I can't believe that I'm singing the praises of another science fiction film so soon after Moon but I guess it's like buses.
If you are already aware of the critical hype surrounding this film then rest assured it is entirely justified.
District 9 is a clever, funny, action-packed, visceral, ground-breaking thriller and if you're waiting for the “but” there isn't one.
Set in Johannesburg, District 9 follows the difficult coexistence of humanity with an alien species known derogatorily as Prawns, following the arrival of a massive derelict
spaceship above the city. Wikus van de Merwe (there goes my wordcount), is a MNU operative assigned with the task of relocating the Prawns to their new home outside of the city, a smaller zone akin to a concentration camp in style. When Wikus is exposed to some of the alien technology, he finds himself estranged from humanity and slowly forming a less prejudice bond with the aliens. But the Prawns are neither as ignorant nor as helpless as they have appeared and they have had twenty years to come up with a plan...
The first thing you will notice about this film (well, possibly apart from the South African dialect which cinema audiences have frankly not been exposed to enough over the years based on this offering) is the filming style. Taking the form of a documentary, the film immediately feels more real than any science fiction movie has a right to feel. As a result, some of the more uncomfortable scenes, which show a very dark side of our species, will send shivers down your spine. I've seen this tried before a few times but never in such a sustained way, with most films leaning towards the hand-held horror action of Blair Witch or Cloverfield if anything rather than a polished docu-film style. It's kinda new and exciting, but it's just one element of the overall whole.
The acting in this film is exceptional and usually extremely serious. There are some brilliant moments of intentional comedy when the scenario on screen is deliberately ridiculous enough to lighten the mood, but the issues at the core of the story are so poignant that it would have been inappropriate to set giggles among the audience along the way. Liking characters in this film is not straight-forward either because even the aliens, with whom you are bound to sympathise, are capable of acts and decisions that the audience will not necessarily be sympathetic with. Even Wikus is a reluctant hero and once integrated with the aliens still does cowardly things that are hard to forgive. It is a film that focuses on a sort of flawed destiny, where no one is perfect and we just have shades of grey to choose from.
If you're looking for comedy, this isn't your film, but everything else is there. Sure, the plot is weighty like any good sci-fi and the special effects are brilliant without a doubt, but you also have the action side of this film, including some truly revolting gore from alien weapons and human tortures alike that make this film as varied as a pic'n'mix. Somehow it all holds together coherently, which is perhaps the most surprising thing of all.
I also loved the alien tech in this film which was brilliantly inventive in places. There is a moment at the end of the film when we see an alien computer being used as it was designed and it feels like the film-makers designed not just clever gadgets for the aliens but an entire culture and system of interface. It's one small area among many small areas where the film-makers have gone far beyond what was necessary to achieve a look that is real as much as it is out of this world.
This is a fabulous film and even in the cinema I had a feeling it would be one I could quite easily see three or four times without getting bored. There is so much on camera, so great a vision, it becomes less a matter of whether audiences will enjoy the film and more a matter of what they will like most. If all science fiction was as intelligent and beautiful and accessible as this then cinema-goers would watch nothing else. Get to the cinema before it goes off circuit, see this film, because it deserves to do well and because if, when the tables are turned, you are not on your feet cheering for the aliens then you are not human.