District 9 (2009)

What I expected:picture-1

The buzz was really good about District 9 and in previews it looked intriguing. That it promised to not be a big-studio-summer blockbuster-with-endless-explosions was a real plus to me on the heels of Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe –  and I was happy to see that it was not a star-vehicle but instead features an unknown (at least to U.S. viewers) cast. District 9 looked like a promising brew so I was quite excited and went in with high expectations.

What I got:

Setting a movie about the mistreatment of an alien race in South Africa is quite audacious, but it is handled very deftly as the history of race relations in Johannesburg provides an obviously ironic backdrop for a world where blacks and whites both treat the aliens, whom they call “Prawns”, with utter disdain and cruelty. You see the “humans only” signs all over and the aliens are corralled into a slum holding area called “District 9”, which is no better than the shantytowns of South Africa past.

District 9 is shot as a documentary, which takes a little getting used to but once you are, it is an interesting way to tell the story and it compliments the cautionary tale of race relations gone awry really well. The story follows a very chipper employee of the mercenary corporation Multi National United as he and his armed escorts roust the aliens to evict them from their current shacks to a new, even worse, camp. Their methods are the usual, familiar jack-booted brutality – wielded with good humor, almost to the point of absurd comedy – and everything goes according to plan until he is accidentally infected with alien DNA and begins to change into one of THEM.

At that point he becomes the most wanted being on the planet, because all the alien weapons technologies require their DNA to work which has kept the humans from exploiting the technology. With this new human/alien hybrid they see their chance to finally harness its awesome power. And it is awesome indeed. The alien weapons literally liquefy humans instantly. What nation wouldn’t want that in its arsenal?

The story hung together quite well, but I do have to question the logic that the humans could force his human/alien hybrid DNA hand to power up the weapons, but they had not seen fit to force a living alien to do the same, especially given the horrible treatment they subjected the aliens to otherwise. It is a minor point but didn’t really make sense.

District 9 has enough cautionary lessons to fill several, less worthy features, but it is not preachy and is highly entertaining throughout. For my movie-going dollar, it is the best action value of the summer, leaving those mega-budget behemoths Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe in the dust. OK, so it has no Megan Fox, but you can forgive that in return for an actually good story and fresh take on the genre. Did I mention the liquefied humans? Very cool!

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

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categories 2009 Movies Reviews, Movie Reviews, On DVD | admin August 18, 2009

5 Comments

  • By connie, August 20, 2009 @ 8:01 pm

    Liquefied humans? Hot damn! Count me IN!

  • By Ventego, August 21, 2009 @ 11:24 am

    I liked it. So much useful material. I read with great interest.

  • By admin, August 24, 2009 @ 5:58 pm

    Wonderful.

  • By admin, August 24, 2009 @ 5:58 pm

    You betcha!

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