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DISTRICT 9 Movie Review

DISTRICT 9 (3.5 stars out of 5)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to watch DISTRICT 9. This movie had a lot of buzz, especially after it was screened at Comic Con 2009. So without further ado, here is my review of the movie District 9.

Since seeing some clips at Comic Con 2009, I was eager to see the movie. I had pretty high expectations for it. However, District 9 didn’t quite live up to these expectations and I partly blame myself for that.

Indeed, I thought that this was going to be a movie about the struggle of a human hero trying to fight hard to save the embattled aliens from the evil government and corporations. Instead I got a movie about a very flawed and not very likeable guy, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), who just wants to get his way at the detriment of literally millions of living aliens. Fully explaining this statement would involve me revealing too much about the movie but needless to say that I wasn’t really engaged with the Wikus character. Although I really liked the actor, Sharlto Copley, who delivered a very intense and believable performance of what I think is basically a douche. Wilkus wasn’t all bad mind you, especially towards the end when he tried to redeem himself. However, by that time, it was really too late for me to like him.

The story of District 9 was pretty well put together but also had a lot of missing bits that were pretty glaring. Certain questions were simply not addressed, and for the sake of expediency, I will quickly fire them away in a list that I shall call “All The District 9 Unanswered Questions” (Warning SPOILERS):

- Where do the Aliens come from?
- Why did they crash land on earth?
- Where were they coming from when they landed on earth?
- Where were they going when they landed on earth?
- 1.8 millions aliens and only two guys who seem to know how to fly a ship. How is that possible?
- Why did they stay months in the ship before being rescued by humans? No one knows how to open a door?
- So these guys have mastered the science of space travel but couldn’t figure out a way out of the planet for 20 years?

I can go on but you get the point. What ticks me off about this whole thing is that they could have answered all of those questions with just a couple of lines of dialogue. How hard was that really?

Overall, I gave District 9 3.5 stars because they failed to deliver the basic stuff story wise but still managed to have enough enjoyable and interesting scenes to watch to keep me glued to the screen.

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AUTHOR: Americ Ngwije

POSTED ON:

Aug 15

2009

COMMENTS: 12

TAGS: District 9, Sharlto Copley

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amie

I totally agree with this review. Wikus is a d-bag. He only wants to help the aliens when he has something to gain from it. And they left tons of questions unanswered! I liked the fact that it was a bit different from your normal alien movie, but it could have been better.
matt

umm how is what you said any diffrent from how it really is? everyone wants to be a hero for fame and glory..so why do it if there is nothing to gain?
ben

you do have some interesting points however some of your answers were adressed to in the movie. SPOLIERS* 1.8 millions and 2 guys know how to fly the ship? well this is because the aliens were “worker aliens” (as mentioned in the documentary) and their ship (the one hovering over johannesburg) wandered off from a larger mother ship and so they got lost. Why did they stay in there for months? well its not like they dont know how to open it its more that they were pretty freaked out, not knowing what was out there and probably the power supply to run the door ran out. And lastly why couldn’t they figure a way out of the planet. well, They do know a way out which was the fluid they were collecting, they needed this to start up the ship.
cougarmaster

Ben is correct maybe you didnt watch the movie closely. DOnt put a review without watching the movie properly.
http://www.daemonsmovies.com/author/eric/ Eric

Ben, I still think that the movie answers those questions completely inadequately.

1.8 million workers? Really? I think that this premise is a hard one to swallow. If you took 1.8 million humans at random, you are bound to get a few engineers, architects or geniuses of some kind. Even if they are all workers, they can’t all be stupid workers. Just doesn’t make sense.

Also regarding the door thing, you say: “hey dont know how to open it its more that they were pretty freaked out, not knowing what was out there and probably the power supply to run the door ran out.” No offense but that is a lot of maybes. Don’t you think that a line of dialogue could have just answered all that so much better?

Finally, that fluid thing was really unbelievable. So they get stranded because they ran out of fluid and all they needed was a little bit of it to power up their ship. the last bit was in that little piece of technology and NOWHERE in that huge and massive ship.

Look, I think that this was just weak story telling. Whether you and I agree on the details or not, can we at least agree on the fact that they could have at least addressed these issues with better writing and one page of dialogue?
plutes

Stranded on a planet with unpredictable humans powerful enough to kill them all or at least prevent them from ever leaving, the smarter aliens wisely played dumb to survive. The rest were just workers, I can deal with that. What the faux documentarians reported is what they were fed by the aliens, and it appears that the aliens provided incomplete and ambiguous info about their origins. The true alien leadership went underground. To create the fluid was akin to someone creating weapons grade plutonium in a garage – doable but it could certainly take a while if you are doing it covertly while confined. Sure I may be stretching things to cover these holes but they didn’t bother me too much, because (a) the mystery just pulled me in even more, (b) in real life we often do not know all the answers until long after the fact or are mislead by those in power who let on less than they know, and (c) the main plot and subplot were so engaging I didn’t care.
http://www.daemonsmovies.com Sandie

I agree with all the plot points mentioned and I think they should have made an effort to answer some of them. But that’s something I could deal with. My biggest issue with the movie was that the main character, Wikus, was so unlikeable that I just didn’t care for him to the point that at some point I even wished he would die. The only reason I didn’t want the mercenary to kill him was because I liked him even less than Wikus. So correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s supposed to happen.

