Prawns Are Everywhere In This Realistic Sci-Fi Effort

Rating: 10/10 (8 September 2009)

After seeing Sharlto Copley in the new Sci-Fi Film District 9, would highly recommend this movie to people who want to see a new well done film. I mention Sharlto Copley because his role is so central to this film that he basically carries the entire film. It is a great performance in any context.
Neil Blomkamp writes & directs this film and it is quite an effort. The film very much starts off as a documentary type of film with Sharlto Copley at the center going into the story of how an alien ship appears over Johannesburg, South Africa. It then goes through how humans invade the ship and move the aliens out of it and onto a colony known as District 9. The visuals are so realistic that you'd swear this is the real thing.
The documentary part of the film then smoothly transfers into 2 stories- one involving Sharlto Copley's character getting exposed to alien matter and evolving into an alien, & the other involving a couple of the aliens trying to manufacture fuel so they can leave & go home. There is a cover story for the film as well about the South African effort to relocate the alien colony into District 10.
The film is not done as a typical sci-fi film in that it is gritty and really feels like it is depicting real events. The film always sticks with the base cover story and leaves a wide open door for a sequel. It will be interesting to see if they do one since the main line related to this is "I will be back in 3 years".
The film is excellent at drawing characters & stories from different points of view together & relating all of them. In fact the documentary part of this film is done so well that it actually feels like better reporting than the real media can actually do. There are also some other stories & commentary I have not brought into this review. This film has a depth rarely seen in the Sci-Fi film genre.