REVIEW - District 9

First, things I didn't like-

While it suited what the movie was trying to do, the shaky cam stuff was a little much a lot of the time. If they had just spent a little more time keeping things in frame, it would have been better.

The soundtrack had some good moments, but relied on the classic "3rd world country wailing" to carry most of the dramatic moments. Using wailing is cheap and lazy. It's too bad they used it in District 9; for me it was the only serious flaw in the movie.

Now on to the positive stuff-

The main character, who we see start off as a nervous bureaucrat who is given entirely too power in an attempt to migrate 1.5 million alien refugees out of Johannesburg, is transformed by the end of the movie. All the things you see him go through make his choices in the latter half of the movie extremely satisfying. He's an asshole during a lot of the movie but remains likable and his choices all make sense- they generally don't cater to the cookie cutter conventions that plague a lot of epic action movies. You end up screaming "FUCK YEAH" a lot.

The alien creatures look incredible and their history and actions in the movie are all given extreme thought. They aren't a noble race being fucked over by humanity just because it suits the direction the movie wants to go. They are being fucked over by humanity, but they are shown to be savage and it appears that a great deal of them aren't very intelligent, just like humans. I got close to feeling like the government/corporations were being a little too evil, but I kept reminding myself that the world is actually a really fucked up place and that the scenarios presented aren't unrealistic. If the wailing soundtrack hadn't been present to make it so apparent that what you are watching is supposed to be harrowing, this aspect would have been perfect. As it is, it's great, but I see openings for people who would like to attack the depiction of human action against the aliens as being over the top.

The production design and everything about the slums of district 9 is completely convincing. The alien weaponry and technology isn't flashy, it's effective and fucking awesome.

Pretty much everything about the movie pulled me in and I was consistently excited to see what happened next. It wasn't predictable, it didn't give a fuck, and I forgive the shortcomings because they don't detract very much from what is overall the most interesting and exciting movie to come out in a long time.

I hope it continues to make a lot of money and brings some change to the current climate in the movie world where catering is king.

Neill Blomkamp obliterated the norm and for that he is my current hero.

GG Peter Jackson