Aliens, go home!…. but not yet.
An alien race, racially named ‘prawns’, lands in Johannesburg without any rhyme or reason. The government, who is use to tension between different folks, sets up a task force to learn about the prawns and help keep them in check. More important, the task force is setup to learn more about the prawns’ motives and what they intend on doing with the strange weapons they’ve brought with them. The task force is called Multi-National United, or MNU for short. The aliens are crowding at an alarming rate, so the MNU must move them into a new location in the middle of nowhere. The organization assigns their top man for the job named Wikus, who has experience speaking and dealing with the prawns. Wikus’ purpose now is to serve eviction notice and answer and questions the prawns might have about the process. He is also responsible for making sure the prawns don’t carry any unauthorized weaponry or use any technology that the MNU hasn’t approved. During one of Wikus’ checks, he discovers a strange tube in one of the prawns’ house, which sprays him with a chemical. The chemical starts to change Wikus into a hybrid prawn and the people he trusted and worked for now have turned on him. Wikus must find a way to change back to his original form before it’s too late. More importantly, he has to befriend the very people he’s entrapped.
This movie is tough! Not in the sense that you have a lot of terribly messy situations between the prawn and the MNU, just because the conflict established makes it difficult to take a side. On one end you feel bad for the MNU because of what they have to put up with when it comes to the prawn. They have to make sure the prawn don’t kill humans or introduce something terrible into the human race. On the other side, the prawns, while violent and unpredictable, are getting held captive against their will in substandard living arrangements. Sure there is a great parallel between this movie and actual race relations in South Africa, but the notion that each side is innocent makes it incredibly tough to bond with either group. The tension that the film builds is nothing short of brilliant and also very frightening. What’s even better is when Wikus is thrown in the mix and he has to choose which side he logically needs to help out. You feel for Wikus as he is literally just a man doing the job he has been assigned. He is neither brutal nor beautiful in this story; he’s just there as the referee. Wikus is a damn good referee.
The movie isn’t flawless though, as occasionally you’ll find yourself waiting for something to happen and nothing comes out of ‘certain’ situations. I don’t want to give many details away about this, but there are a few moments in the film where the action pauses for no particular reason and when it resumes that pause is quickly forgotten. There is a time and place for ‘deep thought’ to come into affect, but this wasn’t it. Just notice when one prawn is looking at another prawn on an operating table. I will say no more. Outside of that complaint the movie is simply packed with shocking moments, painful action sequences (painful in the sense that you’ll cringe) and more character development than you shake a stick at. Credit all of these things, including my complaints, to the wonderful new director Neil Blomkamp. Blomkamp’s understanding of story and character, with the help of Peter Jackson, is what makes this movie work. It’s not the special effects, the weapons or seeing someone’s body explode; it’s Blomkamp’s focus on Wikus and his new eye-opening struggle.
Stories and characters makes movies memorable; not special effects (those days have been over since 1999 when Star Wars rebooted).
Anyway, the movie is really quite good and worth your time.
As for the special features, here’s what you’re looking at:
– Filmmaker’s Commentary
– Deleted Scenes
– The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker’s Log – Three-Part Documentary
– Featurette: “Metamorphosis: The Transformation of Wikus”
– Featurette: “Innovation: The Acting and Improvisation of District 9”
– Featurette: “Conception and Design: Creating the World of District 9”
– Featurette: “Alien Generation: The Visual Effects of District 9”
– Playable “God of War® III” game demo for PlayStation®3, with exclusive unlockable “making of the game” featurette
– “Joburg from Above: Satellite and Schematics of the World of District 9” – Interactive Map
– Digital Copy of the film for PC, PSP®, Mac or iPod®
– cinechat
– movieIQ
A great set of features and even more so when you consider how great the God of War III demo that is included. What ‘wowed’ me the most from these features are the featurettes done on the breakdown of the film. You get a good amount of information on how they put together the world that the humans/aliens lived in. They also talk, and show you, on how the aliens were conceived and implemented. There are some okay deleted scenes included as well. You’ll want to definitely listen to the commentary, as it’s one of the more interesting tracks I’ve seen this holiday season.
There’s plenty here to love.
On top of these features, the blu-ray looks stunning. There are drab, dark colors that look really sharp on a 1080p or 720p set. The visuals are simply gorgeous and gross at times. The real scene-stealer for the blu-ray has to be the audio. From the haunting siren of the alien engines to the action sequences and alien technology, your ears will be in heaven.