BRYN TILLY reviews his choice as Best 2009 movie release…
I’ll be the first to admit I’m a bit of a SF geek, so there’s plenty to relish. I very much enjoyed the nu-Star Trek movie, the re-booting, as they call it. But I can’t really compare, because District 9 is so unequivocally original, whereas Star Trek, well, most people know the basic elements of that movie like the back of their hands, even if they’re not Trekkies …
The name Peter Jackson carries the same kind of kudos as the name Quentin Tarantino. The inclusion of it on a movie can make or break it. In the case of Tarantino, it doesn’t necessarily mean the movie will be any good, for example the recent biker flick, Hellride, which Tarantino produced was a piece of crap. But Peter Jackson has yet to put a foot wrong.
District 9, the feature debut of South African ex-pat (lives and works in Canada) Neill Blomkamp, is produced by Jackson and his New Zealand-based company Wingnut Films, however the 2009 movie is set and was shot in Blomkamp’s old stomping ground of Johannesburg, or as it’s more commonly called: Joburg.
This is a contemporary science fiction action flick with an emphasis on hardware and squalor, on socio-politics and corporate corruption. This is the extraterrestrial flick for those who won’t be choosing to see Aliens in the Attic, if you get my drift. Check your sensibilities at the door, District 9 spits expletives and blows chunks hard and fast; this is a hardcore action flick that takes no prisoners.
An alien mothership has been left derelict floating above Johannesberg for the last thirty years. It’s original occupants were discovered as helpless malnourished humanoid crustaceans, or “prawns” as the derogatory xenophobic term is coined by racist humans. A large-scale housing project is erected, a compound known as District 9, and the aliens are forced to dwell in a segregated co-existence with humans.
A private corporation, Multi-National United, is keen to evict the aliens, and re-locate them out of the city. Field operative Wikus (Sharlto Copley) is supervising the transition, but he gets a lot more than he bargained for when he discovers the secret agenda of the MNU which involves the alien’s biotechnological weaponry. Basically all hell breaks loose.
This is the best science fiction in 2009 movie ever released for this year, and certainly one of the most exhilarating movie experiences I’ve had in a while. I’ll be the first to admit I’m a bit of a sf geek, so there is plenty to relish. I very much enjoyed the nu-Star Trek movie, the re-booting, as they call it. But I can’t really compare, because District 9 is so unequivocally original, whereas Star Trek, well, most people know the basic elements of that movie like the back of their hands, even if they’re not Trekkies.
Neill Blomkamp was originally slated to direct Peter Jackson’s big screen adaptation of the popular futuristic combat video game Halo. The budget was going to be around $145 million. A short six-minute “trailer” was created to woo financiers and distributors, but after months of pre-production the project was canned. In the wake, Jackson’s wife and screenwriting collaborator, Fran Walsh suggested turning Blomkamp’s short satirical alien movie Alive in Joberg into a feature. Jackson and Blomkamp were very enthusiastic and the project was immediately greenlit for a budget of only $30 million.
Considering what the finished movie looks like, it’s astonishing what the production team have done with the budget. It looks like something that cost ten times as much. The brilliantly conceived visual style, production design and integrated CGI effects are state of the art. But what adds so much real weight to the movie, apart from all the photo-realistic digital compositing and pyrotechnics and cleverly weathered hardware, is the excellent screenplay and central performance by Sharlto Copley, co-written with partner Terri Tatchel.
District 9 is a perfect popcorn in 2009 movie to be seen on the biggest, loudest screen possible, even if it is just your 42-inch home TV. Grab your mates and make a Saturday night of it. You’ll be talking about the movie for days after. This was and always will be my pick for best movie of 2009.
