a fantastic film that questions conventions

Rating: 9/10 (12 October 2014)

Going into watching this film I had heard very little about it and I knew very little so it was to my delight that this film is utterly fantastic. The story sees aliens arrive to earth in the 1980s above Johannesburg in south Africa, these aliens called prawns are put into poverty and this particular place is called district 9. Now this film is about the prawns in a lot of ways but also there had to be a representation of humanity and our lead does a really good job in this. Played by debutant sharlto Copley our lead character really represents the upper class and he does a great job of turning his character in ways that aren't expected and making him feel relatable to the prawns and I thought he did a great job doing that. The supporting cast is a bit of a mixed bag though with the two prawns he allies with being great and feeling almost human in the way they react in their own ways as their relationship with the human grows. But the problem with the other human characters is that nobody stands out with a great performance as they are just all completely average, but that is not a huge bad thing because of Copley's performance. The story is excellent with this first time director really putting a lot of social messages into this film with the representations of characters. I also like how these are not your typical aliens and they fit into this realistic story and world. The script is great with a lot of heartfelt moments in this film even from the prawns and when a film can make aliens relatable that is a job well done. The style is freaking awesome with the cockroach look of the prawns really looking great and modern, also the weaponry is insane with all the guns being massive. Another great thing is that this film takes place in south Africa and because of this less then typical setting it adds a lot to the film. Overall this is a film I recommend to anybody as it is a fantastic film and I hope this director does eventually get the chance to make the halo movie that was planned.