Review- District 9

Today, a review of District 9 for a few reasons. 1. Chappie comes out this week. 2. It would be insane to watch and review all of House of Cards Season 3 in a weekend, especially with mocks ahead of me. And 3. A friend of mine said he'd come back to reading my blog if I did a review of District 9. So, for the all important second reason, here's my review of District 9.

District 9 is the story of some aliens who suddenly turn up in Johannesburg for no reason. They are shoved into slums and given a huge lack of respect in the least subtle race metaphor in a long time. We join the story with a man named Wikus who is a bit of a wuss and has a funny little South African accent. He's in charge of evicting the aliens of something. I can't really remeber what he does but he works for the evil corporation who are screwing the aliens over big time. Anyway, in a visit to the slums, he finds... You know what, I don't want to spoil this. He finds something that changes him and puts him in a totally new mindset about these aliens (called "prawns" with affectionate racism) and adventure ensues. The plot actually becomes pretty good and while it's racism metaphors have heavier hands than a man made out of concrete, it's a very interesting plot and one that proves to be moderately thought provoking.

The acting in this is actually pretty damn great. It stars a cast of mainly unknowns who are all used to add to the documentary style. There are two clear standouts though. The first is Jason Cope as the prawn called Christopher. The last five years have had some really great motion capture performances and we can now add this one to that list. It takes real skill to have a CG character relatable and truly emotional but that's exactly what we have here. But the best performance here, by far, is Sharlto Copley as Wikus. Again, I'm going to try and avoid spoilers here but if you're a fan of CG and practical effects meeting through one incredible and ever evolving performance, you'll be left satisfied here. Copley masterfully controls his character who goes from a mild mannered office worker to a total freaking badass.

This film is just a collection of great things. It's shot great so that sometimes it's a documentary, sometimes it's naturalistic and sometimes it's shot like a war drama with the camera on the gun. I'm not usually a fan of that last technique but it's just used so well here. The special effects look great. I spent most of my time in the film trying to work out if the prawns were made with practical effects or special effects. Either way, they look great. The gore is used sparingly but it's certainly there. If you see gore, it's to drive a point home, not just because YOLO like in a lot of films. And the action is great. It's fast but not too fast. It's got just the right amount of camera cuts. Plus, it keeps the stakes high at all times. It's action done as if it were a veteran in the chair, not a first timer.

So, District 9. It's responsible for all of Panem's grain and almost never has any victors but more importantly, it's a damn good film. It's irritating at first with it's heavy handed race message but get past that and what you've got is one of the most confident film debuts ever. It's such a good debut, it can stand with some directors best work. Neil Blomkamp, I hope that Chappie is good and that you treat the fragile bone china of a franchise that is Alien, safe. Treat it well. We want Alien, not Alien 3. But if you can do what you did here on Alien, you've got a great film going because District 9 is a: