District 9

Release Year: 2009

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Review: This movie is all about expectations-- destroying expectations that is.  Hollywood loves its summer blockbusters.  The mindless popcorn movies with huge budges chalk full of CG, explosions and aliens.  District 9 has the aliens and it has the CG, but its completely different than your normal summer blockbuster.  This alien flick has some thought behind it.   It's about an alien space ship which mysteriously lands over South Africa twenty years ago.  The low functioning aliens are segregated into a shanty town until the local people conflict with them and want them moved. 

Again, this is not your typical alien movie.  It's presented in the form of a documentary, following a very unlikely hero.  The spectacle that unfolds is mesmerizing and much more satisfying then the normal exploitation mess that usually gets served up.  There is meaning behind scenes, and the story is more important than the flare.  That isn't to say there isn't eye candy.  Despite having a budget nearly a tenth of other blockbusters, the CG and special effects are amazing.  The seamless integration of live action and CG is natural and almost unnoticeable.  And yes, there are plenty of explosions in this too.  My biggest problem with the film was that I never really got behind the main character, Wikus Van De Merwe(Sharlto Copley) as he was such a repugnant person he was hard to root for.  Despite this, there is a meaningful narrative here which holds the mirror up to our own society and past atrocities. It might not be a masterpiece but certainly sets the bar high for summer popcorn movie expectations.  Lets hope this is the start of something new.
Rating: 4/5