I've been complaining a lot lately about the lack of creativity and originality in hollywood these days. It seems to me that all we see anymore are sequels or remakes of older films. I've even heard the term "The Era of the Reboot" used to describe the current state of cinema, where everything from Star Trek to Nightmare on Elm Street is getting rebooted for the 21st century. Hell, just today I found out that they're going to be remaking Interview with the Vampire starring Robert Downey Jr. as Lestat. Nothing seems new anymore. Everything is remakes or rehashes of what has come before. It makes me often wonder whatever happened to times past like the 80's, when new properties like Terminator and Predator and Robocop were coming out every year. It really feels to me like we've lost a lot of the creativity that once ruled Hollywood.
Distict 9 though is proof that such originality and creative spirit isn't completely dead yet. In a summer that has been ruled by big, bulky sequels and reboots like Transformers 2, Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation and GI Joe, to find a film that's based on an original concept is a rare gift indeed. While the film's plot may cover well treaded sci-fi territory (aliens coming to earth), the story covers ground not really looked at by sci-fi films in the past and it delivers said story in a way that is entirely original for the genre. The result is what I would arguably call the best film released this summer.
District 9's plot centers around an alternate history where a group of insectiod aliens came to Earth 20 years ago in a large spaceship that no longer seems to be functioning. In a documentary style history lesson at the beginning of the film, we learn that after three months of the ship hovering idly over the city of Johannesburg in South Africa, Humanity sends in teams to see what's going on aboard the ship. What they discover are a million malnourished worker drones who are either sick or dying. In a major humanitarian effort, the nation of South Africa turns to a giant corporation called Multi-National United (MNU) to help them set up a releif camp where the alien population can be restored to health. The camp is given the name District 9.
In the beginning, things go well and Humanity is more than happy to help the aliens out. Over time though relations between the two races turn sour. The Prawns (as the aliens are referred to in the film) are forced to live in extreme poverty and after a few years District 9 becomes a crime ridden slum. Tensions rise as violent outbursts from the Prawns leads to attacks on local human storeowners. Buildings are set on fire, people are hurt, and at one point they even derail a train. The humans get fed up with the alien presence in their city and enforce a Human Only policy for almost every shop and building in the city, which forces the residents of District 9 to basically become prisoners within the walls of their fetid ghetto.
This leads us to the present day, where Humanity has decided that the aliens live too close to the city and must therefore be forcibly relocated to an area 260 Kilometers away. MNU sends in a task force led by the film's main character, a sweet but naive and completely inexperienced office worker named Wikus Van De Merwe, to go door to door (or more appropriately, shanty to shanty) to serve the Prawns with eviction notices. During the delivery of these notices, Wikus stumbles upon a mysterious vial that accidentally sprays him in the face. The spray causes him to . . . .
Wait, that would be telling.
I don't want to ruin the suprise. Let's just say that from that point on things start to really pick up and the film's story begins to take off. While District 9 is a film about aliens and has a great deal of typical summer movie action in it, what really sets it apart from all of the other inane drivel we've had to endure this summer (I'm looking at you Transformers 2) is the solidness of it's central story and the deep message the film is trying to convey. At it's heart, District 9 is a character study of Wikus and the choices he has to make once he finds himself in a situation he never expected to be in. Everything he thinks and knows is thrown into question and we as the audience get to witness an amazing bit of character growth and change. All of this is set up against a solid backdrop of human cruelty with obvious and blatant references to South Africa's history of apartheid as well as human racism in general.
This is a summer movie that not only entertains with cool explosions and special effects; it makes you think as well. The film was directed by a first time director named Neill Blomkamp, who was originally chosen by Peter Jackson to direct the live-action adaptation of the popular Halo videogame. Sadly though, that project never happened and as a backup Jackson decided to help Blomkamp make a full length version of a short film he had done years earlier called Alive in Joburg. The result was District 9. Blomkamp, as it turns out, is a tremendously talented director. He uses a lot of shaky handheld camera work in this film to convey a very real-life feel to the whole affair, and it works suprisingly well.
Everything in the film, in fact, is done in as realistic a way as possible. The special effects are astounding when you consider that every single alien in the film is 100% CG, but are done so well that it honestly looks like the creatures are standing right next to the actors in the scenes. You really cannot tell they're fake in the way most CG creatures usually are (looking all shiny or too clean, like they're not really a part of the background). Even the alien weaponry in the film has a dirty and worn feel to it. I actually watched this great video this morning in which Blomkamp reveals his approach to using CG in the film and it's so refreshing to hear him say how his goal is to make the special effects shots blend seamlessly with the backgrounds to the point where you don't even really pay attention to them. He wants them to just be basic background stuff like you'd see in any other film. It's the plot that's important to him, not the special effects. This seams like such a departure from other typical summer blockbusters like GI Joe or the Star Wars prequels where the special effects are pushed to the forefront constantly as things to be marvelled at while little things like plot and likable characters are forgotten about.
What amazes me the most about this film though is the budget. This film cost only $30 million to make. That's nothing when you consider GI Joe (released just last week) had a budget of $175 million and Transformers 2 had a budget of $200 million. Hell, I'm pretty sure Michael Bay spent more than $30 million dollars of his budget animating Devastator's metal nutsack in Transformers 2. Yet here we have a film that has a next-to-nothing budget as far as sci-fi/action films go and the finished product so superior to every other film I've seen this summer that people like Michael Bay, Stephen Sommers and McG should be hanging their heads in shame. They've just been outdone and outclassed by a newcomer whose little film didn't have any of the major financial and marketing backing their films received. District 9 didn't even have a known name actor in the starring role.
Speaking of the film's star, by the way. His name is Sharlto Copley. He's never been in a film before, but he gives one of the most powerful performances I've seen in years. He never even really wanted to be an actor, he got this gig because he happened to also be in the original short film Alive in Joburg, which I'm pretty sure he'd only done as a favor to his friend Blomkamp. He tears up the screen in this film though. His performance is so solid that I had no problem whatsoever believing that the sweet-but-simple office worker Wikus Van De Merwe was capable of the things he does when he's pushed to the edge and beyond. He's phenomenal in District 9, and I really hope we will get to see more of him again in the future.
After walking out of District 9, I couldn't help but think of how every single other film this summer would have been so much better if only Neill Blomkamp had been allowed to direct it. Terminator: Salvation's special effects would have been a thousand times cooler, GI Joe would have had realistic but awesome military action and Transformers 2 . . . well, Transformers 2 would have actually had a plot. And now the thought that I'll never get to see a Halo film by Blomkamp just makes me really sad. He had actually shot some test footage for his possible Halo film when it was still in the early stages, and even that little bit of footage was enough to make me wet my pants due to it's awesomeness.
Everyone needs to go see District 9. Not only is it the best damn action film we've gotten all summer, it's also something truly original. It's intelligent and will make you think long after you've left the theater. To those of you out there who are always complaining that Hollywood only ever makes brain dead films, this is what you've been waiting for. Yet I can't help but notice how District 9 only made $37 million on it's opening weekend, whereas films like Transformers 2 manage to rake in over $100 in its first few days. This just makes me really sad because it points out the real problem with Hollywood. It's us, the general public. Hollywood only makes stupid movies because those are the ones that rake in billions of dollars worldwide. Intelligent films like District 9 never perform as well as the moronic fare of Michael Bay, and that's because you the audience don't go see good films like this one when they come out.
Please do me, yourself and everyone else a favor. Go see District 9. Make this film a smashing success. Prove to Hollywood that there's a viable market out there for smart, thought provoking action films like this. If you do, maybe we'll get lucky and get to see more good stuff like this.
Final Grade: A
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