film's start, in 1982 a large alien mothership became apparently stranded, hovering motionless over Johannesburg, South Africa. And there it sat for three months until a team is sent up to break into the ship, where they discover over one million starving aliens. But these are not your typical movie aliens, these things look like some kind of giant seven-foot tall shrimp. These creatures, which will come to be referred to rather derogatorily as prawns, are for humanitarian reasons relocated to the ground where they end up living in the world's strangest slum, District 9. Nearly three decades pass and human-prawn relations are, to put it mildly, not going particularly well. So as the film's story begins to play out in its 2010 time frame the prawns are to be evicted from District 9 and forcibly moved to a new internment camp away from Johannesburg. Placed in charge of this forced relocation is the rather hapless office worker Wikus Van De Merwe. Poor Wikus is not quite up to the task.
When we first meet Wikus it is obvious almost immediately that this guy is not the brightest bulb. In fact he seems to be such a bumbling, oblivious idiot that it is hard to identify with him or take him seriously at all. Which is a bit of a problem as Wikus is the central character in the movie. But as the story plays out Wikus evolves in innumerable ways. And when his story arc is complete than you can really appreciate how far this annoying little office twerp has come. Sharlto Copley is the actor entrusted with this vital role and he does wonderfully with it. At first things with Wikus did seem a bit off and you couldn't help but wonder if maybe it was because this unknown actor was in over his head. But as the story plays out you can't help but appreciate Copley's work and in retrospect you realize his performance in the film's opening wasn't off at all. It was exactly what it had to be for the character of Wikus. For long stretches of the film Copley has to carry the proceedings pretty much entirely on his shoulders and he proves more than capable.
District 9 will prove to be mostly about the journey of Wikus but the prawns certainly have their part to play as well. Most of these creatures, impressive-looking though they may be thanks to some wondrous special effects, are rather disposable in the film. They're nameless, essentially faceless, with no real story to them. But one prawn, named Christopher Johnson (no I don't know how these things got names), has his own story and inevitably Christopher's tale will be intertwined with that of Wikus. And their story keeps you glued to the edge of your seat all the way to the film's rousing finale. OK, maybe the finale is a little too rousing as the emotional, thought-provoking story gets somewhat shunted aside for a standard movie shootout with all kinds of fancy CGI explosions. You get the sense this unique story deserved a little better in the end. But it's by no means a total letdown, the film as a whole ends up being more than satisfying. The story is terrific and it's told in a rather ingenious way. And, somewhat remarkably considering the small budget, the film looks terrific. The prawns, the spaceship, the weaponry, everything looks top-notch. It makes you wonder what the filmmakers could have done with a lot more money at their disposal. With as successful as this film was we may yet find out. District 10 anyone?