District 9, When I first came to see the trailer for this film my first impression was that it was taking bits and pieces of inspiration from Transformers and Independence Day. Sure, why not – not like everyone is actually producing something original these days. Film studios lately are either taking from existing films and rehashing the same material or they are trying to revitalize an old classic, or you have the ever popular today, Remake.

So why not take from 2 films that were relatively enjoyable and come up with something a bit different yet relatively the same.

When I sat down and watched this film, I was completely blown away! Not only to my surprise was it not at all was I was thinking. The trailer did not give away any major items in a context that ruined the film (See GI JOE Notes).

The early trailer gives you some tidbits that might misinform you of the what the film really is, but other than that it was quite enjoyable to watch.

I was captivated the whole time I watched. District 9 is centered around Johannesburg, South Africa. An Alien spacecraft has arrived on Earth and is hovering over Johannesburg. Time passes as the ship remains afloat with no contact from the beings inside.

The people of Johannesburg make attempts at contact to no avail and eventually stage a mission to break into the ship to explore what is inside. What is found is a large population of what appear to be emaciated beings. Insect-like but Bi-Pedal, with a click and hoot method of language.

The story telling a to a degree is being told in documentary format in the beginning to catch you up to speed to what has transpired and it is done very well. The initial scenario that almost seemed to fantastic to believe becomes very quickly easily to understand if you have a basic understanding of entomology. District 9 is the location where these beings are being concentrated, it is a slum like area full of disarray and crime from the local Nigerian gangs and groups. The hard part to believe is that we are the ones in control and that we have such an upperhand, especially with the type of weaponry that slowly is revealed in the film. What becomes clear relatively early on is simply that these insect-like aliens are in effect under a command structure of sorts and they lack that command archetypical creature to control them, in essence these drones have no leader.

An object is reported to have fallen from the main mothership but has never been discovered and as the film slowly takes into it plot a group of privatized military forces is about to remove the beings into a more suitable concentration camp as 20 years have passed and the problems are escalating with the people of Johannesburg and the aliens. This is where the film progresses with its protagonist who is the newly appointed head of this operation.

Wikus, who is now going to one by one “Evict” these aliens has the huge task of communicating with these beings. What the movie does not go into detail with is the 20 year span of humanity communicating with these beings nick named “Prawns” for their appearance and behavior, which is very bottom feeder like in the way they scavage for food.

District 9 offers a lot of interesting points as it utilizes very key materials for its story. One of those key features being that the location for this is Johannesburg. South Africans being the group that created Apartheid, as a policy, causing segregation between Africans and South Africans – really blacks, Indians, and other ethnic groups from the whites that were there. Is quite a good use for the story and the behavior of the people in Johannesburg.

I am happy that the trailer kind of leads you astray because the movie is very original in the story it tells and has much relevance in our present day.

Peter Jackson and Phillipa Boyens on this film did a fantastic job with the story telling. It leaves a huge room for growth and sequel. The special effects were excellent and masterfully done by WETA and the costume design and weapon designs, seem inspired from other titles such as Halo and Unreal Tournament it would seem appropriate as one of the people working on the Halo film was on this project as well and potentially took some musing from those designs.

Overall without giving away too much from the films plots and some of the specifics that make the movie great this was a highly enjoyable film with enough action to keep the audience happy but not so much forced action that it gets boring or repetitive or rehashed. The technology is believable and made sense and the alien technology as well followed suit.
This film gets a GPX Rating of 9 out of 10

Manny Camacho
www.gpxgaming.net