Overall, I just cared about the alien getting out and even that I had issues with.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed “District 9″ ok, but it was a huge disappointment as far as what my expectations were, and I wouldn’t see it again.

On a last note, I will admit that the format was pretty cool and original.
plutes

Sandie, I initially felt so much the same way about Wikus. But in the end, to me, his story is quite poignant. As A.O. Scott of NY Times put it “a member of the socially dominant group becomes aware of the injustice that keeps him in his place and the others, his designated inferiors, in theirs. The cost he pays for this knowledge is severe, as it must be, given the dreadful contours of the system.” He barely escapes being squashed like a bug by the system he so loyally served, only to be turned into one instead. I admit to having mixed feelings for his character – he certainly deserved his fate. But then why do I want to know what happens to his character in 3 years. I think the director achieved his goals, at least with me.
http://www.daemonsmovies.com Sandie

plutes – I guess he redeemed himself too late for me. And I have to disagree with A.O. Scott, I don’t think he really became aware of the injustice. Or at least it didn’t seem like he did to me. I thought that after being forced to shoot the alien, being almost killed, he would have had more empathy for the alien, instead of just leaving him to die and try to take the ship himself. Yes, I know that in the end he does save him, but as I said, it was just too late for me.

Although you make a good point about wanting to find out what happens to him in 3 years. I am curious to know if he will be turned back to a human, and if he is, would he be totally changed because of his time spent as an alien? And of course will the whole alien race be save and will they start a war on the humans?

Maybe they should do a sequel that answers all those questions
David V

I just saw this movie last night and told my wife it was a 3.2. Another person who also saw the movie rated it a 5, saying that it had redeeming values. I told her that the “redeeming values” were part of the previews and not the movie.
Christos

Okay, I just saw the movie and I thought it was horrible. So I decided to change my facebook status and I recieve all these nasty comments on how I have a bad taste and what. So I came here to see if anyone else came to the decision that this movie sucks. Okay to begin with…They waited months untill opening the spaceship that has been hovering over a city that could have possibly blown them apart? what… Everyone learns how to understandn alien and aliens learn to understand english? what… Same crappy shooting scenes where the enemies shoot for 10min at a person and fail to hit while it takes the other person 1 shot to kill them what… What was with catfood…seriously they couldnt have choosen somthing like oreos or somthing but really catfood? Lastly….how does fuel source change the genatics of a human? and if that really did happenhe would be in so much pain that he would probably die

kill me plz comment i want to understand this film better
phantomspots

It was briefly explained in the beginning that when the humans entering the ship found the diseased aliens, it seemed most of the leaders (i.e. the engineers, architects, geniuses) were particularly prone to sickness and died. The majority remaining were workers, aside from Christopher, who was obviously of superior intelligence and standing. Also, I didn’t feel the catfood was so much chocolate as heroin, something highly addictive, imparing and an easy tool for manipulation. Notice how Wikus acted when he ate some, it was like a junkie getting a fix, hardly comparable to a chocolate craving. Plutes makes a good point about the “fuel” too. It’s explained that their weapons and systems are biomechanical and work solely with their DNA, and I was under the impression the fuel was some sort of Prawn excretion. Perhaps only a certain class of alien secretes it and that’s why it took so long. Yeah, it’s one of bigger plot holes in that it’s not really explained, but I kinda dug that it wasn’t extremely detailed. It’s more realistic that way because as humans there’s no way we’d understand completely how they function, especially if they’ve been kept at arms length. About Wikus, I honestly don’t think the audience is supposed to like him; I think he’s the most realistic and dimensional mirror of ourselves because he acts out of panic, conformity and the desire to make everything go back “the way it was”. He’s an uncomfortable character because if we’re honest he hits too close to home.

My biggest beef is the amount of alien weapons left in the slums. Granted, humans can’t use them, so in that sense they’re worthless and treated like trash, but it was confusing why the fluid allowed Wikus’ new alien DNA to use them while most of the actual aliens didn’t or couldn’t. Why was Wikus’ bug DNA more special than the other aliens’?

Anyway, great movie, effectively got its point across despite several plot holes. I thought they were easy to overlook.

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