Neill Blomkamp Amazes with First Major Film

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2010)

Director Neill Blomkamp's first major film proves that he is a filmmaker worthy of keeping your eye on in coming years. While the trailers intrigued me, I had no idea what to expect from his film until I finally sat down in the theater and was blown away. Part mockumentary, part drama, and part sci-fi/action film...Blomkamp's movie touches on a few different genres and is an exciting run. In the film, an alien spacecraft arrived over Johannesburg, South Africa twenty years ago and the malnourished, confused inhabitants were brought down to the surface to live in a cordoned-off section of the city. Over the years, anti-alien sentiment has risen to explosive levels and the film begins with the corporation responsible for overseeing the aliens beginning an eviction process to move them further from the city. The film follows the character of Wikus Van De Merwe, an agent of the corporation, who is exposed to alien technology and soon begins a horrible transformation that draws the attention of the company, as well as a group of Nigerian terrorists. Wikus is then forced to seek refuge amongst those he's spent his life oppressing.
The film is said to draw many parallels to the apartheid situation from South Africa, but I'm unfamiliar with the history of the topic and therefore was able to watch the movie for what it was. The story covers elements we've seen before and Wikus's transformation is heavily reminiscent of Seth Brundle's in THE FLY (1986) but it's what Blomkamp does with the material that makes it so entertaining. The film begins in the style of a documentary, interviewing Wikus and those close to him (both family and co-workers) as well as experts and historians knowledgeable on the aliens' existence since arriving on Earth. All of this would've been more than sufficient to keep my interest but halfway through the film, it shifts into an action-packed summer popcorn film. It unloads a series of action sequences that keep the audience riveted until the closing credits. Despite the film's $30 million budget (low compared to most other summer blockbusters), the film is brilliantly done. The visual effects of the aliens and their weaponry are seamless and rarely, if ever, feel like CGI.
Just as DISTRICT 9 is Blomkamp's breakout film, it is also star Sharlto Copley's first real acting gig. Considering a good portion of the dialogue was shot was improvisation, Copley does an incredible job. He's charismatic and likable in the beginning as the bumbling Wikus but rises up as a heroic character for the final act of the film and he does a great job throughout. The majority of the remaining cast were minor supporting characters and Copley was the primary driving performance in the film; for a first-time actor, he went above and beyond some of the even more experienced Hollywood stars today. There really isn't anything to dislike about this film and it should appeal to almost anyone.